Welcome to your Themes and Ideas: Perspectives on Photography reading list. Here you will find resources selected by your course team to support you throughout this module.
Photography: the key concepts by Bate, D.This updated and expanded edition provides a thorough grounding in the the place of photography in our society and a guide to the extraordinary range of photographic genres. Since its introduction nearly 200 years ago, photography has become part of everyday life, a position consolidated by the recent development of digital imaging and manipulation. Now with two new chapters on amateur snapshots and theories of 'looking', this book explains the extraordinary power of photography to confirm identity, sell products, reshape the real, visualise the news and to record and communicate the personal moment. With 80 new illustrations, this second edition explores in more detail the international and cultural diversity of this fascinating and pervasive media. An ideal guide for students, it introduces the key theoretical and critical concepts of documentary, portraiture, landscape, still life, art, amateur, institutional and global photography.
Shopping with Freud by Bowlby, R.What is a consumer? Shopping with Freudlooks at some of the surprising ways in which the consumer subject appears in a range of writings - from literature to marketing psychology to psychoanalysis. Rachel Bowlby shows how ideas about consumption are brought to bear on contemporary conceptions of choice in areas that seem far removed from a straightforward matter of shopping. She also shows that arguments and assumptions about the psychology of consumers themselves throw light on genderal questions of human psychology.
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful by Burke, E. ; Phillips, A. (Editor)An eloquent and sometimes even erotic book, the Philosophical Enquiry was long dismissed as a piece of mere juvenilia. However, Burke's analysis of the relationship between emotion, beauty, and art form is now recognized as not only an important and influential work of aesthetic theory, butalso one of the first major works in European literature on the Sublime, a subject that has fascinated thinkers from Kant and Coleridge to the philosophers and critics of today. This is the only available edition of the work.
Call Number: 701.17 BUR + eBook
ISBN: 9780199537884
Publication Date: 2009
Cindy Sherman by Burton, J.Published to accompany the first major survey of Cindy Sherman's work in the United States in nearly 15 years, this publication presents a stunning range of work from the groundbreaking artist's 35-year career. Showcasing approximately 180 photographs from the mid-1970s to the present, including new works made for the exhibition and never before published, the volume is a vivid exploration of Sherman's sustained investigation into the construction of contemporary identity and the nature of representation. The book highlights major bodies of work including her seminal 'Untitled Film Stills' (1977-80); 'Centerfolds' (1981); 'History Portraits' (1989- 90); 'Headshots' (2000); and two recent series on the experience and representation of aging in the context of contemporary obsessions with youth and status. An introductory essay by curator Eva Respini provides an overview of Sherman's career, weaving together art historical analysis and discussions of the artist's working methods, and a contribution by art historian Johanna Burton offers a critical re-examination of Sherman's work in light of her recent series. A conversation between Cindy Sherman and filmmaker John Waters provide an enlightening view into the creative process.
Call Number: 770.92 SHE
ISBN: 9780870708121
Publication Date: 2012
Photography after Conceptual Art by Costello, D. ; Iversen, M. (Editor)Photography After Conceptual Art presents a series of original essays that address substantive theoretical, historical, and aesthetic issues raised by post-1960s photography as a mainstream artistic medium Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 Appeals to people interested in artist's use of photography and in contemporary art Tracks the efflorescence of photography as one of the most important mediums for contemporary art Explores the relation between recent art, theory and aesthetics, for which photography serves as an important test case Includes a number of the essays with previously unpublished photographs Artists discussed include Ed Ruscha, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Douglas Huebler, Mel Bochner, Sherrie Levine, Roni Horn, Thomas Demand, and Jeff Wall
Light Years : Conceptual Art and the Photograph 1964 - 1977 by Art Institute of ChicagoPhotography played a critical role in conceptual art of the 1960s and 1970s, as artists turned to photography as both medium and subject matter. Light Years offers the first major survey of the key artists of this period who used photography to new and inventive ends. Whereas some employed photographic images to create slide projections, photographic canvases, and artists' books, others integrated them into sculptural assemblages and multimedia installations. This book highlights the work of acclaimed international artists such as Vito Acconci, John Baldessari, Mel Bochner, Sol LeWitt, Bruce Nauman, Giuseppe Penone, and Ed Ruscha. Matthew Witkovsky's essay provides the larger context for photography within conceptual art, a theme that is further elaborated in texts by Mark Godfrey, Anne Rorimer, and Joshua Shannon. An essay by Robin Kelsey focuses on the pioneering work of John Baldessari in which he explored the element of chance, and an essay by Giuliano Sergio illuminates the lesser-known work of Arte Povera, an Italian movement that sought to dismantle established conventions in both the making and presentation of art.
