Theory of art Books

Book SynopsisHow does drawing shape the truth and our understanding of the visual world? Why has the act of reportage drawing persisted and thrived in our ever-changing media landscape? This book offers a deep dive into the world of reportage drawing, a world which is provocative, mixed media, transdisciplinary and immersed in the idiosyncratic vision of the artist. Where the traditional orientation of reportage was on the communicative function of the image as a record of an event, contemporary practitioners, largely detached from commissioning structures of the 19th and 20th centuries, now seek to capture more experiential qualities of place and choose locations which have highly personal and political significance. Liberated from old conceptions of reportage drawing as objective and true, artists today embrace subjectivity and are seeking a rich dialogue with their subjects, using drawing to tell important stories about protest, human migration, war, corporate capitalism and homelessnTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. The News Image 2. Claims to Representation 3. The Aesthetic of the Sketch 4. Tenor and Topic 5. The Reductive Line: Caricature and Comment 6. Experience and Reportage Drawing 7. The Graphic Construct 8. Jill Gibbon: Secret Sketches from the Dark Corners of Corporate Capitalism 9. Gary Embury: The Perceptual Trace 10. My Journey through Drawing 11. Contemporary Reportage Drawing

Read more less

Book SynopsisA beautifully illustrated book that explores William Blake''s relationship with Europe against a backdrop of political turmoil.Responding to revolution and war in Europe, enslavement and exploitation in European colonies, and repression and reaction at home in Britain, William Blake (17571827) produced an astonishing body of work that combined criticism of the contemporary world with a vision for universal redemption. Blake has always been seen as a distinctly English figure but, in reality, his art at all periods of his career is profoundly involved with Europe, as a source of his images and as a vision of the past, present and future of humanity. This richly illustrated book, published alongside an exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, explores the vital ingredients of Blake's work and draws parallels with the ambitions of his artist contemporaries in Europe, most notably the German artist Philipp Otto Runge. In doing so the editors and contributors show tha

Read more less

Book SynopsisAn illustrated examination of Donald Rodney?s seminal digital media work Autoicon (1997?2000).Donald Rodney''s Autoicon, a work originally produced as both a website and CD-ROM, was conceived by the artist in the mid-1990s but not completed until two years after his death in 1998. Referencing Jeremy Bentham?s infamous nineteenth-century "Auto-Icon," the work proposes an extension of the personhood and presence of Rodney, while critically challenging dominant conceptions of the self, the body, and historicity. Grounded in a partial collection of medical documents that constitute biomedicine?s attempts to comprehensively "know" and maintain Rodney?s body during his lifelong experience of sickle-cell aneamia, Autoicon pursues the artist?s address, from the mid-1980s onward, of the British social and institutional body?s cellular composition through racialized, biopolitical power.Autoicon consists of a Java-based AI and neural network that engages the user in text-based "chat," and provides responses by drawing from a dense body of "data points" related to Rodney and his work, including documentation of artworks, medical records, interviews, images, notes, and video. Pulling both from this internal archive and the external archive of the Internet, a "montage machine" composes constantly mutating images according to a rule-based system established around Rodney?s working process.In this One Work edition, curator Richard Birkett traces the distinct contemporary presence of Autoicon, and the ideas and relations that emerged around its conception before and after Rodney?s death, particularly linking the work to the artist?s seminal 1997 exhibition 9 Night in Eldorado. Birkett addresses Autoicon as both an index of entangled social and material relations around Rodney?a form of dispersed memory?and a vector of critical creative production that continues to resonate with contemporary artistic practices and radical thought. While attuned to late twentieth century discourse around the body?s dissolution into the "virtual" and the technological potential for extending consciousness, in its content and structure Autoicon locates these discourses of the human and posthuman in relation to the durable productive forces of post-Enlightenment racialization and ableism. The workings of the mind that Autoicon presents are intrinsically tied to Rodney?s wider use in his work of bodily matter, and genealogically bound to a Black history of displacement, dispossession, and resistance experienced physiologically, socially, and familially by the artist. Autoicon offers up a counter-manifestation of the subject as formed and multiplied through temporal disjuncture, affectability and acts of preservation, care, and collectivity.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisImaging Culture is a sociohistorical study of the meaning, function, and aesthetic significance of photography in Mali, West Africa, from the 1930s to the present.Trade ReviewKeller divides her splendidly illustrated book into, first, a history of photography in Mali in the twentieth century and, second, a deep inquiry into the social values, old and new, that Malians have expressed in their visual imagery. -- Diana Wylie * H-Africa *Keller's devotion to her subject led her to spend eighteen years exploring Malian cultures. As her rich footnotes reveal, she consulted archives in France and Mali, commanded the rich scholarly literature on Mali as well as local proverbs, and studied the Bamanankan language. -- Diana Wylie - Boston University * H-Net (Africa) *Table of ContentsAcknowledgementsIntroductionDevelopment of Photography in Mali1. Photography and Urbanization (1890–1940s)2. Heyday of Black and White (1950s–1980s)Imaging Culture3. Photography as Social Agency4. Visual Griots—Photographic Artistry and Invention5. Portraiture and Mande Aesthetics6. Ja and Metaphysical Dimensions of Photography7. Contemporary Practice and International Market (1990s–Present)PlatesBibliographyIndex

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"...what in another writer’s hands might have been a dry academic treatise turns out to be a lively ramble through high and low culture, touching on the likes of Diderot, Goethe, David Foster Wallace, Susan Sontag, Sleeping Beauty, the Countess de Castiglione and Andy Warhol." * Wall Street Journal *"Reed seeds his profundities throughout Slow Art in example after example, weaving them into compelling histories that get you thinking about art in new ways." * The Santa Fe New Mexican *"It has an interesting point to make when it comes to the relationship between stillness and motion, layering and adding dimensions as well as approaching art from a “slow” angle instead of the artwork itself necessarily carrying such qualities. What seems to be a fad and neologism, is actually based on a concept that harks back to ancient times yet what is exemplified in the book is that it is inextricably with our current state of affairs and the future." * Scene Point Blank *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations List of Video Examples Acknowledgments Introduction: Marking Time PART I: DRAWING OUT SLOW ART 1. What Is Slow Art? (When Images Swell into Events and Events Condense into Images) 2. Living(?) Pictures PART II: EPISODES FROM A SHORT HISTORY OF SLOW LOOKING 3. Before Slow Art 4. Slow Art Emerges in Modernity I: Secularization from Diderot to Wilde 5. Slow Art Emerges in Modernity II: The Great Age of Speed PART III: SLOW ART NOW 6. Slow Fiction, Film, Video, Performance Art, 1960 to 2010 7. Slow Photography, Painting, Installation Art, Sculpture, 1960 to 2010 8. Angel and Devil of Slow Art Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"What Noë shows is how that essential act of ‘making’ art is more than just an act of pleasure. . . . What it really encompasses is a radical act of inquiry into our entanglement."---Adam Frank, Big Think"[A]rt is at the heart of philosophy and the fusion of the two with a range of subjects can help us better understand what makes us human. . . .Alva Noe has introduced his thesis that is bound to generate enough debate on the antidote supplied by art and philosophy that “makes us what we are”, a state where the people, surrounded by music, art, sculpture, poetry become creative enough to break out of the codified social organisation into a more liberated and an inspirationally fulfilling life infused with the aesthetic."---Shelley Walia, The Hindu

