On Contemporary Art

On Contemporary Art
Author: Cesar Aira
Publisher: David Zwirner Books
Total Pages: 66
Release: 2018-11-20
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1941701868

Translated into English for the first time, On Contemporary Art, a speech by the renowned novelist César Aira, was delivered at a 2010 colloquium in Madrid dedicated to bridging the gap between writing and the visual arts. On Aira’s dizzying and dazzling path, everything comes under question—from reproducibility of artworks to the value of the written word itself. In the end, Aira leaves us stranded on the bridge between writing and art that he set out to construct in the first place, flailing as we try to make sense of where we stand. Aira’s On Contemporary Art exemplifies what the ekphrasis series is dedicated to doing—exploring the space in which words give meaning to objects, and objects shape our words. Like the great writers Walter Benjamin and Hermann Broch before him, Aira operates in the space between fiction and essay writing, art and analysis. Pursuing questions about reproducibility, art making, and limits of language, Aira’s unique voice adds new insights to the essential conversations that continue to inform our understanding of art.

Broken Narrative

Broken Narrative
Author: Marco Mazzi
Publisher: punctum books
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2022-01-26
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1685710581

Broken Narrative provides an extensive reflection on history, politics, and contemporary art, revolving around the cornerstones of the artistic practice of Albanian artist Armando Lulaj. The core of the book is formed by and extended interview of Lulaj by Italian artist and writer Marco Mazzi. This inquiry starts in the year 1997, a year of social and political upheaval in Albania, of anarchy, controversies and emigration, of toxic seeds of neoliberalism sprouting in an already wounded country, and continues to the present day, where politics, hidden behind art forms, has practically destroyed (again) every different and possible future of the country. This book also sketches out a connection between the recent Albanian political context and contemporary art by considering the realities of Albania as essential for an understanding of the dynamics of international power in contemporary art and architecture, and the role of politics therein. Broken Narrative comes in a bilingual English-Japanese edition, in part as homage to the subtle esthetics of Japanese poetry, which has inspired many of the Lulaj's works, while equally evoking the subversive films of the Red Army, active in Japan at the turn of the 1960s and '70s. Broken Narrative contains a double preface in English by Albanian scholar Jonida Gashi and in Japanese by photographer Osamu Kanemura. Armando Lulaj was born in Tirana in 1980. He is a writer of plays, texts on risk territories, filmmaker, and producer of conflict images. He's research is orientated towards accentuating the border between economical power, fictional democracy, and social disparity in a global context. His main topics of interest remain power, corruption and institutional critique. Lulaj has participated in many international exhibitions and film festivals. His works are part of various important private and public collections. Armando Lulaj is one of the founders of DebatikCenter of Contemporary Art. Marco Mazzi (1980) is an Italian photographer and writer living and working between Florence, Tokyo, and Tirana. Mazzi studied Contemporary Literature at the University of Florence and has also studied Japanese avant-garde art and visual poetry in Japan. In 2008, Mazzi founded the non-profit organization Relational Cinema Association within the University of Waseda in Tokyo. Mazzi was photographer-in-residence at The Department of Eagles (Tirana, Albania) during the conference Pedagogies of Disaster and for the project Lapidari, and he was the stage and still photographer for Armando Lulaj's Recapitulation (2015), commissioned by the 2015 Venice Biennale' s Albanian Pavilion.

How to Write About Contemporary Art

How to Write About Contemporary Art
Author: Gilda Williams
Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2014-10-14
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0500772177

An essential handbook for students and professionals on writing eloquently, accurately, and originally about contemporary art How to Write About Contemporary Art is the definitive guide to writing engagingly about the art of our time. Invaluable for students, arts professionals and other aspiring writers, the book first navigates readers through the key elements of style and content, from the aims and structure of a piece to its tone and language. Brimming with practical tips that range across the complete spectrum of art-writing, the second part of the book is organized around its specific forms, including academic essays; press releases and news articles; texts for auction and exhibition catalogues, gallery guides and wall labels; op-ed journalism and exhibition reviews; and writing for websites and blogs. In counseling the reader against common pitfalls—such as jargon and poor structure—Gilda Williams points instead to the power of close looking and research, showing how to deploy language effectively; how to develop new ideas; and how to construct compelling texts. More than 30 illustrations throughout support closely analysed case studies of the best writing, in Source Texts by 64 authors, including Claire Bishop, Thomas Crow, T.J. Demos, Okwui Enwezor, Dave Hickey, John Kelsey, Chris Kraus, Rosalind Krauss, Stuart Morgan, Hito Steyerl, and Adam Szymczyk. Supplemented by a general bibliography, advice on the use and misuse of grammar, and tips on how to construct your own contemporary art library, How to Write About Contemporary Art is the essential handbook for all those interested in communicating about the art of today.

Contemporary British Women Artists

Contemporary British Women Artists
Author: Rebecca Fortnum
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 177
Release: 2006-07-26
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0857718231

In this illuminating collection of new interviews, some of the most important women artists practising in Britain today talk about their work, their influences and their relationships, sometimes ambivalent, with the art historical canon. Enlightening and frequently entertaining, the interviews, with artists spanning different generations and working in media as diverse as performance art, painting, sculpture, video and installation, give fascinating first-hand insights into both the artists' lives and the creative process. Fortnum speaks to: Tacita Dean, Tanya Kovats, Christine Borland, Jane Harris, Vanessa Jackson, Tracey Emin, Maria Lalic, Hayley Newman, Sonia Boyce, Emma Kay, Gillian Ayres, Lucy Gunning, Claire Barclay, Maria Chevska, Anya Gallacio, Jemima Stehli, Runa Islam and Paula Rego.