Call Number: 779.09046 WIT
ISBN: 9780300159714
Publication Date: 2012
Understanding Film Theory by Doughty, R.; Etherington-Wright, C.This essential core textbook provides an approachable and extensive introduction to film theory, written by two highly experienced senior lecturers. Bringing a fresh, contemporary and accessible approach to what is often perceived to be a challenging and old-fashioned area of film studies that requires time and effort to grasp, the text illustrates why theory is important and demonstrates how it can be applied in a meaningful way. The book's sixteen chapters are clear and comprehensive and provide an insight into the main areas of debate, using clear definitions and explaining complex ideas succinctly. The ideal entry point for any student studying film, the book is designed for use on courses on film theory on undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes within film, cinema, media and cultural studies. New to this Edition: - An expanded introduction, plus a new chapter looking at Adaptation - Contemporary case studies exploring popular and topical films, such as The Hunger Games (2012), Blue is the Warmest Colour (2013) and The Lego Movie (2014) - An expanded introduction, plus a new chapter looking at Adaptation - Additional genre-based case study on the British Gangster film - Additional actor-basedcase study on Ryan Gosling - A greater focus throughout on the relevance of film theory to students undertaking practical film degrees and units
Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism by Fer, B.; Batchelor, D.; Wood, P.This volume is part of a four-volume series about art and its interpretation in the 19th and 20th centuries. The books provide an introduction to modern European and American art and criticism that should be valuable both to students and to the general reader.
Call Number: 709.04 BAT
ISBN: 9780300055184
Publication Date: 1993
Robert Smithson: the collected writings by Flam, J.Since the 1979 publication of The Writings of Robert Smithson, Robert Smithson's significance as a spokesman for a generation of artists has been widely acknowledged and the importance of his thinking to contemporary artists and art critics continues to grow. In addition to a new introduction by Jack Flam, The Collected Writings includes previously unpublished essays by Smithson and gathers hard-to-find articles, interviews, and photographs. Together these provide a full picture of his wide-ranging views on art and culture.
Conceptual Art by Godfrey, T.What is art? Must it be a unique, saleable luxury item? Can it be a concept that never takes material form? Or an idea for a work that can be repeated endlessly? Conceptual art favours a vivid engagement with such questions. It can take many forms: photographs, videos, posters, billboards, charts, plans and, in particular, language itself. Tony Godfrey has written the first ever clear, extensive, concise and informative account of this fascinating phenomenon.
Call Number: 709.04075 GOD
ISBN: 0714833886
Publication Date: 1998
Introducing Romanticism by Heath, D.; Boreham, J. (Illustrator)Philosphy, art, literature, music and politics were tranformed in the turbulent period between the French Revolution of 1789 and the Communist Manifesto of 1848. This overview of Romanticism focuses on the leading figures in Europe and America.
Call Number: 940.27 HEA
ISBN: 9781840460094
Publication Date: 1996
Hannah Hoch by Hoch, H., Ades, D. (Editor); Herrmann, D. F. (Editor)This book on the celebrated Dada artist Hannah H#65533;ch explores her use of collage as the artistic medium of choice for both satire and poetic beauty. World-renowned for her work during the Weimar period, Hannah H#65533;ch was a pioneer in many aspects, both artistic and cultural. She was the crucial female artist of the Berlin Dada movement - the riotous movement that deconstructed sound, language, and images to re-assemble them into new objects, texts and meanings. H#65533;ch was a pivotal force in the development of collage, paving the way for today's ubiquitous image editing techniques. A determined believer in artistic freedom, H#65533;ch questioned conventional concepts of partnership, beauty and the making of art, her work presenting acute critiques of racial and social stereotypes, particularly that of her native Germany. Focusing on H#65533;ch's collages, this book examines the artist's career from the 1910s to the 1970s, charting her oeuvre from early works influenced by fashion and mass media, through to her later compositions of lyrical abstraction. It reveals her rapid development of a personal style, which was both humorous and often moving, but also offered critical commentary on society at a time of tremendous social change.