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"A fascinating history of art and representation debates . . . [from] the founding of the Louvre . . . to modern controversies over repatriation and representation."---Shanti Escalante-De Mattei, ARTnews"[In Art’s Properties], David Joselit moves beyond the proprietary tendencies of the modern artist to advocate for an ethos of freedom and commonality. . . . Provocative."---Alex Kitnick, 4Columns"Joselit takes on often-debated topics like artistic cultural appropriation and the repatriation of artworks, grounding them in current understanding ofthe legacy of colonialism, slavery, and white supremacy. Art’s Properties is an excellentfollow-up to the author’s After Art." * Choice *

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"Wood presents not only a thorough examination of the role portraits played in 14th paintings, he provides a stellar example of art historical thinking."---Marissa Moss, New York Journal of Books

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn recent years, the rise of research-creation—a scholarly activity that considers art practices as research methods in their own right—has emerged from the organic convergences of the arts and interdisciplinary humanities, and it has been fostered by universities wishing to enhance their public profiles. In How to Make Art at the End of the World Natalie Loveless draws on diverse perspectives—from feminist science studies to psychoanalytic theory, as well as her own experience advising undergraduate and graduate students—to argue for research-creation as both a means to produce innovative scholarship and a way to transform pedagogy and research within the contemporary neoliberal university. Championing experimental, artistically driven methods of teaching, researching, and publication, research-creation works to render daily life in the academy more pedagogically, politically, and affectively sustainable, as well as more responsive to issues of social anTrade Review“In this beautifully argued, eminently readable book, stories are the center of attention. Morphing art and knowledge in the neoliberal university situates thinking and pedagogy. Curiosity-driven transdisciplinary practice is both motor and object of analysis. Natalie Loveless asks how stories craft worlds in politically and sensually attuned modes. I treasure the extensive knowledge of modernist performance art and art activism broadly, as well as rich semiotic and psychoanalytic readings of stories and performance. This book is itself a loving act of research-creation.” -- Donna J. Haraway, author of * Staying with the Trouble: Making Kin in the Chthulucene *“In her evocative book How to Make Art at the End of the World, Natalie Loveless has captured the most urgent and far-reaching question concerning our cultural environment, that is, how to inhabit it in an era of geopolitical uncertainty. This is a daunting task; her ambitious answer, grounded in examples of alternative critical pedagogies, aims to reduce the toxic colonial footprint in arts education by developing a sustainable research-creation model based on differential multiplicities. And that gives us hope.” -- Mary Kelly, Judge Widney Professor, USC Roski School of Art and Design“In this succinct book, Natalie Loveless explores the claim that art-making practices are well situated to challenge and change existing knowledge-making practices in the contemporary research university…. Her primary audience, researchers in art and fine art, will find the manifesto gives a sophisticated form to an emerging desire—an eros and 'attunement'—to not just study the world, but to have an impact on it.” -- David Theodore * RACAR * “A necessary read for artists and scholars who are drawn to, or already working with, artistically driven methods of teaching and researching.... Through the text, readers will gain a deeper understanding of how research-creation, beyond doing artistic research, is about creatively intervening in feminist and anti-racist research practices.” -- Jo Billows and Stephanie Springgay * Journal for Artistic Research *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe monochrome - a single-colour work of art - is highly ambiguous. For some it epitomizes purity, and is art reduced to its essence. For others it is just a stunt, the emperor's new clothes. Why are monochromes so admired, yet such an easy target of scorn? In this illuminating book Simon Morley unpacks the meanings of the monochrome as it developed internationally over the twentieth century to today. In doing so he explores more general questions such as how artists have understood what they make, how critics variously interpret it and how art is encountered by viewers.Trade Review"An indispensable introduction to the intriguing material, optical, and philosophical challenges posed by the monochrome. Morley writes with such tact and insight that anyone interested in the contemporary practice of painting, whether expert or novice, will find the book a delight."--Malcolm Bull, Professor of Art and the History of Ideas, University of Oxford "Brilliantly explores the labyrinthine complexities of this apparently simple form of abstract art."--David Batchelor, artistTable of Contents1 Introductions 2 Setting 3 Reception 4 Colour 5 Ground 6 Spiritual 7 Indefinable 8 Nothingness 9 Experiential 10 Zen 11 Material 12 Format 13 Sign 14 Idea 15 Allegorical 16 Expanded Field 17 East-Asia 18 Contemporary 19 Conclusion References

Read more less

Book SynopsisWho spoke of the modern in Southeast Asia? When and where was the modern written? How was it written? How was it received? This collection brings together nearly 300 texts that were originally published between the late 19th to late 20th centuries, selected by a group of scholars as responses to questions such as these. The texts were produced chiefly in various locations in the region, by artists, critics, historians and curators in 13 languages, many of which had never before been translated into the English language. Years in the making, this publication is the first to present such breadth and depth of art writing in the region of Southeast Asia, and will be a valuable resource to students, teachers, scholars and those interested in Southeast Asian studies and art history.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book explores colour palettes in graphic design that surprise, engage, challenge and grab our attention. Colour is one of the essential elements of many branding designs. It can help give an identity personality and warmth, express emotion, communicate messages in an unconscious and subtle way and it can keep or navigate the viewer’s interest, drawing the eye and making elements stand out. This book explores colour palettes in graphic design that surprise, engage, challenge and grab our attention - the combinations that maybe shouldn’t work but just do. These are palettes that break the established rules and laws we have been taught about colour theory and remind us that colour can be fun as well as meaningful.

Read more less

Book SynopsisSophie Williamson is Programme Curator: Exhibitions at Camden Arts Centre, London. She has written for frieze, Art Monthly and Aesthetica, and was the first recipient of the Gasworks Curatorial Fellowship in 2016 as well as completing a research residency at SOMA, Mexico City, through which she built a body of research on cultural translation and molecular curation.

Read more less

Book SynopsisFocuses on the author's sustained inquiry into the paradoxical relationship of art to life and into the nature of meaning itself.Trade Review"Throughout these essays there is a lyric impulse, a rising of the heart, a moral passion that represents the spirit of the 60s at its best. At the same time Kaprow's thinking is exceedingly rigorous. . . . He has the optimism of the period without its willed naïveté." * Art in America *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Preface to the Expanded Edition: On the Way to Un-Art THE FIFTIES The Legacy of Jackson Pollock (1958) Notes on the Creation of a Total Art (1958) THE SIXTIES Happenings in the New York Scene (1961) Impurity (1963) The Artist as a Man of the World (1964) The Happenings Are Dead: Long Live the Happenings! (1966) Experimental Art (1966) Manifesto (1966) Pinpointing Happenings (1967) The Shape of the Art Environment (1968) THE SEVENTIES The Education of the Un-Artist, Part I (1971) The Education of the Un-Artist, Part II (1972) Doctor MD (1973) The Education of the Un-Artist, Part III (1974) Video Art: Old Wine, New Bottle (1974) Formalism: Flogging a Dead Horse (1974) Nontheatrical Performance (1976) Participation Performance (1977) Performing Life (1979) THE EIGHTIES The Real Experiment (1983) Art Which Can't Be Art (1986) Right Living (1987) THE NINETIES The Meaning of Life (1990) Maestro Maciunas (1996) Just Doing (1997) Selected Bibliography of Allan Kaprow's Writings on Art Index 257

