The Theatre of Death – The Uncanny in Mimesis

The Theatre of Death – The Uncanny in Mimesis

Author: Mischa Twitchin

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-10-20

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1137478721

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This book is concerned with such questions as the following: What is the life of the past in the present? How might “the theatre of death” and “the uncanny in mimesis” allow us to conceive of the afterlife of a supposedly ephemeral art practice? How might a theatrical iconology engage with such fundamental social relations as those between the living and the dead? Distinct from the dominant expectation that actors should appear life-like onstage, why is it that some theatre artists – from Craig to Castellucci – have conceived of the actor in the image of the dead? Furthermore, how might an iconology of the actor allow us to imagine the afterlife of an apparently ephemeral art practice? This book explores such questions through the implications of the twofold analogy proposed in its very title: as theatre is to the uncanny, so death is to mimesis; and as theatre is to mimesis, so death is to the uncanny. Walter Benjamin once observed that: “The point at issue in the theatre today can be more accurately defined in relation to the stage than to the play. It concerns the filling-in of the orchestra pit. The abyss which separates the actors from the audience like the dead from the living...” If the relation between the living and the dead can be thought of in terms of an analogy with ancient theatre, how might avant-garde theatre be thought of in terms of this same relation “today”?


Performing the East

Performing the East

Author: Amy Bryzgel

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-05-30

Total Pages: 404

ISBN-13: 0857733729

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Performance art in Western Europe and North America developed in part as a response to the commercialisation of the art object, as artists endeavoured to create works of art that could not be bought or sold. But what are the roots of performance art in Eastern Europe and Russia, where there was no real art market to speak of? While many artworks created in the 'East' may resemble Western performance art practices, their origins, as well as their meaning and significance, is decidedly different. By placing specific performances from Russia, Latvia and Poland from the late- and post-communist periods within a local and international context, this book pinpoints the nuances between performance art East and West. Performance art in Eastern Europe is examined for the first time as agent and chronicle of the transition from Soviet and satellite states to free-market democracies. Drawing upon previously unpublished sources and exclusive interviews with the artists themselves, Amy Bryzgel explores the actions of the period, from Miervaldis Polis's Bronze Man to Oleg Kulik's Russian Dog performances. Bryzgel demonstrates that in the late-1980s and early 1990s, performance art in Eastern Europe went beyond the modernist critique to express ideas outside the official discourse, shocking and empowering the citizenry, both effecting and mirroring the social changes taking place at the time. Performing the East opens the way to an urgent reassessment of the history, function and meaning of performance art practices in East-Central Europe.


The Struggle for Form

The Struggle for Form

Author: Kamila Kuc

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2014-06-17

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 0231850654

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This is the first comprehensive English-language account of the Polish avant-garde film, from its beginnings in the early decades of the last century to the collapse of communism in 1989. Taking a broad understanding of avant-garde film, this collection includes writings on the pioneering work of the internationally-acclaimed Franciszka and Stefan Themerson; the Polish Futurists' (Jalu Kurek, Anatol Stern) engagement with film; the Thaw and animation (Jan Lenica and Walerian Borowczyk, Andrzej Pawlowski, Zbigniew Rybczynski); documentary (Natalia Brzozowska, Kazimierz Karabasz, Wojciech Wiszniewski), Polish émigré filmmakers (Roman Polanski, Jerzy Skolimowski, Andrzej Zulawski) as well as essays and documentation on the highly influential Film Form Workshop (Józef Robakowski, Ryszard Wasko, Wojciech Bruszewski). Including a mix of historical writings from early film magazines with commissioned essays, this book constitutes an important source on the rich, complex and diverse history of the Polish film avant-garde, which is presented from the perspective of both British (A. L. Rees, Jonathan Owen, Michael O'Pray) and Polish (Marcin Gizycki, Ryszard Kluszczynski, Kamila Kuc) authorities on the subject. This book is thus an indispensable introduction to the theories and practices of critically important avant-garde artists and filmmakers.


Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972

Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972

Author: Elena Filipovic

Publisher: The Museum of Modern Art

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 218

ISBN-13: 0870708244

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"A sculptor who began working during the postwar period in a classical figurative style, Alina Szapocznikow radically reconceptualized sculpture as an imprint not only of memory but also of her own body. Though her career effectively spanned less than two decades (cut short by the artist's premature death in 1973 at age 47), Szapocznikow left behind a legacy of provocative objects that evoke Surrealism, Nouveau Râealisme, and Pop art. Her tinted polyester casts of body parts, often transformed into everyday objects like lamps or ashtrays; her poured polyurethane forms; and her elaborately constructed sculptures, which at times incorporated photographs, clothing, or car parts, all remain as wonderfully idiosyncratic and culturally resonant today as when they were first made. Well known in Poland, where her work has been highly influential since early in her career, Szapocznikow's compelling book of work is ripe for art historical reexamination. Alina Szapocznikow: Sculpture Undone, 1955-1972 offers a comprehensive overview of this important artist's work at a moment when international interest is blossoming. Spanning one of the most rich and complex periods of the 20th century, Szapocznikow's oeuvre responds to many of the ideological and artistic developments of her time through artwork that is at once fragmented and transformative, sensual and reflective, playfully realized and politically charged. Featuring over 100 works, including sculpture, drawings, and photography, the exhibition draws on loans from private and public collections, including major institutions in Poland. It is accompanied by a major publication, co published by The Museum of Modern Art and Mercatorfonds, that reflects new scholarship on Szapocznikow, contextualizing this little known artist's work for a wider audience."--Publisher's website.


