« Donnez-nous du pain, mais donnez-nous aussi des roses ! » Esthétiques militantes, de la temporary autonomous zone à la zone d’autonomie définitive (1990-2020)

Since the 1990s, a large number of studies have emerged around the practices of certain activist movements where creativity assumes a key role. This article takes as its starting point the idea that art history can provide a useful framework for exploring the genealogy of these social movements. Not only can its methodology contribute to a better understanding of their aesthetic dimension but the topic itself can help to explore certain issues within our own discipline. Within a chronological narrative, we present various leftist autonomous groups and activist movements whose creative dimensions are particularly important. These practices are repeatedly subject to tensions between the notion of the autonomy of art and its function in the service of political expression or an intensification of everyday life. Focusing on the carnival as protest metaphor, artistic activism groups, interactions with museum institutions and the question of visual culture, we trace a chronological arc going from the TAZ to the PAZ between the 1990s and summer 2023.