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisOriginally delivered as the prestigious Mellon Lectures on the Fine Arts in 1995, After the End of Art remains a classic of art criticism and philosophy, and continues to generate heated debate for contending that art ended in the 1960s. Arthur Danto, one of the best-known art critics of his time, presents radical insights into art's irrevocable deTrade ReviewWinner of the 1998 Eugene M. Kayden National University Press Book Prize, University of Colorado at Boulder "If you are seriously attentive to contemporary art, you are already aware of Danto and his general positions, and owe it to yourself to read this book. If you are not, but are genuinely curious, you would do well to follow him... Throughout it is clear and direct; at best, it is brilliantly crystalline... I know of no more useful single book on art today."--Michael Pakenham, Baltimore Sun "Is Danto gloomy about the end of art? Not in the slightest... Danto is nothing if not cheered by the prospect of an art world in which everything is permitted."--Roger Copeland, Wilson Quarterly "... the need for critical works such as this one--learned, discerning and refreshingly open-minded--is perhaps greater than ever."--Publishers Weekly "In this, Dr. Danto's best book yet, he helps us make sense of the times we are living in."--Richard Dorment, The Art Newspaper "Required reading for anyone seriously interested in late-modern and contemporary art."--Library Journal "Danto was and remains the high priest of pluralism, and arch-critic of the view that art has a distinctive essence... The chapters in this book are a challenging read, but a good one, because they take us to the heart of a living and profoundly interesting contemporary debate."--A.C. Grayling, Financial Times "Danto makes a lively and stimulating case [about the end of art]... The source ... of all ths mental labor is Andy Warhol, or more precisely his Brillo box sculpture... The utter banality of the piece sent 600 years of art history crashing to the ground in ruins."--Boston Book ReviewTable of ContentsList of Illustrations ix Foreword to the Princeton Classics Edition xi Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxi CHAPTER ONE Introduction: Modern, Postmodern, and Contemporary 3 CHAPTER TWO Three Decades after the End of Art 21 CHAPTER THREE Master Narratives and Critical Principles 41 CHAPTER FOUR Modernism and the Critique of Pure Art: The Historical Vision of Clement Greenberg 61 CHAPTER FIVE From Aesthetics to Art Criticism 81 CHAPTER SIX Painting and the Pale of History: The Passing of the Pure 101 CHAPTER SEVEN Pop Art and Past Futures 117 CHAPTER EIGHT Painting, Politics, and Post-Hisotrical Art 135 CHAPTER NINE The Historical Museum of Monochrome Art 153 CHAPTER TEN Museums and the Thirsting Millions 175 CHAPTER ELEVEN Modalities of History: Possibility and Comedy 193 Index 221

Read more less

Book SynopsisDeals with the exploration and theorisation of Modern and Contemporary art of Iran through the examination of art movements and artistic practices in relation to other cultural, social and political discourses during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.Trade Review"Few scholars of contemporary Islamic art, a seriously underdeveloped field, exhibit both range and staying power. Keshmirshekan, the outstanding specialist on its richest subset, Iranian art, does just that. In good, plain, jargon-free English and with clear, concise arguments and passionate commitment, he highlights the treasures of modern and contemporary art in Iran and beyond.?" -Robert Hillenbrand, University of Edinburgh

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat is art history? Why, how, and where did it originate, and how have its methods changed over time? The history of art has been written and rewritten since classical antiquity. Since the foundation of the modern discipline of art history in Germany in the late eighteenth century, debates about art and its histories have intensified. Historians, philosophers, psychologists, and anthropologists among others have changed our notions of what art history has been, is, and might be. This anthology is a guide to understanding art history through critical reading of the field''s most innovative and influential texts, focusing on the past two centuries. Each section focuses on a key issue: art as history; aesthetics; form, content, and style; anthropology; meaning and interpretation; authorship and identity; and the phenomenon of globalization. More than thirty readings from writers as diverse as Winckelmann, Kant, Mary Kelly, and Michel Foucault are brought together, with editorial introductions to each topic providing background information, bibliographies, and critical elucidations of the issues at stake. This updated and expanded edition contains sixteen newly included extracts from key thinkers in the history of art, from Giorgio Vasari to Walter Benjamin and Satya Mohanty; a new section on globalization; and also a new concluding essay from Donald Preziosi on the tasks of the art historian today.Trade ReviewReview from previous edition vivid and inspiring... a flamboyant book * Johanne Lamoureux, University of Montreal *Definitely the best introduction to art history currently available * Norman Bryson, Havard University *Inspires productive debate and contemplation. What makes this anthology more than an arresting assemblage is the author's critical stance toward what he has wrought. Robert S. Nelson, Yale * Robert S. Nelson, Yale *Table of Contents1. ART AS HISTORY; 2. AESTHETICS; 3. FORM, CONTENT, AND STYLE; 4. ANTHROPOLOGY AND/OR ART HISTORY; 5. MECHANISMS OF MEANING; 6. THE LIMITS OF INTERPRETATION; 7. AUTHORSHIP AND IDENTITY; 8. GLOBALIZATION AND ITS DISCONTENTS

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis popular collection of the best of Art Monthly''s interviews since the magazine''s inception in the early 1970s provides a supplementary history of twentieth-century art, from over 150 perspectives, through discussions between artists and critics.The interviews provide the most immediate access to an artist''s thought processes and offer compelling narratives of changing creative activities. Many leading practitioners from Naum Gabo to Douglas Gordon have been interviewed, often at highly significant moments in their careers.The artist interview has occupied an important position in Art Monthly since its first issue, and the book was first published as part of the magazine''s 30th anniversary celebrations in 2007.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe ultimate guide for artists in every medium. Every artist needs to know how to create the illusion of depth and distance. Packed with specific tips and instruction for several different mediums including acrylic, oil, watercolor and graphite Teaches essential perspective techniques through easy step-by-step demonstrations and exercises Starts simple and moves on to complex scenes and challenges such as stairways, curves, and non-rectangular objects Most books that cover perspective thoroughly are difficult to navigate. This book provides comprehensive and friendly instruction within a user-friendly North Light design

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe 3rd edition of Color Studies introduces students from all concentrations of visual arts to color theory, the physiology and psychology of color perception, and the physics of color. This text discusses in detail the four dimensions of color - hue, value, intensity and temperature - with tips for putting knowledge into practice in a variety of disciplines, from painting and other fine arts to interior design, architecture, fashion design, textile design, and graphic design. Feisner and Reed provide an up-to-date discussion of sustainable color applications and green materials as the underlying component of colorants, dyes, and inks in textiles, printmaking and paints. A new chapter on color and digital technology discusses illuminating with color (LED), color tools and management (Pantone), as well as color consulting and marketing. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this lavishly illustrated edition balances traditional and modern perspectives and examples in all areas of fine art and design.Trade ReviewFinally a book on colour that is written with designers in mind, not just artists - highly comprehensive. -- Valerie Mace, London College of Communication, UKGood publication - wide range of colour applications and topics covered. Informative and knowledgeable about colour - recommended. -- Fiona Candy, University of Central Lancashire, UKI found this publication informative, visually pleasing and a useful discourse on not only the theory of colour but consideration of cultural value and interpretation. Easy to access and understand, I will certainly be recommending this to my students and as part of their recommended reading for their course. -- Patricia Woods, South Devon College, UKOne of the best books I have seen on this subject. -- Julie Brown, University of Bolton, UKTable of ContentsPart I: Color Foundations Chapter 1: What is Color? Chapter 2: Color Systems and Color Wheels Chapter 3: Color Theorists Chapter 4: Coloring Agents Chapter 5: Digital Color Media and Technology Part II Dimensions of Color Chapter 6: The Dimension of Hue Chapter 7: The Dimension of Value Chapter 8: The Dimension of Intensity Chapter 9: The Dimension of Temperature Part III: Color in Compositions Chapter 10: Color and the Principles of Design Chapter 11: Color and Elements of Design Chapter 12: Color Interactions Chapter 13: Color and the Effects of Illumination Part IV: The Influence of Color Chapter 14: Color Symbolism Chapter 15: Putting Color to Use— Past, Present, and Future Appendices Glossary Bibliography Index Credits

