Non-Places by
An ever-increasing proportion of our lives is spent in supermarkets, airports and hotels, on motorways or in front of TVs, computer and cash machines. This invasion of the world by what Marc Auge calls non-space results in a profound alteration of awareness- something we perceive, but only in a partial and incoherent manner. Auge uses the concept of supermodernity to describe the logic of these late-capitalist phenomena a logic of excessive information and excessive space. In this fascinating and lucid essay he seeks to establish and intellectual armature for an anthropology of supermodernity. Starting with an attempt to disentangle anthropology from history, Auge goes on to map the distinction between place, encrusted with historical monuments and creative social life, and non-place, to which individuals are connected in a uniform manner and where no organic social life is possible. Unlike Baudelairean modernity, where old and new are interwoven, supermodernity is self-contained- from the motorway or aircraft, local or exotic particularities are presented two-dimensionally as a sort of theme-park spectacle. Auge does not suggest that supermodernity is all-encompassing- place still exist outside non-place and tend to reconstitute themselves inside it. But he argues powerfully that we are in transit through non-place for more and more of our time, as if between immense parentheses, and concludes that this new form of solitude should become the subject of an anthropology of its own.
World Art History and Its Objects by
Is writing a world art history possible? Does the history of art as such even exist outside the Western tradition? Is it possible to consider the history of art in a way that is not fundamentally Eurocentric? In this highly readable and provocative book, David Carrier, a philosopher and art historian, does not attempt to write a world art history himself. Rather, he asks the question of how an art history of all cultures could be written--or whether it is even possible to do so. He also engages the political and moral issues raised by the idea of a multicultural art history. Focusing on a consideration of intersecting artistic traditions, Carrier negotiates the way meaning and understanding shift or are altered when a visual object from one culture, for example, is inserted into the visual tradition of another culture. A World Art History and Its Objects proposes the use of temporal narrative as a way to begin to understand a multicultural art history.
The Return of the Real by
In The Return of the Real Hal Foster discusses the development of art and theory since 1960, and reorders the relation between prewar and postwar avant-gardes. Opposed to the assumption that contemporary art is somehow belated, he argues that the avant-garde returns to us from the future, repositioned by innovative practice in the present. And he poses this retroactive model of art and theory against the reactionary undoing of progressive culture that is pervasive today. After the models of art-as-text in the 1970s and art-as-simulacrum in the 1980s, Foster suggests that we are now witness to a return to the real--to art and theory grounded in the materiality of actual bodies and social sites. If The Return of the Real begins with a new narrative of the historical avant-gard, it concludes with an original reading of this contemporary situation--and what it portends for future practices of art and theory, culture and politics.
The 21st-Century Art Book by
An accessible A-Z guide to best contemporary art made since 2000
Art since 1900: modernism, antimodernism, postmodernism by
Groundbreaking in both its content and its presentation, Art Since 1900 has been hailed as a landmark study in the history of art. Conceived by some of the most influential art historians of our time, this extraordinary book has now been revised, expanded and brought right up to date to include the latest developments in the study and practice of art.
With a clear year-by-year structure, the authors present 130 articles, each focusing on a crucial event - such as the creation of a seminal work, the publication of an important text, or the opening of a major exhibition - to tell the myriad stories of art from 1900 to the present. All the key turning-points and breakthroughs of modernism and postmodernism are explored in depth, as are the frequent antimodernist reactions that proposed alternative visions. This expanded edition includes a new introduction on the impact of globalization, as well as essays on the development of Synthetic Cubism, early avant-garde film, Brazilian modernism, postmodern architecture, Moscow conceptualism, queer art, South African photography, and the rise of the new museum of art.
Acclaimed as the definitive work on the subject, Art Since 1900 is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the complexities of art in the modern age.
One Place after Another by
Site-specific art emerged in the late 1960s in reaction to the growing commodification of art and the prevailing ideals of art's autonomy and universality. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, as site-specific art intersected with land art, process art, performance art, conceptual art, installation art, institutional critique, community-based art, and public art, its creators insisted on the inseparability of the work and its context. In recent years, however, the presumption of unrepeatability and immobility encapsulated in Richard Serra's famous dictum to remove the work is to destroy the work is being challenged by new models of site specificity and changes in institutional and market forces.