Call Number: 770.92 HOC ADE
ISBN: 9783791353432
Publication Date: 2014
After Modern Art by Hopkins, D.Contemporary art can be baffling and beautiful, provocative and disturbing. This pioneering book presents a new look at the controversial period between 1945 and 2015, when art and its traditional forms were called into question. It focuses on the relationship between American and Europeanart, and challenges previously held views about the origins of some of the most innovative ideas in art of this time.Major artists such as Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol, Joseph Beuys, Gerhard Richter, Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, Jeff Koons, and Shiran Neshat are all discussed, as is the art world of the last fifty years. Important trends are also covered including Abstract Expressionism,Pop Art, Minimalism, Conceptualism, Postmodernism, and Performance Art.This revised and updated second edition includes a new chapter exploring art since 2000 and how globalization has caused shifts in the art world, an updated Bibliography, and 16 new, colour illustrations.
Call Number: 709.045 HOP
ISBN: 9780199218455
Publication Date: 2018
Postmodernism, or, the cultural logic of late capitalism by Jameson, F.He seeks here to crystallize a definition of a term which has taken on so many meanings that it has virtually lost all historical significance. He presents an extensive discussion on the cultural landscape - both 'high' and 'low' of postmodernity, evaluating the political fortunes of the new term and surveying postmodern developments in a range of different fields from market ideology to architecture, from painting and instalment art to contemporary punk film, from video art and high literature to deconstruction.
Finally, Jameson revaluates the concept of postmodernism in light of postmodern critiques of totalization and historical narratives from the notion of decadence to the dynamics of small groups, from religious fundamentalism to hi-tech science fiction while touching on the nature of contemporary cultural critique and the possibilities of cognitive mapping in the present multinational world system. This provocative book will be fundamental to all future discussions of postmodernism.
Manifesto Collage by Lütgens, A. ; Brenner, B. ; zu Salm, C.In contemporary art, the collage technique has been experiencing a renaissance with artists finding new ways to use collage; they might adopt the classical approach – glueing, overpainting and alienating existing images – but they also draw on new, comput
Call Number: 709.05 SAL
ISBN: 9783869843407
Publication Date: 2013
Conceptual Art by Marzona, D.; Grosenick, U. (Editor)This guide to conceptual art traces the issues and concerns of the first generation of artists involved in the foundation of the movement, with an essay exploring the historical basis of conceptual art, its relationship to the dominant aesthetics of the 1960s and the influence of conceptual art on today's art and cultural climate.
Call Number: 709.04075
ISBN: 9783822829622
Publication Date: 2005
For Space by Massey, D. B."Doreen Massey is one of the most profound thinkers in contemporary human geography, and her work addresses fundamental issues with great insight. This is a work of enormous ambition, breadth, and depth, and not a little complexity."- David M. Smith, Queen Mary, University of London"The reason for my enthusiasm for this book is that Doreen Massey manages to describe a certain way of perceiving movement in space which I have been - and still am - working with on different levels in my work: i.e. the idea that space is not something static and neutral, a frozen entity, but is something intertwined with time and thus ever changing . Doreen′s descriptions of her journey through England for example are clear and precise accounts of this idea, and she very sharply characterizes the attempts not to recognize this idea as utopian and nostalgic."- Olaffur Eliasson"Destined to be widely read by many who are not geographers... in a publishing market currently so driven by what publishers think students will read, its lack of fit into established genres is hugely refreshing... a great book to read in terms of its head-on engagement with the spatial."- Geographical ResearchIn this book, Doreen Massey makes an impassioned argument for revitalising our imagination of space. She takes on some well-established assumptions from philosophy, and some familiar ways of characterising the 21st century world, and shows how they restrain our understanding of both the challenge and the potential of space. The way we think about space matters. It inflects our understandings of the world, our attitudes to others, our politics. It affects, for instance, the way we understand globalisation, the way we approach cities, the way we develop, and practice, a sense of place. If time is the dimension of change then space is the dimension of the social: the contemporaneous co-existence of others. That is its challenge, and one that has been persistently evaded. For Space pursues its argument through philosophical and theoretical engagement, and through telling personal and political reflection. Doreen Massey asks questions such as how best to characterise these so-called spatial times, how it is that implicit spatial assumptions inflect our politics, and how we might develop a responsibility for place beyond place. This book is ′for space′ in that it argues for a reinvigoration of the spatiality of our implicit cosmologies. For Space is essential reading for anyone interested in space and the spatial turn in the social sciences and humanities. Serious, and sometimes irreverent, it is a compelling manifesto: for re-imagining spaces for these times and facing up to their challenge.