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith grace, poetry, clarity, and expert knowledge, artist Etienne Appert brings us a book about the very origins of the art of illustration—what it means and why it exists. “Why do you draw?” A simple question by a young boy moves the author to travel with him down the River of Ink, which flows from the present day back to the very first illustration drawn by a human. Along the way, they visit legendary artists of the past and encounter personal tales that explore the philosophy of communication through drawing. Why do we draw? It’s a simple question with a spellbinding and complex answer with an entirely new and entertaining look at the history of art. Also featured is an illustrated interview between Appert and comics master Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics, The Sculptor) that no reader should miss!Trade Review“Appert’s themes will resonate with both artists and their appreciators.” * PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThere is no end of talk and of wondering about ''art'' and ''the arts.'' This book examines a number of questions about the arts (broadly defined to include all of the arts). Some of these questions come from philosophy. Examples include: What makes something art? Can anything be art? Do we experience real emotions from the arts? Why do we seek out and even cherish sorrow and fear from art when we go out of our way to avoid these very emotions in real life? How do we decide what is good art? Do aesthetic judgments have any objective truth value? Why do we devalue fakes even if we -- indeed, even the experts--- can''t tell them apart from originals? Does fiction enhance our empathy and understanding of others? Is art-making therapeutic? Others are common sense questions that laypersons wonder about. Examples include: Does learning to play music raise a child''s IQ? Is modern art something my kid could do? Is talent a matter of nature or nurture? This book examines puzzles about the arts wherever their provenance - as long as there is empirical research using the methods of social science (interviews, experimentation, data collection, statistical analysis) that can shed light on these questions. The examined research reveals how ordinary people think about these questions, and why they think the way they do - an inquiry referred to as intuitive aesthetics. The book shows how psychological research on the arts has shed light on and often offered surprising answers to such questions.Trade ReviewThis shift from philosophical analysis to a robust empirical approach of experiment and observation is the starting point of this book, which is a fascinating account of social scientists' investigations of art through interviews, experiments, data collection, and statistical analysis. Winner touches on a variety of topics ranging from music and emotion, fiction and empathy, the Mozart effect, and perfect fakes and forgeries, to Hockney's theory of optical aids, effort bias, artistic prodigies, deliberate practice and talent, and our curious enjoyment of negative emotions. Recommended for all readers. * Choice *In this thoughtful, judicious, and fascinating book, you'll find our best current answers to all the questions that thinking people ask about art, including what it is, what makes it great, whether it is universal, why we make and enjoy it, and whether it is good for us. How Art Works will be the place to look for knowledge on how art works for years to come. * Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology, Harvard University, and author of How the Mind Works and Enlightenment Now *Never have the links between the world of the arts and the sciences of the mind been so carefully and fruitfully drawn as they are in Winner's new book. * David Olson, University Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto *Table of ContentsTable of Contents Acknowledgments I. INTRODUCTION 1. Perennial Questions 2. Can This Be Art? II. ART AND EMOTION 3. Wordless Sounds: Hearing Emotion in Music 4. Feeling Like Crying: Emotions in the Music Listener 5. Color and Form: Emotional Connotations of Visual Art 6. Emotions in the Art Museum: Why Don't We Feel Like Crying? 7. Drawn to Pain: The Paradoxical Enjoyment of Negative Emotion in Art III. ART AND JUDGMENT 8. Is It Good-Or Just Familiar? 9. Too Easy to Be Good? The Effort Bias 10. Identical! What's Wrong with a Perfect Fake? 11. "But My Kid Could Have Done That!" IV. WHAT ART DOES - AND DOES NOT - DO FOR US 12. Silver Bullets: Does Art Make Us Smarter? 13. The Lives of Others: Fiction and Empathy 14. Does Making Art Improve Well-Being? V. MAKING ART 15. Who Makes Art and Why? VI. CONCLUSION 16. How Art Works Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is concerned with why (or whether) paintings have value: why they might be worth creating and attending to. The author traces an understanding of painting as ontologically revelatory from the theology of the Byzantine Icon to classical Chinese appreciations of landscape painting, and Phenomenologists inspired by European Modernist art.Table of ContentsPreface and Acknowledgements Introduction Part One 1: Do Paintings Matter? The Platonic Challenge 2: Truth (and Goodness) in Painting Part Two 3: Painting and Presence 4: Painting as Revelation: the Icon as Paradigm 5: Making the Invisible Visible: Merleau-Ponty 6: Expression and Form Part Three 7: Metaphysical Implications: Essences, Concepts, Value 8: Natural Beauty 9: The Re-enchantment of the World 10: Painting, Beauty, and the Sacred Bibliography

