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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        August 2024

        The machinic city

        Media, performance and participation

        by Marcos P. Dias

        As human and machine agency become increasingly intermingled and digital media is overlaid onto the urban landscape, The machinic city argues that performance art can help us to understand contemporary urban living. Dias analyses interventions from performance artists such as Blast Theory, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Rimini Protokoll, which draw from a rich history of avant-garde art movements to create spaces for deliberation and reflection on urban life, and speculation on its future. While cities are increasingly controlled by autonomous processes mediated by technical machines, Dias analyses the performative potential of the aesthetic machine, as it assembles with media, capitalist, human and urban machines. The aesthetic machine of performance art in urban space is examined through its different components - design, city and technology actants. This unveils the unpredictable nature and emerging potential of performance art as it unfolds in the machinic city.

      • Trusted Partner
        Theory of Art
        September 2014

        The Idea of the Avant Garde - And What It Means Today

        And What It Means Today

        by Marc James Léger

        This book is premised on the view that the idea of the avant garde has an increased importance in these times of global political crisis. Much cultural production today is shaped by a biopolitics that construes all creative and knowledge production in terms of capital accumulation. A different kind of culture is possible. This collection of writings, essays, interviews and artworks by many of today's most radical cultural practitioners and astute commentators on matters avant garde mediates the different strategies and temporalities of avant-garde art and politics. Tracing diverse genealogies and trajectories, the book offers an inter-generational forum of ideas that covers different arts fields, from visual art, art activism, photography, film and architecture, to literature, theatre, performance, intermedia and music. This is an extraordinarily rich collection and is sure to be a benchmark for many years.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        2020

        Knights of the Famished Renaissance

        by Dmytro Horbachov

        The phenomenon of the Ukrainian avant-garde was first revealed to the Western world in 1973 at the "Tatlin's dream" London exhibition where for the first time, world-class paintings by little known Ukrainian avant-garde artists Vasyl Yermylov and Oleksandr Bohomazov were exhibited. This famous show raised awareness also of other world-famous masters who, by origin, upbringing, self identification, and national traditions were associated with Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, and Odesa. Apart from the above-mentioned artists, the book mentions “the most faithful son of Ukraine” Davyd Burliuk, as well as Kazymyr Malevych, a Pole who considered himself Ukrainian; Volodymyr Tatlin, a professor of Kyiv Art Institute and bandura player; Oleksandra Ekster, a founder of the Ukrainian school of constructivist scenography; artists of the "Culture League"; Oleksandr Arkhypenko, a phenomenal sculptor. Supplemented with extensive cultural studies and personal memories of the author, the book is designed to present the reader with a complete picture of the origins and formation of the Ukrainian artistic avant-garde. Compiled by Oleksiy Sinchenko.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2012

        Art, ethnography and the life of objects

        Paris, c.1925–35

        by Julia Kelly, Marsha Meskimmon, Shearer West, Tim Barringer

        In the 1920s and 1930s, anthropology and ethnography provided new and striking ways of rethinking what art could be and the forms which it could take. This book examines the impact of these emergent disciplines on the artistic avant-garde in Paris. The reception by European artists of objects arriving from colonial territories in the first half of the twentieth century is generally understood through the artistic appropriation of the forms of African or Oceanic sculpture. The author reveals how anthropological approaches to this intriguing material began to affect the ways in which artists, theorists, critics and curators thought about three-dimensional objects and their changing status as 'art', 'artefacts' or 'ethnographic evidence'. This book analyses texts, photographs and art works that cross disciplinary boundaries, through case studies including the Dakar to Djibouti expedition of 1931-33, the Trocadéro Ethnographic Museum, and the two art periodicals Documents and Minotaure. Through its interdisciplinary and contextual approach, it provides an important corrective to histories of modern art and the European avant-garde. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        October 2017

        4 saints in 3 acts

        A snapshot of the American avant-garde in the 1930s

        by Patricia Allmer, John Sears

        Four Saints in Three Acts by Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson was a major avant-garde phenomenon of the 1930s, an experimental opera that nonetheless achieved remarkable popular success. Photography was a key element of that success, but its complex roles in the construction, representation and dissemination of the opera have hitherto received little critical attention. The photographic recording of the all-African American cast in particular affords a unique insight into the complexities of Four Saints in relation to the Harlem Renaissance and the New York avant-gardes of the time. This book, published in collaboration with The Photographers' Gallery, London, presents a wide selection of photographs of the cast, performances, and other material - many images reproduced for the first time - alongside essays by an international range of scholars exploring different aspects of the opera, including dance, fashion, music, and avant-garde writing, as well as photography.

