Critical Art Ensemble: The Artistic War Machine and the Anthropotechnical Arsenals of Revolt

In the twentieth century, art fully entered the field of political and social struggle. At critical moments, movements such as futurism, dadaism, surrealism, and the situationists contributed to cultural transformations. Through manifestos, performances, interventions, and activism, the historical avant-gardes used creativity to build a true artistic war machine.

Inheriting this legacy, the Critical Art Ensemble (CAE) collective stands as a leading force in contemporary art-revolt, seeking to intervene in the public sphere through an aesthetic of disturbance. For over three decades, CAE has developed a micropolitics of creation using a variety of innovative anthropotechnics: recombinant theater, molecular interventions, utopian plagiarism, electronic civil disobedience, installations, and performances as forms of cultural activism.

Based on detailed research, this book presents historical snapshots, theoretical insights, and connections with avant-garde movements, tactical media, electronic resistance, and bioactivism.

For the first time, the nomadology of the artistic war machine is explored in historical, social, and micropolitical terms, complete with full color and black-and-white illustrations. Readers interested in art, technology, activism, and culture will find here the elements to build their own war machine — whether theoretical, artistic, or cultural.

“Fortunato’s book ingeniously harnesses Critical Art Ensemble’s radical energy to reexamine avant-garde history — not for resolution but for transformation. It offers a powerful tool for confronting our current moment, where even the possibility of a better future seems to be vanishing. Read it urgently, discuss it thoroughly, and most importantly, put its lessons into immediate practice.” –Gregory Sholette, artist, activist, and author of Dark Matter: Art and Politics in the Age of Enterprise Culture and The Art of Activism and the Activism of Art

“In this sharp and timely study, Lucas Fortunato reclaims Critical Art Ensemble as one of the great revolutionary artist collectives of the early 21st century. He reframes ‘tactical media’ not merely as new media practice, but as a method for navigating and disrupting the aesthetics of power. Fortunato sheds new light on how art can serve as strategic intervention in contested political terrain.” –Nato Thompson, curator, self-described “cultural infrastructure builder,” and author of Seeing Power: Art and Activism in the 21st Century and Culture as Weapon: The Art of Influence in Everyday Life