Read more less

Book SynopsisAesthetics has long been the preserve of philosophy, art history, and the creative arts but, more recently, the fields of psychology and neuroscience have entered the discussion, and the field of neuroaesthetics has been born.In Brain, Beauty, and Art, leading scholars in this nascent field reflect on the promise of neuroaesthetics to enrich our understanding of this universal yet diverse facet of human experience. The volume consists of essays from foundational researchers whose empirical work launched the field. Each essay is anchored to an original, peer-reviewed paper from the short history of this new and burgeoning subdiscipline of cognitive neuroscience. Authors of each essay were asked three questions: 1) What motivated the original paper? 2) What were the main findings or theoretical claims made? and, 3) How do those findings or claims fit with the current state and anticipated near future of neuroaesthetics? Together, these essays establish the territory and current boundaries of neuroaesthetics and identify its most promising future directions. Topics include models of neuroaesthetics, and discussions of beauty, art, dance, music, literature, and architecture. Brain, Beauty, and Art will inform and stimulate anyone with an abiding interest in why it is that, across time and culture, we respond to beauty, engage with art, and are affected by music and architecture.Trade ReviewFor anyone wishing to learn about the basic constructs and findings of the new field of experimental neuroaesthetics, this is a must-read book and one destined to advance the field. Each chapter is a gem-a brief and highly readable commentary on a pioneering article in which the author(s) of the article explain their motivating hypotheses and reflect on where the field was then, where it is going, and where it should be going. * Ellen Winner, Professor Emerita, Boston College, and author of How Art Works: A Psychological Exploration (OUP, 2019) and An Uneasy Guest in the Schoolhouse: Art Education from Colonial Times to a Promising Future (OUP, 2022) *A landmark publication for a burgeoning, new discipline, Brain, Beauty, and Art offers much of interest for the scholar, scientist, and general reader on a subject of enduring fascination to us all. Edited by pioneers in the field of neuroaesthetics, this comprehensive volume brings together the most important and consequential research while also providing a compelling account of why the love of beauty in all of the forms is an essential part of what it means to be human. * Daniel H Weiss, President and CEO, The Metropolitan Museum of Art *Dr. Chatterjee is a pioneer in neuroaesthetics - not only because of his enduring and cutting-edge body of academic research, but also because of his ability to bring together experts from disparate fields, build on their own findings and insights, and weave a cohesive and compelling narrative on the field. His latest book, Brain, Beauty, and Art, offers the world's most comprehensive view on this burgeoning field, including what it is, how it affects human behavior, and why it matters. After reading his book, I'm sure you'll agree it matters now more than ever! * Pauline Brown, Former Chair of LVMH North America & Author of Aesthetic Intelligence *Table of ContentsForeword. Where have we been and where are now? A Chatterjee, E Cardlillo Frameworks 1. An early framework for a cognitive neuroscience of visual aesthetics. A Chatterjee 2. Bringing it all together: neurological and neuroimaging evidence of the neural underpinnings of visual aesthetic. M Nadal, CJ Cela-Conde 3. But, what actually happens when we engage with art? M Pelowski, H Leder 4. Naturalizing aesthetics. Steven Brown 5. Moving towards emotions in the aesthetic experience. C Di Dio and V Gallese 6. The aesthetic triad. O Vartanian and A Chatterjee 7. How neuroimaging is transforming our understanding of aesthetic taste. M Skov 8. The cognitive neuroscience of aesthetic experience. M Nadal and M Pearce Beauty 9. Facial beauty and the medial orbitofrontal cortex. JP O'Doherty, RJ. Dolan 10. Beautiful people in the brain of the beholder. A Chatterjee 11. The mark of villainy: the connection between appearance and perceived morality. F Hartung 12. A quest for beauty. T Jacobsen 13. Scene preferences, aesthetic appeal and curiosity: revisiting the neurobiology of the infovore. EA Vessel, X Yue, I Biederman 14. Kinds of beauty and the prefrontal cortex. T Pegors 15. Expertise and aesthetic liking. M Skov & U Kirk 16. Social meaning brings beauty: neural response to the beauty of abstract Chinese characters. X He and W Zhang Art 17. The contributions of emotion and reward to aesthetic judgment of visual art. O Vartanian 18. Embodiment and the aesthetic experience of images. V Gallese, D Freedberg, M Alessandra Umiltà 19. The role of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortices in aesthetic valuation. E Munar & CJ Cela-Conde 20. The role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in aesthetic appreciation. M Nadal, Z Cattaneo, and CJ Cela-Conde 21. Is artistic composition in abstract art detected automatically? C Menzel, G Kovács, GU Hayn-Leichsenring, C Redies 22. The contribution of visual area V5 to the perception of implied motion in art and its appreciation. M Nadal and Z Cattaneo 23. Art Is Its own reward. S Lacey, K Sathian 24. Imaging the subjective. EA Vessel, GG Starr 25. Cultural neuroaesthetics of delicate sadness induced by Noh masks. N Osaka 26. Towards a computational understanding of neuroaesthetics. K Iigaya and JP O'Doherty 27. Artists, artworks, aesthetics, cognition. WP Seeley 28. Aesthetic liking is not only driven by object properties, but also by your expectations. M Skov, U Kirk 29. Finding mutual interest between neuroscience and aesthetics: a brush with reality? AJ Parker 30. What can we learn about art from people with neurological disease? A Chatterjee Music 31. Chills, Bets, And Dopamine: a journey Into music reward. L Ferreri, J Riba, R Zatorre, A Rodriguez-Fornells 32. Why does music evoke strong emotions? Testing the endogenous opioid hypothesis. DJ Levitin and LA Fleming 33. Music in all its beauty: adopting the naturalistic paradigm to uncover brain processes during the aesthetic musical experience. E Brattico and V Alluri 34. Investigating musical emotions in people with unilateral brain damage. AM Belfi, A Pralus, C Hirel, D Tranel, B Tillmann*, A Caclin* Language and Literature 35. The neurocognitive poetics model of literary reading 10 years after. AM Jacobs 36. The power of poetry. E Wassiliwizky, W Menninghaus 37. Pictograph portrays what it is: neural response to the beauty of concrete Chinese characters. X He and W Zhang Dance 38. Movement, synchronization, and partnering in dance. S Brown 39. Dance, expertise and sensorimotor aesthetics. B Calvo-Merino 40. An eye for the impossible: exploring the attraction of physically impressive dance movements. ES Cross 41. The mind, the brain and the moving body: dance as a topic in cognitive neuroscience. B Blaesing, B Calvo-Merino 42. Training effects on affective perception of body movements. LP Kirsch, ES Cross Architecture 43. The neuroaesthetics of architecture. O Vartanian 44. Architectural styles as subordinate scene categories. DB Walther 45. Architectural affordances: linking action, perception, and cognition. Z Djebbara, K Gramann 46. Architectural design and the mind. A Coburn Afterword. Where are we now and where are we going? A Chatterjee, E Cardlillo

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe analytic philosophers writing here engage with the cluster of philosophical questions raised by conceptual art. They address four broad questions: What kind of art is conceptual art? What follows from the fact that conceptual art does not aim to have aesthetic value? What knowledge or understanding can we gain from conceptual art? How ought we to appreciate conceptual art? Conceptual art, broadly understood by the contributors as beginning with Marcel Duchamp''s ready-mades and as continuing beyond the 1970s to include some of today''s contemporary art, is grounded in the notion that the artist''s ''idea'' is central to art, and, contrary to tradition, that the material work is by no means essential to the art as such. To use the words of the conceptual artist Sol LeWitt, ''In conceptual art the idea of the concept is the most important aspect of the work . . . and the execution is a perfunctory affair''. Given this so-called ''dematerialization'' of the art object, the emphasis onTrade ReviewA healthy corrective to limited discussion can be had in Philosophy and Conceptual Art...many of the essays are illuminating and sophisticated...These artists smartly articulate a symbiosis or thorough melding of making and thinking, artistic practice and discursive critique. * Kirk E. Pillow MIND *Table of ContentsI. CONCEPTUAL ART AS A KIND OF ART; II. CONCEPTUAL ART AND AESTHETIC VALUE; III. CONCEPTUAL ART, KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING; IV. APPRECIATING CONCEPTUAL ART

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this book, Murray Edelman continues his quest to understand the influence of perception on the political process by turning to the role of art.Table of Contents1: The Cardinal Political Role of Art. 2: Art - Political Messages and Illusions. 3: Art - Meanings, Constructions, Threats. 4: Art - Transformations and Challenges. 5: Architecture, Spaces, and Social Order. 6: Art as a Component of Government. 7: Contestable Categories and Public Opinion. 8: A Reassessment of Influence on Public Policy. 9: Some Concluding Reflections.

