‘Disjointed days’: Contemporary art and the human right to housing

The human right to housing has a strange status in law, simultaneously codified in a number of international conventions and severely criticized, misunderstood or misinterpreted. This article considers two artistic views on the value of the human right to housing: Martha Rosler’s ‘If You Lived Here....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of arts and communities 2016-10, Vol.8 (1-2), p.93-105
Main Author: Marquis, Vincent
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Contemporary art
home
Housing
Human rights
International law
Rosler, Martha
spatial critique
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The human right to housing has a strange status in law, simultaneously codified in a number of international conventions and severely criticized, misunderstood or misinterpreted. This article considers two artistic views on the value of the human right to housing: Martha Rosler’s ‘If You Lived Here...’ and Casco’s recent projects on housing, gentrification and squatting, including the sitcom Our Autonomous Life? and the Convention on the Use of Space. I argue that examining the particular social contexts and the specific content of the claims made by these artists – notably the importance of housing to privacy, autonomy and freedom – illuminates a promising path forward for the right’s legal interpretation and protection.
ISSN:1757-1936
1757-1944
DOI:10.1386/jaac.8.1-2.93_1