The Battleground of Art

A radical manifesto for art’s autonomy and resistance to neoliberal capture

Activist and curator Marco Baravalle shows how artists across the global south and north are building alter-institutions—collective, autonomous infrastructures that challenge both state and market control. Drawing on operaismo, decolonial theory, and two decades of radical curating, he outlines an artistic practice grounded in cooperation, solidarity, and resistance.

Revisiting the insurgent art movements of the 1960s and 1970s, Baravalle traces their echoes in contemporary struggles—from independent spaces in Venice to cultural resistance in Palestine. He also exposes the dynamics of toxic philanthropy and how cultural funding can reproduce neoliberal domination, while highlighting alter-institutional strategies that break this cycle.

A bold theoretical and practical intervention, The Battleground of Art redefines artistic autonomy as a collective, decolonial, and anti-fascist project of transformation.Marco Baravalle is a Venice-based researcher, curator, and activist. A co-founder of the Institute of Radical Imagination and Sale Docks, he works at the intersection of art, politics, and social movements. His research focuses on neoliberalism, colonialism, and the relationship between art and ecology, exploring how cultural institutions can be reimagined through collective and anticapitalist practices. He is the co-editor of Art for Radical Ecologies (Manifesto) (2024) and has long been involved in international networks of radical curating and art activism.