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisArtists and critics regularly enlist theory in the creation and assessment of artworks, but few have scrutinized the art theories themselves. Here, Daniel examines and critiques the norms, assumptions, historical conditions, and institutions that have framed the development and uses of art theory. Spurred by the theoretical claims of Arthur Danto, a leader in the philosophy of the avant-garde, Herwitz reexamines the art and theory of major figures in the avant-garde movement including John Cage, Jean-Francois Lyotard, Jean Baudrillard, and Andy Warhol.Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: What We Have Inherited Pt. I: Studies in Avant-Garde Art 1: Setting the Stage: Arthur Danto's Reading of the Avant-Garde 2: Constructivism's Descartes 3: Constructivism's Utopian Game with Theory 4: Mondrian's Plato 5: John Cage Pt. 2: The Legacy of the Avant-Garde 6: Reading Arthur Danto's Theory 7: Reading Arthur Danto's Reading of the Object 8: Andy Warhol without Theory 9: The Uses of Theory in the Contemporary Artworld Notes Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis text, first published in France in 1977, presents cultural critic Louis Marin's theories about the aims of painting in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. It explores a number of notions implied by theories of painting and offers insight into the aims and effects of visual representaion.Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Postscript in the Guise of an Introduction Key Texts Allegory: The Golden Bough or the Theory of Mimesis Questions, Hypotheses, Discourse Readings Denegation The Arcadian Landscape On Nominal Sentences, Fragments, Epitaphs, and Epigraphs A Letter, a Shadow, and an Interpretive Key Theoretical and Methodological Introduction An Analytic Strategy and a Mythical Ruse The Portrait in the Convex Mirror The Medusa Head as Historical Painting Psychoanalytic Interlude Of Light, Shadows, and Narrative Et in arca hoc Notes Works Cited Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarshall McLuhan (19111980) is best known as a media theoristmany consider him the founder of media studiesbut he was also an important theorist of art. Though a near-household name for decades due to magazine interviews and TV specials, McLuhan remains an underappreciated yet fascinating figure in art history. His connections with the art of his own time were largely unexplored, until now. InDistant Early Warning, art historian Alex Kitnick delves into these rich connections and argues both that McLuhan was influenced by art and artists and, more surprisingly, that McLuhan's work directly influenced the art and artists of his time. Kitnick builds the story of McLuhan's entanglement with artists by carefully drawing out the connections among McLuhan, his theories, and the artists themselves. The story is packed with big names: Marcel Duchamp, Niki de Saint Phalle, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Nam June Paik, and others. Kitnick masterfully weaves this history with McLuhan's own words Trade Review"Each chapter puts McLuhan into context with individual artists... This is a good way to revisit McLuhan, particularly as his work is too often reduced to enigmatic bons mots... [Kitnick] makes a compelling case..." * Literary Review of Canada *Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter 1 The Age of Mechanical Production Chapter 2 What It Means to Be Avant-Garde Chapter 3 Lights On Chapter 4 Electronic Opera Chapter 5 Massage, ca. 1966 Chapter 6 Information Environment Chapter 7 Culture Was His Business Postscript: McLuhan’s Art Today Acknowledgments Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisHow do you imagine the world, and yourself and others within it? How do you confront the constraints of language, the evils of your particular culture, the limits of your own mind? In this book, James Boyd White brings such questions to a series of works from Western culture.

Read more less

Book SynopsisNicholas Wolterstorff''s distinguished career in philosophical theology continues to bear fruit, and here he shares his insight on the concepts of justice, art and liturgy. Although often discussed in isolation, as Wolterstorff masterfully demonstrates, they are bound together by divine love, and follow a common logical framework. Whether oriented towards the dignity of the other, the desire for creative engagement, or the infinite goodness of the creator, in every case unitive love is at their core. Wolterstorff explores all of this with consummate elegance, ultimately showing how each of the three topics find their fulfilment in the worship of God and in the affirmation of the image of God in each of us.Trade Review"Some thinkers labor in a particular furrow, hand to the plough, making progress on an area or line of argument over the course of time. Others, like Nicholas Wolterstorff, manage to contribute to the propagation of several different intellectual crops in different fields. In this work, he brings together essays in areas in which he has made signal contributions individually: on the notion of justice, on art and aesthetics, and on liturgy - binding them together with love. It is an important collection of his work, and a valuable contribution to the cross-fertilization of these distinct areas, which he has done so much to help flourish." - Oliver D. Crisp, Professor of Analytic Theology and Director of the Logos Institute, University of St Andrews "We can always rely on Nicholas Wolterstorff for original and philosophically astute insights on matters which we often - wrongly - take for granted. Here, in his most recent set of collected essays, he brings together his reflections on justice, aesthetics, and liturgy, and finally unites them under the category of divine love. Let us not imagine that Wolterstorff has finished his thinking, for here we see yet new enrichment and depth." - Sarah Coakley, FBA, University of Cambridge and Australian Catholic UniversityTable of ContentsForeword, by Alan J. Torrance Acknowledgements United in Love 1. The Underlying Unity of Love, Justice, Art, and Liturgy Justice 2. Love and Justice 3. What Makes Gratuitous Generosity Sometimes Unjust? 4. The Just Limits of Love; or Why an Ethic of Pure Benevolence Is Not Sufficient for Morality 5. All Justice Is Social, but Not All Justice Is Social Justice 6. Religious Intolerance and the Wounds of God 7. Modern Protestant Developments in Human Rights Art 8. Human Flourishing and Art That Enhances the Ordinary 9. What Sort of Worth Do Works of Art Have? 10. Art and the Formation of Just Persons 11. Social Protest Art and the Graphic Art of Georges Rouault Liturgy 12. Sacrament as Action, Not Presence 13. Preaching the Word of God 14. Knowing God by Liturgically Addressing God 15. Art and Liturgy Afterword Bibliography Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisExplores the late medieval concepts of absence and void, with a special focus on the materiality of emptiness in later medieval manuscripts. Trade Review“With a Midas-like touch, Elina Gertsman has a gift for turning her every subject into scholarly gold. The Absent Image is no exception.”—Brigitte Buettner Studies in Iconography“Gertsman makes a convincing argument, and at times shows a wonderful novelistic sensibility in describing the micro-dramas on display.”—Times Literary Supplement“Elina Gertsman’s The Absent Image is a rarefied treat for connoisseurs – a kind of apophatic art history. She explores a phenomenon that is seldom studied: the voids, gaps and empty frames that manuscript artists used to represent the unrepresentable.”—Barbara Newman London Review of Books“The book is amusing and thought-provoking in the best sense, and the lavish illustrations create much food for thought, not out of nothing but from a wealth of varied examples.”—Thomas Rainer CAA.Reviews“Gertsman’s book is absolutely brilliant, a paragon of scholarship to be held up as a model to students and colleagues alike.”—Lauren Mancia Medieval Review“This is an intellectually ambitious, rigorously argued, and erudite book that explores visual strategies and their theoretical underpinnings of ‘empty spaces’ in medieval manuscripts. A must-read for scholars of medieval and northern Renaissance art and intellectual history.”—Nino Zchomelidse,author of Art, Ritual, and Civic Identity in Medieval Southern Italy“This is one of the most original books I have read—original in its conception and subject, in the materials studied and illustrated, in the numerous questions posed, and in its compelling conclusions. It is a potentially paradigm-shifting work that will affect how we perceive illustrated manuscripts and that should finally put to rest for art historians the ‘intentional fallacy’ long rejected by literary historians.”—Richard K. Emmerson,author of Apocalypse Illuminated: The Visual Exegesis of Revelation in Medieval Illustrated Manuscripts

