Search results for ""Author Nikos Papastergiadis""

Cosmopolitanism is commonly associated today with the idea that the forces of globalization could be tempered by new forms of cosmopolitan governance, an idea that was popular among some political theorists in the late twentieth century but seems increasingly unrealistic today. Rather than discarding the idea of cosmopolitanism, Nikos Papastergiadis seeks to reinvigorate it by examining the ways in which visual artists have explored themes associated with the cosmos. Kant regarded cosmopolitanism as the goal for humanity, but he turned his attention away from the connection to the cosmos and directed it toward the practical rules for peaceful co-existence. However, these two concerns are not in conflict. Today a new vision of the cosmos is being developed by artists, among others – one that brings together the cosmos and the polis. Scholars from the South are decolonizing the mindset which divided the world and split us from our common connections, while others are using art to highlight the existential threats we now face as a species. By developing a distinctive form of aesthetic cosmopolitanism, this book shows that the idea of the cosmos is more important than ever today, and vital for our attempts to rethink our place as one species among others in a universe that extends far beyond our world.

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Today, more than at any other point in history, we are aware of the cultural impact of global processes. This has created new possibilities for the development of a cosmopolitan culture but, at the same time, it has created new risks and anxieties linked to immigration and the accommodation of strangers. This book examines how the images of the terrorist and the refugee, by being dispersed across almost all aspects of social life, have resulted in the production of ‘ambient fears’, and it explores the role of artists in reclaiming the conditions of hospitality. Since 9/11 contemporary artists have confronted the issues of globalization by creating situations in which strangers can enter into dialogue with each other, collaborating with diverse networks to forms new platforms for global knowledge. Such knowledge does not depend upon the old model of establishing a supposedly objective and therefore universal framework, but on the capacity to recognize, and mutually negotiate, situated differences. From artworks that incorporate new media techniques to collective activism Papastergiadis claims that there is a new cosmopolitan imaginary that challenges the conventional divide between art and politics. Through the analysis of artistic practices across the globe this book extends the debates on culture and cosmopolitanism from the ethics of living with strangers to the aesthetics of imagining alternative visions of the world. Timely and wide-ranging, this book will be essential reading for students and scholars in sociology and cultural studies and will be of interest to anyone concerned with the changing forms of art and culture in our contemporary global age.

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Cosmopolitanism is commonly associated today with the idea that the forces of globalization could be tempered by new forms of cosmopolitan governance, an idea that was popular among some political theorists in the late twentieth century but seems increasingly unrealistic today. Rather than discarding the idea of cosmopolitanism, Nikos Papastergiadis seeks to reinvigorate it by examining the ways in which visual artists have explored themes associated with the cosmos. Kant regarded cosmopolitanism as the goal for humanity, but he turned his attention away from the connection to the cosmos and directed it toward the practical rules for peaceful co-existence. However, these two concerns are not in conflict. Today a new vision of the cosmos is being developed by artists, among others – one that brings together the cosmos and the polis. Scholars from the South are decolonizing the mindset which divided the world and split us from our common connections, while others are using art to highlight the existential threats we now face as a species. By developing a distinctive form of aesthetic cosmopolitanism, this book shows that the idea of the cosmos is more important than ever today, and vital for our attempts to rethink our place as one species among others in a universe that extends far beyond our world.

Read more less