Visual and Other Pleasures by Mulvey, L.A new edition of Laura Mulvey's groundbreaking collection of essays, originally published in 1989. In an extensive introduction to this second edition, Mulvey looks back at the historical and personal contexts for her famous article Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema , and reassesses her theories in the light of new technologies.
Call Number: 305.4 MUL
ISBN: 9781403992468
Publication Date: 2009
The English Coast by Murphy, P.This book examines the interaction between people and the coast of England. It spans from 700,000 years ago, and the earliest evidence of humans in this remote corner of north-west Europe, to the end of the 20th century. The coastline has witnessed interesting and significant events throughout history and looks set to do so in the future. Often it is the first place where changes can be seen, for example the effects of climate change. It is also where evidence for human adaptation to environmental changes can most readily be seen. The coast has, of course, also been a cultural contact zone for millennia in terms of trade, industry, immigration and conflict. We are certainly at a time of great environmental and economic transition, so it is apt to now take a long view and place current events in context. Some changes happening today may seem unprecedented but in fact are not, while others are entirely new. One thing we can be sure of is that the coast and sea will become increasingly important to us, both as an economic benefit and as a threat.
Call Number: 551.4570941 MUR
ISBN: 9781847251435
Publication Date: 2009
Women, Art, and Power and Other Essays by Nochlin, L.Women, Art, and Power'seven landmark essays on women artists and women in art history'brings together the work of almost twenty years of scholarship and speculation.
Freud for Beginners by Osborne, R.An introduction to Freud's work and methodology locating Freud in hostorical context and considering the criticisms of his theories. The splits in psychoanalytic work after Freud's death and recent Lacanian ideas are included: also looks at Freud's followers and his influence in the 20th century.
Call Number: 150.1952 OSB
ISBN: 9780863161643
Publication Date: 1993
Photography Reframed by Pollen, A. (Editor) ; Burbridge, B. (Editor)At a critical point in the development of photography, this book offers an engaging, detailed and far-reaching examination of the key issues that are defining contemporary photographic culture. Photography Reframed addresses the impact of radical technological, social and political change across a diverse set of photographic territories: the ontology of photography; the impact of mass photographic practice; the public display of intimate life; the current state of documentary, and the political possibilities of photographic culture. These lively, accessible essays by some of the best writers in photography together go deep into the most up-to-date frameworks for analysing and understanding photographic culture and shedding light on its histories. Photography Reframed is a vital road map for anyone interested in what photography has been, what it has become, and where it is going.
Call Number: 770 BUR
ISBN: 9781784538835
Publication Date: 2018
The Photographer's Eye by Szarkowski, J.The Photographer's Eye, available again after some years out of print, offers a guide to the medium's visual language through works by such early masters as Atget, Cartier-Bresson, Evans, Strand and Weston. In this re-issue, 172 illustrations reveal the extraordinary range of the photograph from the early days of the medium's development to the mid-1960s. They are accompanied by an essay from Szarkowski, one of the most influential photography curators and critics of our time.
Call Number: 770 SZA
ISBN: 087070527X
Publication Date: 2007
City Gorged with Dreams : surrealism and documentary photography in interwar Paris by Walker, I.The author analyses how the Surrealists utilised the tactics of documentary and how Surrealist ideas in turn influenced the development of documentary photography. The re-emergence of Surrealist photography, has an emphasis on work made in the studio or the darkroom. This, however, is a study of what Louis Aragon called surrealist realism: the exploration of a real-life surreality encountered on the streets of the city.
Call Number: 770.932 WAL
ISBN: 0719062152
Publication Date: 2002
Why Freud was wrong : sin, science and psychoanalysis by Webster, R.The importance of Sigmund Freud to the history of the twentieth century needs no demonstration. Yet, as criticism of Freud has mounted, all the major biographies of this central figure in our culture have been written either by admirers or by authors who are themselves psychoanalysts. Why Freud Was Wrong sets out to redress the imbalance and to offer a definitive answer to controversies that have raged with increasing bitterness in recent years. It is the first complete and coherent account of Freud's life and work to be written from a consistently skeptical point of view. It is also an unusual and successful exercise in intellectual archaelogy.In a new analysis of the origins of psychoanalysis, Richard Webster traces Freud's essentially religious personality to his childhood and shows how the founder of psychoanalysis, burdened by his parents' reverence and expectations, allowed his messianic dreams to shape the "science" he created. He examines the manner in which Freud - far from being the fearless and independent thinker of psychoanalytic legend - repeatedly fell under the spell of charismatic theorists who were mistaken or deluded. Having shown how Freud again and again misdiagnosed his patients and failed to work the cures he claimed, Webster goes on to question his most important theoretical formulations. Through a careful analysis of cultural history, he shows that Freud's sexual theories were in reality religious doctrines in disguise, safe from the attacks of science precisely because they were presented as science.
