Search results for ""ortac press""
Ortac Press This Is Not Who I Am: Our Authenticity Obsession
In contemporary culture, there is no stronger imperative than to be authentic. But what does authenticity actually mean? Everywhere we turn, we are urged to "live our truth": an element of Western culture that is almost never questioned. Authenticity in all its contexts is becoming more significant than ever as digital culture breeds fakery and capitalism offers the illusion of infinite choice. In this climate, finding and being yourself is a more complex idea than it sounds - one that should not necessarily be taken as doctrine. In this set of six sharp, lively essays, the writer and journalist Emily Bootle explores how authenticity has pervaded every facet of our culture, from modern celebrity and identity politics to Instagram captions and wellness. Blending pop culture and philosophy, this book dismantles the ideology surrounding being ourselves at all costs, and questions what fuels our authenticity obsession.
£11.99
Ortac Press Pinch Me: Trying to Feel Real in the 21st Century
This is a book about how it feels to exist. About the moments we come off autopilot and engage fully with the world around us. The fleeting moments in which our minds and bodies connect totally to one another and to our environment. Intimate, impassioned and full of humour, PINCH ME follows art historian Francesca Ramsay's far-reaching journey in search of answers to one of life's most complex and essential questions: What does it mean to feel real? Tackling this ancient subject through a contemporary lens, PINCH ME is a raw, lyrical reflection on finding connection with oneself, one another and the modern world. Ramsay investigates what it is to experience reality, the reasons so many of us are feeling the lack of it today, and crucially, how we might be able to get it back.
£12.99
Ortac Press The Fugitive of Gezi Park
Ada is haunted by her yearning for Istanbul and by the scars of a nightlong interrogation following her arrest at the Gezi Park protests. Now in London temping at an art fair, she meets Lucian, an eccentric, charming but burnt-out gallerist. Since his divorce, Lucian has been relying on drugs and alcohol to mend his broken heart. Ada, meanwhile, dreads the verdict of her forthcoming trial in Istanbul. Day-by-day, as their passion deepens, they reassess their past choices, and their futures rapidly take shape. Sensual, perceptive and at times bitingly funny, The Fugitive of Gezi Park explores the nature of trauma and struggle, asking what it takes of us to start all over again. In 2013, police brutality against a peaceful group protesting the destruction of Gezi Park - one of the few public green spaces in Istanbul - prompted an unprecedented wave of demonstrations which spread rapidly across Turkey, lasting several weeks. The Gezi Park Protests are a pivotal moment in the country's volatile recent history, and continue to carry huge sentimental value for the dissidents of the 'New Turkey.'
£11.99
Ortac Press DomadomadomaBlumblumblum
Luke Thompson is a unique and compelling guide through conversations, real and imagined, with other beings. Thompson's journey takes him from the stories of King Solomon and Doctor Dolittle to medieval dragon-slayers and extraterrestrial aliens, via Harvard laboratories, Caribbean Waters, and the discipline of anthrozoology.
£12.99
Ortac Press Push Process
VENICE, 2000. Richard is a postgraduate student living in the city to research its past. He's supposed to be working in the archive, but he meets two art students who are more interested in Venice's present. He decides to pick up a camera and join them. The world comes alive for Richard through photographs: for the first time, he belongs.
£14.99
Ortac Press Flower Factory: A Fairy Tale
Freedom of movement wasn't always an alien concept to the British. Flower Factory tells of an English seasonal worker going to live and work in the Netherlands at the turn of the millennium. These psyched-out remembrances are set in the Bollenstreek of South Holland, an area that produces flower bulbs by the billion. Casual workers from all over Europe created their own ecosystem of squats, parties and alternative living practices around the working seasons, raving hard and living for the weekly pay packet. In the year 2000 it seemed nothing would change in this free-and-easy land, but the narrator witnessed the last beating of the 24 Hour Party drum. Featuring original line illustrations by the author, this surreally comic and immersive novel is a dreamlike snapshot of life in Europe just two decades ago: the book shines a lurid light on a world that's difficult to recognise today.
£11.99