Description
Book SynopsisWhile highlighting the prevailing role of television in Western societies,
Art vs. TV maps and condenses a comprehensive history of the relationships of art and television. With a particular focus on the link between reality and representation, Francesco Spampinato analyzes video art works, installations, performances, interventions and television programs made by contemporary artists as forms of resistance to and appropriation and parody of mainstream television. The artists discussed belong to different generations: those that emerged in the 1960s in association with art movements such as Pop Art, Fluxus and Happening; and those appearing on the scene in the 1980s, whose work aimed at deconstructing media representation in line with postmodernist theories; to those arriving in the 2000s, an era in which, through reality shows and the Internet, anybody could potentially become a media personality; and finally those active in the 2010s, whose work reflects on how old media like
Trade ReviewWhat is and does a work of art? Art can only
work framed in a context where it can be seen. Traditionally, that is the museum, gallery, sometimes public space. The space, the curator, then the viewer, become co-makers. With the advent of television, art is set to work in the private sphere. This changes the work of art profoundly. This pioneering study of the relationship between art and television includes reflections on resistance, political tensions, and other ways in which art descends from its isolating pedestal and participates fully in the lives of people. Francesco Spampinato lucidly and patiently lays out what that cultural change entails for what we consider “art” to be and do. * Mieke Bal, Professor Emerita in Literary Theory, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands *
In this exhaustive, scholarly yet entertaining book, Francesco Spampinato traces several decades of relations between art and television. Contemporary artworks dealing with the TV function as a space in which to break down the barriers between high and low culture, explore identity or question power structures. In our current times of on-demand platforms, remembering that age in which television was the center of any home appears, not as an exercise in nostalgia, but as a way to reflect on where we come from and where we are now. Contemporary art here becomes the guiding thread from which to look at ourselves in the mirror of that black screen that will give rise to many others. * Julia Ramírez-Blanco, Lecturer in Art History, University of Barcelona, Spain *
Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Historical and Theoretical Frameworks 2. TV as a Mirror: Manipulations, Interruptions, and Re-presentations 3. Breaking News: Television Between Art and Activism 4. Artists as Media Stars 5. Disentertainment: Music Videos, Kid Shows, Humor, and Soap Operas 6. Art in the Age of Prosumers: Reality TV and the Internet Acknowledgements Works Cited Bibliography Index
