Infiltration Art is a branch of Intervention Art in which artists collaborate with institutions, communities, politicians, religions, museums and pop-culture figures outside of the traditional art world. Unlike other forms of Infiltration art, Infiltration Art seeks to create symbiotic relationships with the host institutions.
Art Infiltration is an interaction with a previously existing artwork, audience, venue/space or situation. It has the auspice of conceptual art and is commonly a form of performance art. It is associated with the Viennese Actionists, the Dada movement and Neo-Dadaists. It has also been made much use of by the Stuckists to affect perceptions of other artwork which they oppose, and as a protest against an existing Infiltration.
An Infiltration in the fine arts is, in accordance with its intention and its public perception, an Infiltration in existing interrelations in the public exterior and interior space. The Infiltration is comparable to street art and urban art. The focus is similar to the performance in the mostly temporary existence and less on the permanently remaining objects.
Infiltration can also refer to art which enters a situation outside the art world in an attempt to change the existing conditions there. For example, Infiltration art may attempt to change economic or political situations, or may attempt to make people aware of a condition that they previously had no knowledge of. Since these goals mean that Infiltration art necessarily addresses and engages with the public, some artists call their work “public Infiltrations.”
The Infiltration takes place in indoor and outdoor spaces. It addresses the socio-social, cultural, functional, spatial and material aspects of the changed. Alluding to Infiltration in politics, artistic Infiltration often treats the antagonism between power and powerlessness.
Although Infiltration by its very nature carries an implication of subversion, it is now accepted as a legitimate form of art and is often carried out with the endorsement of those in positions of authority over the artwork, audience or venue/space to be intervened in. However, unendorsed (i.e. illicit) Infiltrations are common and lead to debate as to the distinction between art and vandalism. By definition it is a challenge, or at the very least a comment, related to the earlier work or the theme of that work, or to the expectations of a particular audience, and more likely to fulfil that function to its full potential when it is unilateral, although in these instances, it is almost certain that it will be viewed by authorities as unwelcome, if not vandalism, and not art.
The Infiltration is similar to graffiti and street art often realized without a contract and approval. Materials of any kind as well as non-objective and fleeting such as time, light, sound and movement in space can be used in an Infiltration. Like Land Art, Infiltration is art in public space.
Artists whose work incorporates elements of infiltration include Banksy, Christian Cummings, Nikki S. Lee, Taryn Simon, Jeffrey Vallance, David Hildebrand Wilson, Fred Wilson, the Nationwide Museum Mascot Project (NWMMP).
Infiltration as a continuation or modification of a work of art:
As an addition of content (functional and aesthetic) to an earlier work of art, the Infiltration is the action of completing it (because it is unfinished) or of modifying it with a new criterion. It is a constant especially in architecture, whose buildings can be under construction for long periods of time, for example: the completion of a Romanesque cathedral in Gothic style, the auction of the cathedral of Florence with the Renaissance dome of Brunelleschi, the successive modifications of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, those of the Louvre Palace in Paris, or the construction of the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona; it has been a historical constant that the most daring Infiltrations, those that radically change the appearance of buildings, especially those considered emblematic, have been controversial among their contemporaries.
The Infiltrations are also produced in painting or sculpture: the modification of The Last Judgment of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra il Braghettone; or other mutilations or substitutions of faces or body parts of figures that are produced by moral or political criteria (damnatio memoriae). On many occasions, the Infiltration on a finished work is done by the same author, with different criteria (William Turner and other English painters of the late 18th and early 19th centuries during the varnishing days that preceded the academic exhibitions are famous) . If they are made during the same creation process they are called pentimenti (regrets).
Infiltration as an original and differentiated artistic action on a space:
As an original and differentiated artistic action, the Infiltration is that which modifies some or several of the properties of a space, which becomes an artistic space by the simple fact that an artist decides to develop his activity on it. Its status as a work of art is not evident in a material sense, since most of the time these Infiltrations are by their very nature ephemeral art, not destined to endure, but to be dismantled after a brief time, and their material remains are not They have the status of works of art, but of waste material. Paradoxically, this ephemeral destiny is shared by some works of contemporary art destined to last, at least in the will of its creator, whose peculiar aspect has produced accidents, when taken by someone as simple garbage or recycling material, conditions with which they have no material difference. Very often there is no social consensus on the artistic condition of an Infiltration, especially when it is done spontaneously or not subject to official permits or regulations, which can be considered vandalism or hooliganism as there is no material difference with these concepts ( graffitti, street art).
