Description
Book SynopsisWhat exactly is contemporary war art in the West today? This book considers the place of contemporary war art in the 2020s, a whole generation after 9/11 and long past the War on Terror'.Exploring the role contemporary art plays within conversations around war and imperialism, the book brings together chapters from international contemporary artists, theorists and curators, alongside the voices of contemporary war artists through original edited interviews.It addresses newly emerged contexts in which war is found: not only sites of contemporary conflicts such as Ukraine, Yemen and Syria, but everywhere in western culture, from social media to culture' wars. With interviews from official war artists working in the UK, the US, and Australia, such as eX de Medici (Australia) and David Cotterrell (UK), as well as those working in post-colonial contexts, such as Baptist Coelho (India), the editors reflect on contemporary processes of memorialisation and the impact of British colonisa
Trade ReviewA monumental and richly curated volume that challenges our notions of war itself, questioning how mass violence comes to count as meaningful and worthy of official memory. * Roger Stahl, author of Through the Crosshairs (2018), and Professor of Communication Studies, the University of Georgia, USA *
An evocative exploration of the complexities inherent in ‘war art’. The significant inclusion of the voices of official and unofficial war-artists provides compelling insights into the tensions involved in making art that speaks to military experience and public expectation. * Margaret Baguley, Professor, School of Education, University of Southern Queensland, Australia *
In an era of hybrid warfare, the role of war art is changing. This book eloquently examines these transformations, exploring the relationship of war art to colonisation, witness bearing, knowledge, “truth”, and memorialisation. * Babak Bahador, Associate Research Professor and Director of the Media and Peacebuilding Project, George Washington University, USA *
Few books have had the wit or the daring to pose serious questions about the visual potency of 21st century conflict. Facing this challenge head on, this urgent, timely, and important publication examines the ambiguous, distributed and often invisible world of warfare with conviction and insight. It is compulsory reading for scholars of conflict and all those fascinated by the testimony of learned experience. * Paul Gough, Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Arts University Bournemouth, UK *
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: Contemporary War Art,
Kit Messham-Muir (Curtin University, Australia), Uroš Cvoro (UNSW, Australia) and Monika Lukowska-Appel (Curtin University, Australia) Part One: Colonisation, Memory and Amnesia Introduction 1. Unsettling Colonial Postamnesia: Contemporary Art, the WW1 Centenary and Beyond,
Ana Carden-Coyne (Manchester University, UK) 2. Above all Else: Art as a Weapon,
Lisa Slade (Art Gallery of South Australia) 3. WAR (ART): what is it good for?,
Anthea Gunn and Laura Webster (Australian War Memorial) 4. Colonisation, Memory and Amnesia: Interviews with Baptist Coelho, Alana Hunt and Abdul Abdullah
Part Two: War Art, Official and Unofficial Introduction 5. The War at Home,
Charles Green (University of Melbourne, Australia) 6. Soldier/Artist: Negotiating the complexities of military service and critical practice,
Kit Messham-Muir (Curtin University, Australia) and Uroš Cvoro (UNSW, Australia) 7. War Art, Official and Unofficial: Interviews with eX de Medici, David Cotterrell, Karen Bailey and Phillip Cheung
Part Three: Knowing and Testimony Introduction 8. The Art of Testimony,
Paul Lowe (University of the Arts London, UK) 9. Inconvenient Narratives: Addressing moral ambiguity in the national war museum,
Kit Messham-Muir (Curtin University, Australia) 10. Knowing and Testimony: Interviews with Todd Stone, Andrew Sneddon and Joanna Bourke
Bibliography Index
