STURE JOHANNESSON. "The underground will take over". Publ. 2009 MACBA. Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona. Offset printing. Signed Sture J.

100 x 70 cm.

Political art is a term for the type of art that questions the contemporary political conditions. The concept is not time-bound but was established as an art form at the end of the 1960s. During the 1970s, the artistic experimentation and avant-garde of the sixties shifted to the more politically radical. A reaction to the world's injustices in general and to the civil rights movement and the Vietnam War in particular. Art brought a message of human justice and freedom. The posters often tell about political demonstrations and the women's struggle. Well-known artists of the time were Kjartan Slettemark, Channa Bankier, Karin Frostenson and Carl Johan De Geer. The posters were considered to be a democratic messenger that reached a large audience. "Doing together" and "doing it yourself" were key words at the time. Today, artists are "activists" and use their tools to protest against globalization, pollution of our environment and advocate political and social reforms on a local or global scale.