Coercive Disobedience: Art and Simulated Transgression

Abstract

Coercive disobedience is a targeted mode of protest; it goads retribution, dialogically exposing laws and policies in a manner that is potentially damaging to the interests of dominant elites. While previous discussions of coercive disobedience are limited to political science, law, and philosophy, I propose a consideration of such modes of dissent within an art context. Under consideration are experiments in simulated transgression realized by Paolo Cirio and Alessandro Ludovico, as well as James Baumgartner and UBERMORGEN. In their transgressing of conventional forms of lawbreaking, their artworks became crimes, not because a crime was committed but because they were pursued as crimes. The artists’ mode of coercive disobedience encourages a questioning of how and why simulated transgressions were able to generate powerful legal consequences and retaliatory actions.