NYU Press, ISBN:978-1479806201, English, 464 pages, 2017, USA

Somehow courageously starting with the public admission of how “culture jamming” is a contested term, DeLaure and Fink have coherently embraced the challenge of assembling an anthology that illustrates its course, starting from its original formulation by Mark Dery in the early nineties (as commented in his foreword), up to contemporary actions and performances. It’s a diversified collection of essays, meant to be inclusive and host academic essays as well as activists’ accounts and artists’ interviews. Those who are already familiar with classics in this field, such as publications like the Canadian “Adbusters”, or festivals like the Spanish “Influencers”, would certainly recognise most of the authors and stories. Nevertheless this selection represents a vivid picture of significant episodes along a timeline spanning more than two decades of productions. The two editors attempt to define some universal core qualities of these actions, agreeing that they are participatory and artful, for example, but also motivated to appropriate and transgress. After the definitions, a first section is filled with “case studies”, or thematic essays addressing different (mostly western) scenarios, while a second one is given to a few artists to articulate their respective projects. In the current rapidly changing political scenario, this book represents a collection of mostly successful cultural resistance tactics, although already projected in a different historical phase, but hopefully inspiring new effective strategies for the times ahead.

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