Gegen den Strich. Die Kunst und ihre politischen Formen deals with groundbreaking artistic projects that have taken up current social issues in recent years and have triggered heated controversies. The aim of these exemplary investigations is to explore the remaining freedom and qualities of contemporary political art, which is increasingly shaped by identity politics, cancel culture and censorship. Works by Lothar Baumgarten, Christoph Büchel, Sam Durant, Gelitin, David Hammons, Thomas Hirschhorn, Taring Padi, Wermke/Leinkauf, Mark Wallinger and the Center for Political Beauty are discussed in eleven chapters. They represent the broad spectrum of an art that intervenes critically and is not satisfied with self-referentiality or decoration. A study of contemporary political iconography that is as thorough as it is incisive.

MICHAEL DIERS is one of the most distinguished German art historians and university teachers. As an author and editor, he has published extensively on the history and theory of art and the image, as well as on political iconography. He is co-editor of the Collected Writings of Aby Warburg.