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this thoughtful and revelatory book, Wood explores enduring and powerful theories on art, creativity, and what Jung called the creative spirit in order to illuminate how artists can truly understand what it means to be a creator.By bringing together insights on creativity from some of depth psychology's most iconic thinkers, such as C.G. Jung, James Hillman, and Joseph Campbell, as well as featuring a selection of creators who have been influenced by these ideas, such as Martha Graham, Mary Oliver, Stanley Kunitz, and Ursula K. Le Guin, this book explores archetypal thought and the role of the artist in society. This unique approach emphasizes the foundational need to understand and work with the unconscious forces that underpin a creative calling, deepening our understanding of the transformational power of creativity, and the vital role of the artist in the modern world.Acting as a touchstone for inquiries into the nature of creativity, and of the soul, this enligTrade ReviewThe Archetypal Artist is a long-awaited offering to the fields of creativity and depth psychology. Scholars, students, artists, ecologists, and activists will find revelation here – it’s an accessible yet intricately woven map of Jungian and archetypal concepts and their relationship to artistic expression. Dr. Mary Wood at once honors the great mystery within the soul of every artist, while leaving no stone unturned in the pursuit of deeper understanding. Kim Krans, artist and NY Times bestselling author of The Wild Unknown TarotMary Wood's fine book, carefully researched and presented, draws on her talents as artist, depth psychologist, and scholar. With a keen historical sense and marshalling a wide range of sources, it leads us to recover and reconceptualize the high purpose and calling of the artist as a conduit for the creative depths of the psyche and the expression of soul. Dr. Keiron Le Grice, professor of depth psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, CaliforniaDr. Mary Wood’s creative vision that inspires The Archetypal Artist is fiercely and delightfully expansive and deep, measured, but not without a tincture of wildness. Her calling to revision the creative spirit in each of us implies that creativity is a spiritual practice—a way of being enthused to sense the world’s sacredness anew. Dennis Patrick Slattery, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Mythology at Pacifica Graduate InstituteIn an exciting and provocative transformation of Jungian and Archetypal Studies, The Archetypal Artist shifts the center of gravity of depth psychology to the artist, rather than the therapist. For surely those conducting images into being through art-making are individuating for the world as well as themselves? By bringing Jung, post-Jungians, Hillman, soul-making and myth into depth psychology’s re-connection of shaman to artist, Wood restores art to its ancestral homes in medicine, religion, divination and magic. Modernity split the psyche, so reducing art into soul-less artifacts. The Archetypal Artist restores the art of life. It shows artworks as a living medium for the soul. This book is soul-juice for anyone who wants to find authenticity in the urge to create. It is essential reading for all who seek for the art of living, as well as for those driven to fashion life into the in-spirited matter of art. Susan Rowland, Ph.D., Depth Psychology, Creativity, and Humanities Professor at Pacifica Graduate InstituteWood has created a magnificent homage to James Hillman; reminding us of his vibrant mind and presence and simultaneously she introduces new generations to a true genius whose creativity continues to evolve in ways that are timeless. Her superbly researched volume unfolds, in very readable ways a comparative study of the meaning of the soul in the world, an idea much needed in our time of loss and disorientation. She helps clinicians bring to the foreground the profound value of art, aesthetics, and creativity as the combined essence of healing. This book provides the backdrop for understanding the "depth" of "depth psychology." Linda Carter MSN, Jungian Analyst, CS, IAAPTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. An Archeology of Soul, Creativity, and Transformation 2. C.G. Jung: Reluctant Artist, Servant of The Creative Spirit 3. A Thousand Voices: Inflections and Interpretations of Jung’s Creative Vision 4. Archetypal Creativity: Image, Imagination, and Instinct 5. Image Making and Soul-making 6. Mythopoesis: The Archetypal Ancestors of the Modern Creator 7. The Soul, the Creative, and the Archetypal Artist 8. Epilogue as Testament and Talisman

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Routledge Companion to Art and Politics offers a thorough examination of the complex relationship between art and politics, and the many forms and approaches the engagement between them can take.The contributors - a diverse assembly of artists, activists, scholars from around the world discuss and demonstrate ways of making art and politics legible and salient in the world. As such the 32 chapters in this volume reflect on performing and visual arts; music, film and new media; as well as covering social practice, community-based work, conceptual, interventionist and movement affiliated forms.The Companion is divided into four distinct parts: Conceptual Cartographies Institutional Materialities Modalities of Practice Making Publics Randy Martin has assembled a collection that ensures that readers will come away with a wider view of what can count as art and politics; where they mightTrade Review"The Routledge Companion to Art and Politics is well suited for libraries working with artists, scholars, curators of contemporary art, and gallery professionals. Summing Up: Recommended."- J. Decker, Rochester Institute of Technology in CHOICETable of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Conceptual Cartographies Introduction 1. On the Zoopolitics of the Voice and the Distinction Between Nature and Culture Ana María Ochoa 2. The Aesthetic Subject and the Politics of Speculative Labor Marina Vishmidt 3. Art and the Politics of Time-as-Substance John Roberts 4. The Choreopolitical: Agency in the Age of Control André Lepecki 5. Thinking Contradictory Thoughts: On the Convergence of Aesthetic and Social Factors in recent Sociologies of Art Eduardo de la Fuente 6. Becoming Revolutionary: On Russian Suprematism Boris Groys 7. Failure Over Utopia Lisa Le Feuvre 8. What Did You Hear? Another Ten Theses on Militant Sound Investigation Ultra-Red Part Two: Institutional Materialities Introduction 9. Institutional Critique Redux Steve Kurtz 10. Social Turns: In Theory and Across the Arts Shannon Jackson 11. The Politics of Contemporary Curating: A Technological Perspective Joasia Krysa 12. Perverse Joy: The Paradoxes of Censorship Svetlana Mintcheva 13. Art Is Garbage Toby Miller 14. Grass Stage’s Theater of Precarity in China Mark Driscoll 15. Evangelism and the Gay Movement in Singapore: Witnessing and Confessions Through Masks Keng Sen Ong 16. A Transformative Initiative for Achieving Cultural Equity: Community Arts University Without Walls Marta Moreno Vega 17. Hapticality in the Undercommons, or From Operations Management to Black Ops Stefano Harney Part Three: Modalities of Practice Introduction 18. Charming for the Revolution: Pussy and Other Riots Jack Halberstam 19. The Yes Men Jacques Servin 20. 16 Notes on Collectivism and Dark Matter Gregory Sholette 21. Some Notes About Art, Code and Politics Under Cloudy Empire(s) Ricardo Dominguez 22. The Aesthetics of Algorithmic Experience Ned Rossiter and Soenke Zehle 23. Computational Aesthetics in the Practices of Art as Politics Patricia Ticiento Clough 24. Toward Participatory Aesthetics Claire Bishop with David Riff and Ekaterina Degot 25. The Politics of Popular Art in India Swati Chattopadhyay Part Four: Making Publics Introduction 26. Living Politics: The Zapatistas Celebrate Their 20th Anniversary Diana Taylor27. Carnival, Radical Humor, and Media Politics Robert Stam 28. Dynamic Encounters and the Benjaminian Aura: Reflections on the New Media, Next Media, and Connectivity Wafaa Bilal 29. Seeking a Theater of Liberation Dudley Cocke 30. By Any Means Necessary Jan Cohen Cruz 31. If You Really Care About Change, Why Devote Your Life to Art and Culture? Reflections of a Cultural Organizer Caron Atlas 32. Pedagogies in the Oakland Projects Suzanne Lacy

