Notes on the Alternative

The recent publication of two books dealing with the American counter-culture between the 1960s and the 1980s, and its repercussions on today’s art, brings ways of thinking about the notion of alternative back into play. Alternative Histories: New York Art Spaces 1960 to 2010, edited by Lauren Rosati and Mary Anne Staniszewski, and Caroline Maniaque-Benton’s book, French Encounters with the American Counterculture 1960-1980 actually both shed light on an alternative and little known history o..