      • Trusted Partner
        Politics & government
        February 2017

        The political aesthetics of the Armenian avant-garde

        The journey of the ‘painterly real', 1987–2004

        by Series edited by Amelia Jones, Marsha Meskimmon, Angela Harutyunyan

        This book addresses late-Soviet and post-Soviet art in Armenia in the context of turbulent transformations from the late 1980s to 2004. It explores the emergence of 'contemporary art' in Armenia from within and in opposition to the practices, aesthetics and institutions of Socialist Realism and National Modernism. This historical study outlines the politics (liberal democracy), aesthetics (autonomous art secured by the gesture of the individual artist), and ethics (ideals of absolute freedom and radical individualism) of contemporary art in Armenia and points towards its limitations. Through the historical investigation, a theory of post-Soviet art historiography is developed, one that is based on a dialectic of rupture and continuity in relation to the Soviet past. As the first English-language study on contemporary art in Armenia, the book is of prime interest for artists, scholars, curators and critics interested in post-Soviet art and culture and in global art historiography.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2023

        Neoliberalism and neo-jihadism

        by Imogen Richards

      • Trusted Partner
        October 2017

        A Study on Contemporary Chinese Visual Culture

        by Zhou Xian

        What do the alteration of typical characters in Chinese TV series and the sudden rise of reality show say about the great transformation of Chinese society? How does Chinese avant-garde art, a representative of Chinses elite culture, develop following the social and economic reform? What kind of social psychology has been reflected by the burgeoning internet-based grassroots media in China? Answers all lie in this masterpiece edited by Professor Zhou Xian. Observing Chinese social transformation from the unique perspective of visual culture, the book not only portrays a complete landscape of contemporary Chinese visual culture which covers mass culture, avant-garde art, grassroots media, city image, scopic regime and visual technology, but also reveals the interrelationship between visual culture and the social and individual construction since 1970s.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        History of Art / Art & Design Styles
        January 2017

        Leonora Carrington and the international avant-garde

        by Edited by Jonathan P. Eburne, Catriona McAra

        Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) was an English surrealist artist and writer who emigrated to Mexico after the Second World War. As the first comprehensive examination of Carrington's writing and art, this volume approaches her as a major international figure in modern and contemporary art, literature and thought. It offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the intellectual, literary and artistic currents that animate her contribution to experimental art movements throughout the Western Hemisphere, including surrealism and magical realism. In addition to a substantive editorial introduction, the book contains nine chapters from scholars of modern literature and art, each focusing on a major feature in Carrington's career. It also features a visual essay drawn from the 2015 Tate Liverpool exhibition Leonora Carrington: Transgressing Discipline, and two experimental essays by the novelist Chloe Aridjis and the scholar Gabriel Weisz, Carrington's son. This collection offers a resource for students, researchers and readers interested in Carrington's works, and contributes to her continued rise in global recognition.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        November 2018

        Leonora Carrington and the international avant-garde

        by Jonathan P. Eburne, Catriona McAra

        Leonora Carrington (1917-2011) was an English surrealist artist and writer who emigrated to Mexico after the Second World War. This volume approaches Carrington as a major international figure in modern and contemporary art, literature and thought. It offers an interdisciplinary exploration of the intellectual, literary and artistic currents that animate her contribution to experimental art movements throughout the Western Hemisphere, including surrealism and magical realism. The book contains nine chapters from scholars of modern literature and art, each focusing on a major feature in Carrington's career. It also features a visual essay drawn from the 2015 Tate Liverpool exhibition Leonora Carrington: Transgressing Discipline, and two experimental essays by the novelist Chloe Aridjis and the scholar Gabriel Weisz, Carrington's son. This collection offers a resource for students, researchers and readers interested in Carrington's works.