British Artists at Work

British Artists at Work
Author: Amanda Eliasch
Publisher: Assouline Books & Gifts
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2003
Genre: Art, British
ISBN:

Offering unique insight into the world of contemporary art, British Artists at Work looks at four generations of artists, from the established to the newly emerging. Photographs of each of the artists, taken by Amanda Eliasch during 2002 in the artists' studios, are set alongside examples of their work. The text by Gemma de Cruz provides a brief overview of who the artists are, what they do and how their work and ideas fit into the art world at this time. This book draws attention to a particular selection of what is happening now in contemporary art in London, featuring artists who are influential alongside those they have influenced. Here is an exciting and revealing behing-the-scenes look at the spaces in which these artists work, with full-page reproductions of their artworks in progress. Illustrated

British Black Art

British Black Art
Author: Sophie Orlando
Publisher: Dis Voir Editions
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2016
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9782914563765

The conditions of development of British Black Art are tied up with a social and cultural history of Europe, especially the anti-immigration policies of Margaret Thatcher and their consequences, such as the Brixton riots of the early 1980s. British Black Art Works suggests new narratives about canonical artworks of the British Black Art movement, such as Lubaina Himid's 1984 "Freedom and Change," Eddie Chambers' 1980 "Destruction of the National Front" and Sonia Boyce's 1986 "Lay Back Keep Quiet and Think of What Made Britain So Great," interrogating their critical agency from an art-historical perspective. These artworks, art historian Sophie Orlando argues, imply a critical analysis of Western art history. This volume introduces readers to an important, long-marginalized movement and recontextualizes it with groundbreaking scholarship.

British Art and the Environment

British Art and the Environment
Author: Charlotte Gould
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2021-07-21
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1000408213

This book explores the nature of Britain-based artists’ engagement with the transformations of their environment since the early days of the Industrial Revolution. At a time of pressing ecological concerns, the international group of contributors provide a series of case studies that reconsider the nature–culture divide and aim at identifying the contours of a national narrative that stretches from enclosed lands to rising seas. By adopting a longer historical view, this book hopes to enrich current debates concerning art’s engagement with recording and questioning the impact of human activity on the environment. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, contemporary art, environmental humanities, and British studies.

Black Artists in British Art

Black Artists in British Art
Author: Eddie Chambers
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 307
Release: 2014-07-29
Genre: Art
ISBN: 0857736086

Black artists have been making major contributions to the British art scene for decades, since at least the mid-twentieth century. Sometimes these artists were regarded and embraced as practitioners of note. At other times they faced challenges of visibility - and in response they collaborated and made their own exhibitions and gallery spaces. In this book, Eddie Chambers tells the story of these artists from the 1950s onwards, including recent developments and successes. Black Artists in British Art makes a major contribution to British art history. Beginning with discussions of the pioneering generation of artists such as Ronald Moody, Aubrey Williams and Frank Bowling, Chambers candidly discusses the problems and progression of several generations, including contemporary artists such as Steve McQueen, Chris Ofili and Yinka Shonibare. Meticulously researched, this important book tells the fascinating story of practitioners who have frequently been overlooked in the dominant history of twentieth-century British art.

Translation and Contemporary Art

Translation and Contemporary Art
Author: MaCarmen África Vidal Claramonte
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 110
Release: 2022-03-01
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 100058576X

This book looks to expand the definition of translation in line with Susan Bassnett and David Johnston’s notion of the “outward turn”, applying this perspective to contemporary art to broaden the scope of how we understand translation in today’s global multisemiotic world. The book takes as its point of departure the idea that texts are comprised of not only words but other semiotic systems and therefore expanding our notions of both language and translation can better equip us to translate stories told via non-traditional means in novel ways. While the “outward turn” has been analyzed in literature, Vidal directs this spotlight to contemporary art, a field which has already engaged in disciplinary connections with Translation Studies. The volume highlights how the unpacking of such connections between disciplines encourages engagement with contemporary social issues, around identity, power, migration, and globalization, and in turn, new ways of thinking and bringing about wider cultural change. This innovative book will be of interest to scholars in translation studies and contemporary art.

Anywhere or Not at All

Anywhere or Not at All
Author: Peter Osborne
Publisher: Verso Books
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2013-06-04
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1781680949

A new reading of the philosophy of contemporary art by the author of The Politics of Time Contemporary art is the object of inflated and widely divergent claims. But what kind of discourse can open it up effectively to critical analysis? Anywhere or Not at All is a major philosophical intervention in art theory that challenges the terms of established positions through a new approach at once philosophical, historical, social and art-critical. Developing the position that “contemporary art is postconceptual art,” the book progresses through a dual series of conceptual constructions and interpretations of particular works to assess the art from a number of perspectives: contemporaneity and its global context; art against aesthetic; the Romantic pre-history of conceptual art; the multiplicity of modernisms; transcategoriality; conceptual abstraction; photographic ontology; digitalization; and the institutional and existential complexities of art-space and art-time. Anywhere or Not at All maps out the conceptual space for an art that is both critical and contemporary in the era of global capitalism. Winner of the 2014 Annual Book Prize of the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (USA)