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book examines transmissibility to remind us why the vitality and epistemic significance of an artwork is anachronistic and futural. Transmissibility: Writing Aesthetic History performs a transdisciplinary philosophy of aesthetic history via the work of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, Cy Twombly, Marina Abramovic, Paul Celan, Cecil Taylor, Italo Calvino, Candida Höfer, and others by focusing on the?artistic and historiographic labor that differentiates artworks from other modes of creation.Trade Review Transmissibility: Writing Aesthetic History is an exuberant inquiry into the moment—better still, the movement—of transmissibility that pushes aesthetic form over the edge of political praxis, and vice versa. How does art-work survive transitional life-worlds? How are we to think and write about ontological and historical immanence within aesthetic history? Jae Emerling accompanies his reader every step of the way in this exciting and erudite text: he works side-by-side with you to face the challenge of making sense of what it means to encounter art.Homi Bhabha, Harvard UniversityVery occasionally a writer will come along who changes what it might mean to write about art and culture, giving us the permission to take new liberties. In this dazzling, innovative and courageous book, Jae Emerling enacts a radical approach to thinking the intersections of the history and ontology of art. Proposing the concept of ‘transmissibility’ for an ‘aesthetic history’ that complicates the history of art and the history of aesthetics, he demonstrates a new way of thinking artworks as ontological-historiographical configurations, or ‘sense-events’. Rather than the presentation of a new discourse or manifesto, Emerling offers transmissibility as a concept kept in tension, refracted through aesthetic figures and conceptual personae, and continually recreated within the experience of creative acts. Here, experimental historiography meets experimental writing. Crossing an astonishing breadth of references and interlocutors across philosophy, the history of art, literature and critical theory, visual and material culture, Emerling inspires the field by which we think with art. In luminous prose, the book plays, tests, and even betrays its multiple sources, performing the anachronisms and transdisciplinary provocations it describes, deftly moving between modes and genres of writing – the aphoristic, the meditation, the dialogic, the confessional, the fictional – whilst keeping us within the singular thickness of ideas. What must writing do to affirm the becoming of art? How can we extract the virtual from the historical? Emerling addresses such issues as memory, time, destruction, imagination, love and failure whilst drawing us into the folds and intimacies of his thought, and the ceaseless ebbs and flows of an intellectual journey. Transmissibility is a paean to how truly vital scholarship begins with the raw and unmediated experience of an author's real encounters; a love letter to reading without boundaries. Provocative, impassioned, searingly creative, this a book to help us envision the future of writing and thinking about art, its histories and theories, and its multifarious effects. Kamini Vellodi, University of EdinburghJae Emerling has done the remarkable. He argues convincingly that transmissibility is both of and for aesthetics (where aesthetics is critical and transformative thinking), but that it is also of and for history too; which is to say, that it is attentive to both the ontological and the experimental-creative historiographic properties of art. In all this, transmissibility is feral—as is Emerling in the shape of his thinking, his use of language’s materiality, and the rhythm of his writing, and thus what it does—as it (and he) cuts across fields and practices, problematising them, and our affective experiences of them too. How is it possible for Emerling to do all this? Read the book, it’ll blow your bloody doors off! Marquard Smith, University College LondonTable of ContentsI. Introduction: "Visions and Auditions" II. Twenty-first Series of Aesthetic History III. Twenty-first Series of Aesthetic History: Hypomnemata IV. Sybil of Cumae, or Indiscernibility V. From Oceanic Chaos…A Luminous Wave VI. Imperceptibility, or The Ear of the Future VII. To Transmit and Receive Vibrations and Waves VIII. Impersonality, or Bob Dylan as a Column of Air

Read more less

Book Synopsis"This is criticism at its best." —Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles TimesTrade Review"An important and frequently surprising book… could be read as the foundation for a post-avant-garde aesthetics… Nelson, who is also a poet, is such a graceful writer that I…just sat back and enjoyed the show." -- Laura Kipnis - New York Times Book Review"[Nelson’s] critiques of individual artists are delightfully fierce without being mean spirited… Fascinating and bracingly intelligent…The Art of Cruelty’s prose is often gorgeous." -- Troy Jollimore - Boston Globe"A lean-forward experience, and in its most transcendent moments, reading it can feel like having the best conversation of your life." -- Rachel Syme - NPR Books"I hope that critics, and aspiring critics, and those who are interested in the relationship between art and ethics, read [The Art of Cruelty]." -- Susie Linfield - New Republic"[Nelson] dexterously, and creatively, manages to hold a mirror to our culture’s fascination with cruelty and invites us to reflect on our personal reasons for indulging it." -- Eleni Theodoropoulos - Literary Hub

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis innovative volume explores the idea that while photographs are images, they are also objects, and this materiality is integral to their meaning and use. The case studies presented focus on photographs active in different institutional, political, religious and domestic spheres, where physical properties, the nature of their use and the cultural formations in which they function make their ''objectness'' central to how we should understand them.The book''s contributions are drawn from disciplines including the history of photography, visual anthropology and art history, with case studies from a range of countries such as the Netherlands, North America, Australia, Japan, Romania and Tibet. Each shows the methodological strategies they have developed in order to fully exploit the idea of the materiality of photographic images.Table of ContentsList of illustrations, List of contributors, Acknowledgements, 1 Introduction: photographs as objects, 2 Un beau souvenir du Canada: object, image, symbolic space, 3 Ere the substance fade: photography and hair jewellery, 4 Mixed box: the cultural biography of a box of ‘ethnographic’ photographs, 5 Making meaning: displaced materiality in the library and art museum, 6 Making a journey: the Tupper scrapbooks and the travel they describe, 7 Photographic playing cards and the colonial metaphor: teaching the Dutch colonial culture, 8 ‘Under the gaze of the ancestors’: photographs and performance in colonial Angola, 9 The photograph reincarnate: the dynamics of Tibetan relationships with photography, 10 ‘Photo-cross’: the political and devotional lives of a Romanian Orthodox photograph, 11 Print Club photography in Japan: framing social relationships, 12 Photographic materiality in the age of digital reproduction, References, Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis second edition of The Creative Mind has been updated to include recent developments in artificial intelligence, with a new preface, introduction and conclusion by the author.Trade Review'Margaret Boden is compelling reading. In The Creative Mind, she brings her lucid intelligence to bear on demystifying creativity and manages to be highly informative without obscuring the great darkness of her subject.' - Jerome Brunner, Research Professor of Psychology, New York University'If you've ever wondered whether computers are creative, read this thought provoking and timely book.' - Howard Gardner, author of Frames of Mind and Intelligence Reframed'[Boden] is committed to thoughtfully analysing thought and is one of the world's best commentators on these matters.' - Douglas Hofstadter, Nature'Margaret A. Boden, has been at the forefront of efforts to exorcise Cartesian superstition and establish that the brain is a wonderfully subtle machine.' - George Johnson, New York Times Book Review'A demystifying, up-to-the-minute report, wide-ranging and accessible.' - Kirkus ReviewsPraise for the first edition: 'Enormously enjoyable ... More readable and more literate than the average new novel.' - Christina Hardyment, The Independent'A model of how to popularise current research.' - Times Literary Supplement'I think this text is refreshingly engaging and well written, with plenty of real-life examples to consolidate and extend learning.' - Anthony Curtis'The style is just right - a chatty style to introduce novices to psychology... gives confidence that this is not going to be beyond them.' - Diana Dwyer, South Nottingham College'A fascinating and well argued book, which I recommend to others without reservation: the list of references alone is worth the cover price.' - The Philosophers' Magazine'Boden makes a persuasive case that a computational approach will help explain human creative processes ... written in clear and engaging style.' - Ken Gilhooly, The Psychologist'Margaret A. Boden has been at the forefront of efforts to exorcise Cartesian superstition and establish that the brain is a wonderfully subtle machine.' - George Johnson, New York Times Book Review'Boden makes a persuasive case that a computational approach will help explain human creative processes ... written in clear and engaging style.' - Ken Gilhooly, The Psychologist'[Boden] is committed to thoughtfully analysing thought and is one of the world's best commentators on these matters.' - Douglas Hofstadter, NatureTable of ContentsPreface to the Revised Edition Preface Acknowledgments In a Nutshell 1. The Mystery of Creativity 2. The Story So Far 3. Thinking the Impossible 4. Maps of the Mind 5. Concepts of Communication 6. Creative Connections 7. Unromantic Artists 8. Computer-Scientists 9. Chance, Chaos, Randomness, Unpredictability 10. Elite or Everyman? 11. Of Humans and Hoverflies 12. Epilogue References Bibliography Index

Read more less