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Biography: general
        2021

        Serhiy Paradzhanov. Bigger than a Legend

        by Dziuba Ivan, Dziuba Marta

        The book by Ivan and Marta Dzyuba consists of texts (memoir essays, articles and interviews) that comment on the life and work of Serhiy Paradzhanov, one of the most outstanding and original artists of Ukraine and the world. His image is made up of myths and mythologemes, mostly created by Paradzhanov himself. The authors of the book expand this image by supplementing it with details of everyday life, visualisations and conceptual interpretations of the filmmakers’ actions, in both everyday and artistic life. This book also gives the reader an idea of how Parajanov's artistic universe was formed, how he transitioned from a film director who worked with the myths of communist ideology to an artist who spoke the language of national mythologies in avant-garde and surprisingly modern way.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        November 2013

        After Dada

        Marta Hegemann and the Cologne avant-garde

        by Dorothy Rowe

        What happened in 1920s Cologne 'after Dada'? Whilst most standard accounts of Cologne Dada simply stop with Max Ernst's departure from the city for a new life as a surrealist in Paris, this book reveals the untold stories of the Cologne avant-garde that prospered after Dada but whose legacies have been largely forgotten or neglected. It focuses on the little-known Magical Realist painter Marta Hegemann (1894-1970). By re-inserting her into the histories of avant-garde modernism, a fuller picture of the gendered networks of artistic and cultural exchange within Weimar Germany can be revealed. This book embeds her activities as an artist within a gendered network of artistic exchange and influence in which Ernst continues to play a vital role amongst many others including his first wife, art critic Lou Straus-Ernst; photographers August Sander and Hannes Flach; artists Angelika Fick, Heinrich Hoerle, Willy Fick and the Cologne Progressives and visitors such as Kurt Schwitters and Katherine Dreier. The book offers a significant addition to research on Weimar visual culture and will be invaluable to students and specialists in the field. ;

      • Trusted Partner
      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        January 2024

        The urban life of workers in post-Soviet Russia

        Engaging in everyday struggle

        by Alexandrina Vanke

        Despite the intense processes of deindustrialisation around the world, the working class continues to play an important role in post-industrial societies. However, working-class people are often stigmatised, morally judged and depicted negatively in dominant discourses. This book challenges stereotypical representations of workers, building on research into the everyday worlds of working-class and ordinary people in Russia's post-industrial cities. The urban life of workers in post-Soviet Russia is centred on the stories of local communities engaged in the everyday struggles that occur in deindustrialising settings under neoliberal neo-authoritarianism. The book suggests a novel approach to everyday life in post-industrial cities. Drawing on an ethnographic study with elements of arts-based research, the book presents a new genre of writing about workers influenced by the avant-garde documentary tradition and working-class literature.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        June 2021

        Contemporary French cinema

        An introduction (revised edition)

        by Guy Austin

        Contemporary French cinema is an essential introduction to popular French film of the last 35 years. It charts recent developments in all genres of French cinema with analyses of over 120 movies, from Les Valseuses to Caché. Reflecting the diversity of French film production since the New Wave, this clear and perceptive study includes chapters on the heritage film, the thriller and the war movie, alongside the 'cinéma du look', representations of sexuality, comedies, the work of women film makers and le jeune cinéma. Each chapter introduces the public reception and critical debates surrounding a given genre, interwoven with detailed accounts of relevant films. Confirmed as a major contribution to both Film Studies and French Studies, this book is a fascinating volume for students and fans of French film alike.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        January 2019

        Contemporary French cinema

        An introduction (revised edition)

        by Guy Austin

        Contemporary French cinema is an essential introduction to popular French film of the last 35 years. It charts recent developments in all genres of French cinema with analyses of over 120 movies, from Les Valseuses to Caché. Reflecting the diversity of French film production since the New Wave, this clear and perceptive study includes chapters on the heritage film, the thriller and the war movie, alongside the 'cinéma du look', representations of sexuality, comedies, the work of women film makers and le jeune cinéma. Each chapter introduces the public reception and critical debates surrounding a given genre, interwoven with detailed accounts of relevant films. Confirmed as a major contribution to both Film Studies and French Studies, this book is a fascinating volume for students and fans of French film alike.

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