Contemporary Art by
Contemporary Art: World Currents is the first comprehensive worldwide survey of contemporary art from the 1980s to the present day. Author Terry Smith argues that, in recent decades, a global shift from modern to contemporary art has occurred: artists everywhere have embraced the contemporary world's teeming multiplicity, its proliferating differences and its challenging complexities and new technologies. Alongside more than 350 carefully selected color images of key works, Terry Smith offers the first account of these changes, from their historical beginnings to the present day. Exploring key works by both well known and little-known artists, the author shows how contemporary art achieved definitive force in the markets and museums of the major art centres during the 1980s and then became a global phenomenon as artworlds everywhere began to connect more closely: new communicative technologies and expanding social media are now shaping the future of art. Contemporary Art: World Currents breaks new ground in tracing how modern, traditional and indigenous art became contemporary in each cultural region of the world, ranging across Western, East and Central Europe, North and South America and the Caribbean, Oceania, Africa, and the Middle East. Terry Smith lays the groundwork for a new comparative approach to contemporary art, emphasizing its relationships to all aspects of contemporary life. He argues that it is cultural diversity and individual artistic inventiveness, not a convergence towards sameness, which makes today's art contemporary. Contemporary Art: World Currents brings the subject right up-todate, highlighting the concerns of contemporary artists while giving the reader an invaluable insight to art today. Teaching and Learning Experience Improve Critical Thinking- Explore how contemporary art has become a global, connected phenomenon Engage Students- Looks at the work of contemporary artists from across the world. Support Instructors- Image PowerPoints slides are available for Contemporary Art: World Currents.
Art of the Digital Age by
Aimed at the general reader interested in the latest developments in art and technology, this large format, profusely illustrated book showcases some of the most important works in the field of digital art. Following an illustrated brief history of digital art, concise introductions to each subsequent chapter describe the defining characteristics of each of its genres, while discursive captions for each image introduce the artists and artworks in greater detail. A conclusion considers the future of this ever-changing art form.
The Painter of Modern Life and Other Essays by
Charles Baudelaire, the nineteenth-century French poet and writer, has also been called 'the father of modern criticism'. This stimulating volume gathers together some of his most celebrated critical writings.
Painting Today by
Photo-realism, abstraction, portraiture, installation painting, neo-expressionism and the Leipzig School are just some of the areas of this thriving medium explored in Painting Today. This comprehensive survey of contemporary painting presents the broad range of styles, materials and methods that comprise the artform, extending the tradition of Phaidon's trail-blazing Art Today. Since the proclaimed ‘death of painting’ in 1968, artists around the globe have nevertheless continued to expand its imagery, techniques and meanings, and in over 500 illustrations this book presents the work of both famous and emergent painters active around the world. Tony Godfrey presents a lively and authoritive view of the vast range of possibilities that painting today encompasses.
The Painting of Modern Life by
Andy Warhol's silk screens, Gerhard Richter's blurred images, Vija Celmins' hyperrealism: some of the most influential developments in the history of contemporary art hinge on the use of photographs as source material. Beginning in the early 60s, with seminal works by the aforementioned artists, "The Painting of Modern Life" charts the 45-year evolution of the translation of photographic images to paint--revealing an extraordinary breadth of stylistic and thematic diversity. This volume features 22 painters whose sources range from snapshots to commercial media, among them Richard Artschwager, Robert Bechtle, Celmins, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, Thomas Eggerer, Judith Eisler, Franz Gertsch, Richard Hamilton, Eberhard Havekost, David Hockney, Johannes Kahrs, Johanna Kandl, Martin Kippenberger, Liu Xiaodong, Malcolm Morley, Elizabeth Peyton, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Richter, Wilhelm Sasnal, Luc Tuymans and Warhol. Essays by curator Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, writer and critic Martin Herbert, Hayward Director Ralph Rugoff and poet and critic, Barry Schwabsky lend insight to issues of translation, context and content.
In Black and White by
In Black and White explores prints from Africa and the African diaspora since 1960. As an accessible medium, print bridges the space between fine and commercial art as a vehicle for expression and carries with it a tradition of satire and protest, both social and political. Above all, prints are a means of communication and cultural exchange and, in the context of Africa and the African diaspora, these qualities have had a particular resonance. This book presents and interprets a variety of visual images from the V&A collections in terms of their political and social context, while also addressing their identity as art and design. It includes prints by Uzo Egonu, Carrie Mae Weems, and Chris Ofili, among others, as well as work with an overt political purpose, such as posters attacking the Apartheid policies of South Africa, and material produced by American Black Power organizations such as the Black Panthers.
What Is a Print? by
What is a print? This volume aims to answer that question by exploring the four basic printmaking techniques woodcut, intaglio, lithography and screenprint that have been used to create some of the most iconic images in modern art, from Paul Gauguins Noa Noa to AndyWarhols Marilyn Monroe. Illustrated with works fromThe Museum of Modern Arts superlative collection of prints, the book is divided into four sections that provide an overview introduction to each technique. Each section presents approximately 40 prints that demonstrate the range and variety of a particular technique and illustrate its development over the last century. Extended captions highlight the distinctive visual effects unique to each technique, and examine issues specific to printmaking, such as the democratic ideas about distribution and social and political function. Featured works range from Edvard Munchs radical woodcut experiments from the 1890s to KelleyWalkers digital experiments of the last several years, and include prints by modern masters like Pablo Picasso and Joan Mir as well as those made by a roster of international contemporary artists who continue to explore and expand these techniques today.
