The Freak-gardeSince the 1890s, American artists have employed the arts of the freak show to envision radically different ways of being. The result is a rich avant garde tradition that critiques and challenges capitalism from within. The Freak garde traces the arts of the freak show from P. T. Barnum to Matthew Barney and demonstrates how a form of mass culture entertainment became the basis for a distinctly American avant garde tradition. Exploring a wide range of