Art : Philosophy & Social Aspects

One of the most highly regarded books of its kind, On Photography first appeared in 1977 and is described by its author as “a progress of essays about the meaning and career of photographs.” It begins with the famous “In Plato’s Cave” essay, then offers five other prose meditations on this topic, and concludes with a fascinating and far-reaching “Brief Anthology of Quotations. more...

Price: $8.99

The book interrogates notions of distance, interval, time and space explorations in scenography and performance which are concerned to encompass the creative, historical, performing, interdisciplinary, writing, architectural, and senses of presence in space. Space becomes practice; scenography becomes performance; memory and biography as the written space, which becomes spectatorship as experiential space. The authors look at the sensory anomalies which are a part of performance and which emanate from visual presentations. more...

Price: $10.00

From the pet that we live with and care for, to news items such as animal cloning, and the use of various creatures in film, television and advertising, animals are a constant presence in our lives. Animal is a timely overview of the many ways in which we live with animals, and assesses many of the paradoxes of our relationships with them: for example, why is the pet that sits by the dinner table never for eating? Examining novels such as Charlotte’s Web, films such as Old Yeller and Babe, science and advertising, fashion and philosophy, Animal also evaluates the ways in which we think about animals and challenges a number of the assumptions we hold. Why is it, for example, that animals are such a constant presence in children’s literature? And what does it mean to wear fake fur? Is fake fur an ethical avoidance of animal suffering, or merely a sanitized version of the unacceptable use of animals as clothing? Neither evangelical nor proselytizing, Animal invites the reader to think beyond the boundaries of a subject that has a direct effect on our day-to-day lives. more...

Price: $23.95

An illustrated survey of contemporary art in the Asia Pacific. Art and Social Change maps the dynamic development in art, often reflecting social and political events. It includes essays on India, China, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and Taiwan. more...

Price: $45.00

Contemporary visual culture, art, theory and criticism shifted after the end of the Cold War, so that cultural production in both the East and the West underwent radical new challenges. Art and Theory After Socialism considers the new critical insights that are produced in the collisions of art theory from the ex-East and ex-West. The collected essays assert that dreams promised by consumerism and capitalism have not been delivered in the East, and that the West is not a zone of liberation, increasingly drawn into global conflict as well as media presentation of a high-risk society. Academics, artists and critics focus on specific practices and broader contexts for cultural production, highlighting the work of artists in the former Soviet and East European bloc and in the West. The collection reveals that some practices have not changed, and that in a world of globalized consumption, art and theory are not as liberated as first supposed. New practices are discussed: collaborative efforts by groups of artists, and the emergence of dissident art that subverts and challenges the institutional structures of the art world. Art and Theory After Socialism is a unique re-investigation of the overlap of art and everyday life in a post-Cold War world. more...

Price: $10.00