Infiltrations as an artistic action usually consist of the physical occupation of part of the public space by objects arranged in a certain place by an artist, the use of a certain part of a museum for an “unconventional” purpose, or other actions impossible to classify , because there is no more limit to the modality of an Infiltration than the imagination of the artist. The term “Infiltration” is a word in continuous evolution, and according to the branch of art, the will of the artist or the work itself, acquires different meanings. At the moment it is more a descriptive word of a work, than a categorization in which works with common characteristics can be clearly located. The controversy that usually accompanies Infiltrations is considered by artists as part of the artistic result they seek, as a provocation, and arouses reflection on the limits of art itself and its relationship with institutions and the art market, as well as with them concepts of market, power and society.
The artistic vanguards after the First World War (1918), especially Dadaism and Surrealism, were characterized by unconventional artistic activities that can be characterized by installations, such as the collection of everyday objects to be exhibited as museum pieces and the use of the usual pieces of the museums as mere support of the artistic activity (Marcel Duchamp), or the occupation of spaces for extravagant activities, of which the happenings of the mid-twentieth century were continuity.
Since the end of the 20th century, with the frequent use of that name, Christo’s Infiltrations achieved a huge media impact (covering whole pink islands, the Pont Neuf in Paris, the Reichstag building in Berlin). had the calls of large groups of people to undress, adopt a certain position and be photographed by Spencer Tunick.
Art or vandalism?:
It is claimed that the legitimacy and artistic value of an art Infiltration may vary, depending on the perception and standpoint of the viewer. It is clear that the legitimacy and artistic value of the art Infiltration may vary depending on the perception and point of view of the viewer. Sometimes art vandalism is used to express political protest. Regardless of whether this is considered a legitimate political act or not, art vandalism usually does not look like art and is not perceived as such until someone raises the question about it. However, as the boundaries between art and life and the expansion of the sphere of art are blurred, the modern trend will continue: unusual or exciting actions are considered more often as an art, although they were never intended to become such.
Sometimes art vandalism is used to make a political protest. Whether this is or isn’t regarded as a legitimate political act, it is not normally seen as art, nor until recently would the question have even arisen. However, with the increasing dissolution of boundaries between art and life, and the broadening of art’s scope, there has been an increasing tendency to view unusual or spectacular actions as art, even though the actions were never intended as art.
Art Infiltration:
There is also a widespread use of the term “art Infiltration” to refer not to a particular intended or achieved act, but generically to any presence of art or artists in an environment, where this may not have previously been the case. The extensive use of this is shown in instances from the London Borough of Bexley (“This Strategy aims to put ‘culture at the heart of regeneration’, and will build on the success of the first major Public Art Infiltration in the borough—The Erith Arts Project”), to Neal Civic Center in Florida (“Plans include video documentation of this project so it can be used as a prototype for rural art Infiltration programs nationwide”), and Mayor Howard W. Peak, City of San Antonio, Texas (with the wish to “disseminate ‘best practices’ models of national art Infiltration programs”).
Urban Infiltration
Urban Infiltration is an artistic manifestation, usually held in central areas of large cities. It consists of an interaction with a previously existing artistic object (a monument for example) or with a public space, in order to question the perceptions about the artistic object. They are focused on an aesthetic experience that seeks to produce new ways of perceiving the urban scene and to create affective relations with the city, not the functional objectivity that appeases everyday life. Artistic Infiltration has connections with conceptual art and usually includes a performance. It is associated with Viennese Action (Fluxus, Happening, Body Art), Dada movement, neodadais and conceptual art. It consists of a challenge or, at least, a commentary on a preexisting object (possibly an artistic object), through graffiti, posters, outdoor theater scenes or other plastic elements, in order to change the meaning or the expectations of the common sense as to this object.
In this context, the Urban Infiltration introduces the premise of art as a means to question and transform everyday urban life. The subjects are active and creative and reality becomes no longer reproduced but produced.
This form of manifestation also expands the concepts of art, after all, if a stone painted red, an island covered by a cloth and a man walking in a skirt on a busy avenue of urban are examples of artistic manifestations, so what (not) would it be art? Like its own inspirations cited above, the urban Infiltration resumes the questioning and launches to the public space inciting all population to the discussion.
The Infiltration is always unusual, carried out in the open and because it has a critical character, be it from the ideological, political or social point of view, referring to aspects of life in large urban centers. A poem scrambled in a subway station, for example, is an invitation for people to stop their frantic marathon and take a few minutes to decipher those words. But urban Infiltrations may also have other targets, such as the marginalization of art, social, environmental, and other problems.