Art as Demonstration

Art as Demonstration

Author: Sven Spieker

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2024-02-06

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 0262377551

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How artists wield demonstration to question the status quo both aesthetically and politically, marshaling art and education as powerful agents of change. Demonstration, in short, says: See here. It is the practice of pointing to something in order to explain or contest it. As such, Sven Spieker argues that demonstration has helped reshape art from the height of the Cold War to the late twentieth century, reformatting our understanding of how art and political engagement relate to each other. Focusing on Western Europe (especially Germany), Eastern Europe, and the United States, Art as Demonstration expands on contemporary discussions of art-as-protest, activism, and resistance. Spieker shows how a closer, more historical look at art’s connection with demonstration reconnects us with earlier efforts, notably by the early twentieth-century avant-garde, to marshal art for the purpose of instruction and engagement. Art as Demonstration reconceives the history of postwar art in Eastern and Western Europe from the perspective of demonstration, understood formally (as a technique for showing and pointing) as well as politically (as protest, resistance, etc.). Close analyses of individual artworks reveal how the deployment of demonstration has changed over time. Spieker shows how “protest” and “resistance” organize art and artists not only politically but also and especially formally and aesthetically—a development of particular importance in the Cold War art and politics of Eastern Europe. The book illustrates how from the 1960s onward demonstration radically changed the way artists thought about art: no longer as an object but as a form of education.


Ewa Partum's Artistic Practice

Ewa Partum's Artistic Practice

Author: Karolina Majewska-Güde

Publisher: transcript Verlag

Published: 2021-03-31

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 3839455243

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Polish-born artist Ewa Partum is considered a pioneer of Central-Eastern European feminist art produced within the conceptual idiom. Her work can also be divided chronologically into Polish (1965-82), West Berlin (1982-1989) and transnational (from 1989) periods. Karolina Majewska-Güde articulates the historical alterity of Ewa Partum's works in their various locations and the specificity of the positions from which Partum's art was interpreted and disseminated. At the same time, the book engages with the art histories of the Central and Eastern European neo-avant-gardes focusing on the issue of narrative strategies of CEE art history.


The Handbook of COURAGE

The Handbook of COURAGE

Author: Apor, Balázs

Publisher: Institute of History, Research Centre for the Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences

Published: 2018-11-27

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 9634161421

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The COURAGE Handbook ushers its reader into the world of the compellingly rich heritage of cultural opposition in Eastern Europe. It is intended primarily to further a subtle understanding of the complex and multifaceted nature of cultural opposition and its legacy from the perspective of the various collections held in public institutions or by private individuals across the region. Through its focus on material heritage, the handbook provides new perspectives on the history of dissent and cultural non-conformism in the former socialist countries of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. The volume is comprised of contributions by over 60 authors from a range of different academic and national backgrounds who share their insights into the topic. It offers focused discussions from comparative and transnational perspectives of the key themes and prevailing forms of opposition in the region, including non-conformist art, youth sub-cultures, intellectual dissent, religious groups, underground rock, avantgarde theater, exile, traditionalism, ethnic revivalism, censorship, and surveillance. The handbook provides its reader with a concise synthesis of the existing scholarship and suggests new avenues for further research.


Things We Do Together

Things We Do Together

Author: Krzysztof Lukomski

Publisher: Mousse Magazine & Publishing

Published: 2020

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9788867494415

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Things We Do Together. The Post-Reader is a collection of essays and honest conversations with practitioners. It is based on experiences and observations of long-term processes taking place at the intersection of art, education, and activism. Collaboration is more than simply a mechanism for the collective management of resources. It can be a way of disrupting existing systems both in the art world and in everyday life, where capitalism and extreme individualism lead to the collapse of communities and the deepening of social inequalities. Artists, activists, researchers, and educators initiate social situations all over the world; in places where institutions fail them, they establish their own. They work collectively for the benefit of the community and in cooperation with the community. The scope of influence of their practices is more often located outside the gallery than inside. They treat art as a tool for building community, not for producing sellable goods. Their research, processes, and long-term collaborations involve exchange, generosity, and trust. The reports collected here come from many years of experience in Ukraine, Poland, Indonesia, Mexico, the United States, and Brazil, and can be treated as a road map, as a compendium of approaches and recommendations, and as inspiration for action. The publication's starting point was the exhibition-meeting Gotong Royong Things We Do Together at Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, Warsaw, at the end of 2017.