Call Number: 150.1952 WEB
ISBN: 9780006384281
Publication Date: 1996
The Photography Reader by Wells, L.Following on from its hugely successful first edition, The Photography Reader: History and Theory provides deeper insight into the critical discussions around photography - its production, its uses and its effects. Presenting both the historical ideas and the continuing theoretical debates within photography and photographic study, this second edition contains essays by photographers including Edward Weston and László Moholy-Nagy, and key thinkers such as Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag. Along with its companion text - The Photography Cultures Reader: Representation, Agency and Identity - this is the most comprehensive introduction to photography and photographic criticism. This new edition features: * Over 50 additional photographs * New essays from photographers and academics * Revised introductions, setting ideas and debates in their historical and theoretical context * Sections on Art photography, Documentary and Photomedia. Includes essays by: Jan Baetens, Roland Barthes, Geoffrey Batchen, David Bate, André Bazin, Walter Benjamin, Lynn Berger, Matthew Biro, Osip Brik, Victor Burgin, Hubert Damisch, Edmundo Desnoes, Umberto Eco, Elizabeth Edwards, Steve Edwards, Andy Grundberg, Lisa Henderson, Estelle Jussim, Sarah Kember, Siegfried Kracauer, Rosalind Krauss, Martin Lister, Lev Manovich, Christian Metz, W. J. T. Mitchell, Tina Modotti, László Moholy-Nagy, Wright Morris, Darren Newbury, Daniel Palmer, Marjorie Perloff, Fred Ritchin, Martha Rosler, Steven Skopik, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Susan Sontag, Lucy Soutter, John Szarkowski, John Tagg, Hilde Van Gelder, Ian Walker, Liz Wells, Edward Weston, Peter Wollen.
Call Number: 770 WEL
ISBN: 9780415749183
Publication Date: 2018
The photography cultures reader : representation, agency and identity by Wells, L.The Photography Cultures Reader: Representation, Agency and Identity engages with contemporary debates surrounding photographic cultures and practices from a variety of perspectives, providing insight and analysis for students and practitioners. With over 100 images included, the diverse essays in this collection explore key topics, such as: conflict and reportage; politics of race and gender; the family album; fashion, tourism and surveillance; art and archives; social media and the networked image. The collection brings together essays by leading experts, scholars and photographers, including Geoffrey Batchen, Elizabeth Edwards, Stuart Hall, bell hooks, Martha Langford, Lucy R. Lippard, Fred Ritchin, Allan Sekula and Val Williams. The depth and scope of this collection is testament to the cultural significance of photography and photographic study, with each themed section featuring an editor¿s introduction that sets the ideas and debates in context. Along with its companion volume ¿ The Photography Reader: History and Theory ¿ this is the most comprehensive introduction to photography and photographic criticism. Includes essays by: Jan Avgikos, Ariella Azoulay, David A. Bailey, Roland Barthes, Geoffrey Batchen, David Bate, Gail Baylis, Karin E. Becker, John Berger, Lily Cho, Jane Collins, Douglas Crimp, Thierry de Duve, Karen de Perthuis, George Dimock, Sarah Edge, Elizabeth Edwards, Francis Frascina, Andr¿unthert, Stuart Hall, Elizabeth Hoak-Doering, Patricia Holland, bell hooks, Yasmin Ibrahim, Liam Kennedy, Annette Kuhn, Martha Langford, Ulrich Lehmann, Lucy R. Lippard, Catherine Lutz, Roberta McGrath, Lev Manovich, Rosy Martin, Mette Mortensen, Fred Ritchin, Daniel Rubinstein, Allan Sekula, Sharon Sliwinski, Katrina Sluis, Jo Spence, Carol Squiers, Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert, Ariadne van de Ven, Liz Wells, Val Williams, Judith Williamson, Louise Wolthers and Ethan Zuckerman.