Artists and Prints by
The creativity of the most celebrated artists of the modern period has been enriched and expanded by their work in the print medium. Exploiting the potential of such techniques as woodcut, lithography, etching and screenprint, as well as other processes, these artists have added immeasurably to their expressive vocabularies. Many have availed themselves of the expertise offered by master printers in professional workshops and have benefited from the fruits of such collaboration. They have found inspiration in traditional printed formats, such as portfolios and illustrated books, and have used them to explore thematic interests. As a result of these experiences, printmaking has exerted influence on their work in other mediums and has become integral to their creative thinking as a whole. Finally, the fact that prints are made in editions rather than as single impressions has enabled these artists to reach a much broader audience than would otherwise be possible. This volume includes the work of artists from the late nineteenth century to the present and demonstrates the imaginative ways in which they used print techniques. The potential of the woodcut was explored by Paul Gauguin and Edvard Munch, and the woodcut later became a major preoccupation of the German Expressionists Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Emil Nolde and Max Beckmann; lithographed posters were a specialty of Toulouse Lautrec; Pablo Picasso and Joan Mir experimented with drypoint, etching and lithography, among other techniques, in new and original ways; Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns exploited the painterly aspects of lithography and the commercial look of screenprint. The current generation of artists, among them Terry Winters and Kiki Smith, has gravitated to printed art as an essential aspect of their creative practice, with major bodies of work already produced. Including more than 200 illustrations, this publication is organized as an unfolding historical narrative with a focus on individual artists, each with a succinct text describing his or her relationship to printmaking. Bibliographic references cite the latest scholarship in the field. An index of artists, printers and publishers reflects the involvement of various partners in the printmaking enterprise. All works reproduced are from The Museum of Modern Art's extraordinary collection of over 50,000 prints, the finest of its kind in the world.
Installation Art by
"Installation Art provides both a history and a full critical examination of this challenging area of contemporary art, from 1950 to the present day. Using case studies of significant artists and individual works. Claire Bishop argues that, as installation art requires its audience to physically enter the artwork in order to experience it, installation pieces can be categorised by the type of experience they provide for the viewing subject. As well as exploring the methodologies of the artists examined, Bishop also explains the critical theory that informed their work. While revising and in some cases, re-assessing many well-known names, this fully illustrated book will introduce the reader to a wide spectrum of younger artists, some yet to receive critical attention."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Vitamin 3-D by
Following the successful reception of Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting, Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawingand Vitamin Ph: New Perspectives in Photography, Vitamin 3-D aims to create a lively and informative survey of contemporary sculpture and installation from around the globe. With 120 artists selected by 40 nominators, Vitamin 3-Dwill be an up-to-the-minute guide to the best artists working in three dimensions.
A Sculpture Reader by
A unique anthology of articles on contemporary sculptors drawn from the 25-year history of Sculpture magazine, A Sculpture Reader offers a valuable overview of three dimensional art since 1980. Focusing on individual artists rather than themes or movements, the 42 essays in A Sculpture Reader capture the wide-ranging possibilities that characterize contemporary sculpture.
Installation Art in the New Millenium by
Following Installation Art by the same authors, this is a useful guide to navigating and understanding developments in this increasingly mainstream form of contemporary art. Arranged in themed sections with a chronology, the book offers a vast visual source of works from all over the world.
Understanding Installation Art by
This provocative and highly original examination of installation art demystifies and deconstructs the artistic medium most likely to induce the question, But is it Art?When we think of installation art we imagine enormous, perhaps bewildering, multi-media environments. But the world's earliest known installation projects were created millennia ago on the walls of caves in Lascaux, France. Although the genre has been evolving ever since, its primary impulse'a dialogue between artist and space'remains the same. In Understanding Installation Art, Mark Rosenthal offers an historical interpretation and concise critical analyses that will help deepen readers? appreciation of this often confusing medium.Citing examples as diverse as the Sistine Chapel, Colonial Williamsburg, Robert Smithson's Spiral Jetty, and Vito Acconti's Seedbed as well as works by Richard Serra, Rebecca Horn, Claes Oldenburg, Jenny Holzer and Bruce Nauman, the author defines installation art as a medium with broad possibilities for expression, universal appreciation, and democratization. He creates a new taxonomy of his subject, identifying four specific forms'enchantments, impersonations, interventions, and rapprochements'and shows how installation art is steering the concept of museums and galleries in new and exciting directions. Most importantly he helps readers feel more comfortable with site-specific art, a genre that dates back to man's earliest artistic expression.
