The Radical Unpresent (Cultural Resistance in a Fractured World)
List Price:
$34.95
| Expected release date is Oct 20th 2026 |
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Product Details
Author:
Gregory Sholette
Format:
Paperback
Pages:
344
Publisher:
MIT Press (October 20, 2026)
Imprint:
The MIT Press
Release Date:
October 20, 2026
Language:
English
Audience:
General/trade
ISBN-13:
9780262054119
ISBN-10:
0262054116
Weight:
13oz
Dimensions:
6" x 9"
File:
RandomHouse-PRH_Book_Company_PRH_PRT_Onix_full_active_D20260405T164802_155746771-20260405.xml
Folder:
RandomHouse
List Price:
$34.95
Country of Origin:
United States
Pub Discount:
65
Case Pack:
24
As low as:
$26.91
Publisher Identifier:
P-RH
Discount Code:
A
QuickShip:
Yes
Overview
A necessary and timely exploration of art activism today, informed by centuries of protest.
How contemporary artists and activists are navigating and resisting the collapse of historical time in our uncanny present.
The Radical Unpresent examines our disorienting contemporary moment, in which our experience of time has become profoundly disrupted. Building on his earlier work on “dark matter” in the art world, Gregory Sholette introduces the concept of the unpresent—a condition in which everything appears the same yet is completely transformed, lacking both a past and a future.
The book traces the emergence of this uncanny temporal state through Brexit, Trump’s first election, and the COVID pandemic, culminating in the January 6th insurrection and the rise of MAGA 2.0 in 2025. Sholette analyzes how this temporal crisis manifests in both progressive and reactionary cultural responses, arguing that MAGA represents not simply regression but also a new kind of “retro-vanguard” that seeks to escape the unpresent by restoring an imagined past.
Never one to be content with the status quo, Sholette reveals the inner workings of a “phantom archive”—a surplus repository of activist practices, unrealized possibilities, and spectral histories that artists access through repair, repurposing, and reenactment. Through examples ranging from Dread Scott’s slave rebellion reenactment to contemporary Belarus protest art, he demonstrates how artists are creating temporal interventions that acknowledge historical wounds while opening pathways to alternative futures.
How contemporary artists and activists are navigating and resisting the collapse of historical time in our uncanny present.
The Radical Unpresent examines our disorienting contemporary moment, in which our experience of time has become profoundly disrupted. Building on his earlier work on “dark matter” in the art world, Gregory Sholette introduces the concept of the unpresent—a condition in which everything appears the same yet is completely transformed, lacking both a past and a future.
The book traces the emergence of this uncanny temporal state through Brexit, Trump’s first election, and the COVID pandemic, culminating in the January 6th insurrection and the rise of MAGA 2.0 in 2025. Sholette analyzes how this temporal crisis manifests in both progressive and reactionary cultural responses, arguing that MAGA represents not simply regression but also a new kind of “retro-vanguard” that seeks to escape the unpresent by restoring an imagined past.
Never one to be content with the status quo, Sholette reveals the inner workings of a “phantom archive”—a surplus repository of activist practices, unrealized possibilities, and spectral histories that artists access through repair, repurposing, and reenactment. Through examples ranging from Dread Scott’s slave rebellion reenactment to contemporary Belarus protest art, he demonstrates how artists are creating temporal interventions that acknowledge historical wounds while opening pathways to alternative futures.