Call Number: 770.1 WEL
ISBN: 9780415749190
Publication Date: 2019
Land Matters: landscape photography, culture and identity by Wells, L.In this major work on landscape photography, extensively illustrated in color and black and white, Liz Wells is concerned with the ways in which photographers engage with issues about land, its representation and idealization. She demonstrates how the visual interpretation of land as landscape reflects and reinforces contemporary political, social, and environmental attitudes. She also asks what is at stake in landscape photography now through placing critical appraisal of key examples of work by photographers working in, for example, the USA, in Europe, Scandinavia and Baltic areas, within broader art historical and political concerns. This illuminating book will interest readers in photography and media, geography, art history, and travel, as well as those concerned with environmental issues.
Call Number: 778.936 WEL
ISBN: 9781845118648
Publication Date: 2011
Photography: a Critical Introduction by Wells, L.Photography: A Critical Introduction was the first introductory textbook to examine key debates in photographic theory and place them in their social and political contexts, and is now established as one of the leading textbooks in its field. Written especially for students in higher education and for introductory college courses, this fully revised edition provides a coherent introduction to the nature of photographic seeing. Individual chapters cover: Key debates in photographic theory and history Documentary photography and photojournalism Personal and popular photography Photography and the human body Photography and commodity culture Photography as art This revised and updated fifth edition includes: New case studies on topics such as: materialism and embodiment, the commodification of human experience, and an extended discussion of landscape as genre. 98 photographs and images, featuring work from: Bill Brandt, Susan Derges, Rineke Dijkstra, Fran Herbello, Hannah Höch, Karen Knorr, Dorothea Lange, Chrystel Lebas, Susan Meiselas, Lee Miller, Martin Parr, Ingrid Pollard, Jacob Riis, Alexander Rodchenko, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall. Fully updated resource information, including guides to public archives and useful websites. A full glossary of terms and a comprehensive bibliography. Contributors: Michelle Henning, Patricia Holland, Derrick Price, Anandi Ramamurthy and Liz Wells.
Call Number: 770.1 WEL
ISBN: 9780415854290
Publication Date: 2015
Shifting Horizons : women's landscape photography now by Wells, L.; Newton, K.; Fehily, C.Throughout the history of photography the genre of landscape has been dominated by male perspectives. Shifting Horizons makes us rethink our perceptions of the inner and outer landscapes we experience. Ten women photographers reinterpret the notion of "landscape."" Using techniques ranging from historical non-silver processes to new digital imaging technologies, they are concerned with borders: between land and sea, day and night, inside and outside, public and private, absence and presence, space and enclosure, image and words; past, present and future.
Call Number: 779.36 WEL
ISBN: 9781860646355
Publication Date: 2001
Themes in Contemporary Art by Wood, P. (Editor); Perry, G. (Editor)In this fourth volume of the Art of the Twentieth Century series, the contributors address a fascinating variety of themes relating to art from the 1960s to the end of the century?the period of ?postmodernism.? The first of the book's seven chapters deals with the emergence in the 1960s of what has been called an ?expanded field? for art activity. Other chapters discuss the consequences of Conceptual art for notions of the aesthetic; the Post-Conceptual practice of painting; practices of Post-Conceptual photography; video, performance, and installation art; and women's practice and the question of gendered and nongendered objects. The final chapter explores the globalization of art at the end of the twentieth century. Full color illustrations are featured throughout the volume. ]]>
Call Number: 709.04 WOO
ISBN: 9780300102970
Publication Date: 2004
Nonhuman Photography by Zylinska, J.A new philosophy of photography that goes beyond humanist concepts to consider imaging practices from which the human is absent, as both subject and agent.Today, in the age of CCTV, drones, medical body scans, and satellite images, photography is increasingly decoupled from human agency and human vision. In Nonhuman Photography, Joanna Zylinska offers a new philosophy of photography, going beyond the human-centric view to consider imaging practices from which the human is absent. Zylinska argues further that even those images produced by humans, whether artists or amateurs, entail a nonhuman, mechanical element-that is, they involve the execution of technical and cultural algorithms that shape our image-making devices as well as our viewing practices. At the same time, she notes, photography is increasingly mobilized to document the precariousness of the human habitat and tasked with helping us imagine a better tomorrow. With its conjoined human-nonhuman agency and vision, Zylinska claims, photography functions as both a form of control and a life-shaping force. Zylinska explores the potential of photography for developing new modes of seeing and imagining, and presents images from her own photographic project, Active Perceptual Systems. She also examines the challenges posed by digitization to established notions of art, culture, and the media. In connecting biological extinction and technical obsolescence, and discussing the parallels between photography and fossilization, she proposes to understand photography as a light-induced process of fossilization across media and across time scales.