Art Photography by
In the last decade, interest in photography has exploded. Among the most compelling and popular art forms, photography is now recognized as central to the development of modern and contemporary art. In this accessibly written survey, art photography comes alive through a series of frames--from documentary style and pictorialism to archives, narratives, and the conceptual uses of the medium. David Bate traces major developments and themes from the earliest days of photography, in the 1830s, to the present day, examining the many ways in which photography and art have intersected since the birth of the medium. Featuring works from a wide and international group of artists--including Henry Fox Talbot, Roger Fenton, Lee Miller, Brassa#65533;, Robert Frank, Nan Goldin, Ed Ruscha, and Gillian Wearing--this comprehensive volume uncovers the Anglo-American and European contexts of art photography, as well as the Asian, African, and Middle Eastern perspectives.
The Photograph As Contemporary Art by
In the 21st century photography has come of age as a contemporary art form. Nearly two centuries after photographic technology was first invented, the art world has fully embraced it as a legitimate medium, equal in status to painting and sculpture. This book provides an introduction to contemporary art-photography, identifying its most important features and themes and celebrating its exciting pluralism through an overview of its most important and innovative practitioners. The work of nearly 250 photographers is reproduced, from established artists such as Isa Genzken, Jeff Wall, Sophie Calle, Thomas Demand, Nan Goldin, and Sherrie Levine to emerging talents such Walead Beshty, Jason Evans, Lucas Blalock, Sara VanDerBeek, and Viviane Sassen.This new edition brings the story of contemporary art photography up to date with a revised introduction outlining the evolution of photography from documentary tool to art form, and an updated final chapter focusing on the younger generation of artists who emphasize the technical and material properties of photography, employ it as part of a wider pan-media practice, or respond to evolving new modes of dissemination in the digital age.
Photography Theory by
Photography Theory presents forty of the world's most active art historians and theorists, including Victor Burgin, Joel Snyder, Rosalind Krauss, Alan Trachtenberg, Geoffrey Batchen, Carol Squiers, Margaret Iversen and Abigail Solomon-Godeau in animated debate on the nature of photography. Photography has been around for nearly two centuries, but we are no closer to understanding what it is. For some people, a photograph is an optically accurate impression of the world, for others, it is mainly a way of remembering people and places. Some view it as a sign of bourgeois life, a kind of addiction of the middle class, whilst others see it as a troublesome interloper that has confused people's ideas of reality and fine art to the point that they have difficulty even defining what a photograph is. For some, the whole question of finding photography's nature is itself misguided from the beginning. This provocative second volume in the Routledge The Art Seminar series presents not one but many answers to the question what makes a photograph a photograph?
The Language of New Media by
A stimulating, eclectic accountof new media that finds its origins in old media, particularly the cinema. In this book Lev Manovich offers the first systematic and rigorous theory of new media. He places new media within the histories of visual and media cultures of the last few centuries. He discusses new media's reliance on conventions of old media, such as the rectangular frame and mobile camera, and shows how new media works create the illusion of reality, address the viewer, and represent space. He also analyzes categories and forms unique to new media, such as interface and database. Manovich uses concepts from film theory, art history, literary theory, and computer science and also develops new theoretical constructs, such as cultural interface, spatial montage, and cinegratography. The theory and history of cinema play a particularly important role in the book. Among other topics, Manovich discusses parallels between the histories of cinema and of new media, digital cinema, screen and montage in cinema and in new media, and historical ties between avant-garde film and new media.
Parables for the Virtual by
Although the body has been the focus of much contemporary cultural theory, the models that are typically applied neglect the most salient characteristics of embodied existence--movement, affect, and sensation--in favor of concepts derived from linguistic theory. In Parables for the Virtual Brian Massumi views the body and media such as television, film, and the Internet, as cultural formations that operate on multiple registers of sensation beyond the reach of the reading techniques founded on the standard rhetorical and semiotic models. Renewing and assessing William James's radical empiricism and Henri Bergson's philosophy of perception through the filter of the post-war French philosophy of Deleuze, Guattari, and Foucault, Massumi links a cultural logic of variation to questions of movement, affect, and sensation. If such concepts are as fundamental as signs and significations, he argues, then a new set of theoretical issues appear, and with them potential new paths for the wedding of scientific and cultural theory. Replacing the traditional opposition of literal and figural with new distinctions between stasis and motion and between actual and virtual, Parables for the Virtual tackles related theoretical issues by applying them to cultural mediums as diverse as architecture, body art, the digital art of Stelarc, and Ronald Reagan's acting career. The result is an intriguing combination of cultural theory, science, and philosophy that asserts itself in a crystalline and multi-faceted argument. Parables for the Virtual will interest students and scholars of continental and Anglo-American philosophy, cultural studies, cognitive science, electronic art, digital culture, and chaos theory, as well as those concerned with the "science wars" and the relation between the humanities and the sciences in general.