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"This book explores how contemporary art can alter the ways in which we visualise and conceptualise the world and the social relations that shape it. Drawing from the writings of philosopher Jean-Luc Nancy, it spotlights the concept of 'world-forming' and the political significance of art-making and viewing. The central theme of 'world-forming' focuses attention on the processes of globalisation. The book explores how artists can facilitate shared creative spaces within and beyond the apparatuses of global capitalism. The book traces a philosophical progression from ontology to the political through a series of participatory practices. It forwards Jean-Luc Nancy's idea of 'world-forming' in order to show how contemporary art sustains critical and creative engagement with social practices. The overall objective of the book is to show, through participatory practices, how contemporary art can facilitate social change. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, contemporary art, philosophy, and politics"--

"This book addresses the art historical category of "contemporary art" from a transregional perspective, but unlike other volumes of its kind, it focuses in on non-Western instantiations of "the contemporary." The book concerns itself with the historical conditions in which a radically new mode of artistic production, distribution, and consumption - called "contemporary art" - emerged in some countries of Eastern Europe, the post-Soviet republics of the USSR, India, Latin America, and the Middle East, following both local and broader sociopolitical processes of modernization and neoliberalization. Its main argument is that one cannot fully engage with the idea of the "global contemporary" without also paying careful attention to the particular, local, and/or national symptoms of the contemporary condition. Part One is methodological and theoretical in scope, while Part Two is historical and documentary. For the latter, a number of case studies address the emergence of the category "contemporary art" in the context of Lebanon, Egypt, India, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, and Moldova. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, globalism, cultural studies, and postcolonial studies"--

"This book focuses on the expanding contemporary art scene in Syria, particularly Damascus, during the first decade of the twenty-first century. The decade was characterized by a high degree of experimentation as young artists began to work with artistic media that were new in Syria, such as video, installation and performance art. They were rethinking the role of artists in society and looking for ways to reach audiences in more direct manners and address socio-cultural and socio-political issues. The book will be of interest for scholars of global and Middle Eastern art studies, and also for scholars interested in the recent social and cultural history of Syria and the wider Middle East"--

This book provides an in-depth and thematic analysis of socially engaged art in Mainland China, exploring its critical responses to and creative interventions in China's top-down, pro-urban, and profit-oriented socioeconomic transformations. It focuses on the socially conscious practices of eight art professionals who assume the role of artist, critic, curator, educator, cultural entrepreneur, and social activist, among others, as they strive to expose the injustice and inequality many Chinese people have suffered, raise public awareness of pressing social and environmental problems, and invent new ways and infrastructures to support various underprivileged social groups.

Contemporary art is increasingly concerned with swaying the opinions of its viewer. To do so, the art employs various strategies to convey a political message. This book provides readers with the tools to decode and appreciate political art, a crucial and understudied direction in post-war art

"Drawing on thousands of historical documents from Polish and Dutch archives, this book explores the Cold War cultural exchange between so-called 'smaller powers' of this global conflict, which thus far has been predominately explored from the perspective of the two superpowers or more pivotal countries. By looking at how cultural, artistic and scholarly relations were developed between Poland and the Netherlands, Michał Wenderski sheds new light on the history of the cultural Cold War that was not always orchestrated solely by its main players. Less pivotal states - for example, Poland and the Netherlands - likewise intentionally created their international cultural policies and shaped their cultural exchange with countries from the other side of the Iron Curtain. This study reconstructs these policies and identifies the varying factors that influenced them - both official and less formal. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, history of the Cold War, postwar European history, international cultural relations, Dutch studies, and Polish studies"--

This multidisciplinary companion offers a comprehensive overview of the global arena of public art. It is organised around four distinct topics: activation, social justice, memory and identity, and ecology, with a final chapter mapping significant works of public and social practice art around the world between 2008 and 2018. The thematic approach brings into view similarities and differences in the recent globalisation of public art practices, while the multidisciplinary emphasis allows for a consideration of the complex outcomes and consequences of such practices, as they engage different disciplines and communities and affect a diversity of audiences beyond the existing 'art world'. The book will highlight an international selection of artist projects that illustrate the themes. This book will be of interest to scholars in contemporary art, art history, urban studies, and museum studies.

A concise guide to the ideas, events, people and movements that have shaped the world from the end of the Second World War to the present. The dictionary comprises many entries that extend beyond a simple factual description to discuss the origins and significance of key decisions and events. Coverage is global, with entries on all major countries of the world, as well as general entries on issues of international significance, including the global economy, population explosion and women's liberation

"This book examines contemporary feminist visual activism(s) through the lens of embodiment(s). The contributors explore how the arts articulate and engage with the current sense of crisis and political concerns (e.g. equality, decolonization, social justice, democracy, precarity, vulnerability), negotiated with and through the body. Drawing upon the legacy of feminist art historical critique, the book scrutinizes activist strategies, practices, and resilience techniques in intersectional and transnational frameworks. It interrogates how the arts enable the creation of civil and political resilience, become engaged with politics as a response to disaster capitalism, and attempt to reform and improve society. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, visual culture, fine arts, women's studies, gender studies, feminism, and cultural studies"--

"Transnational Perspecives on Feminism and Art, 1960-1985 is a collection of essential essays that bring transnational feminist praxis into conversations with histories of feminist art in the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s. The artistic practices and processes examined within these pages all center on gender and sexual politics as they variously intersect with race, class, sovereignty, Indigeneity, citizenship, and migration at particular historical moments and within specific geopolitical contexts. The book's central premise is that reconsidering this period from transnational feminist perspectives will enable new thinking about the critical commonalities and differences across heterogenous and geographically dispersed practices that have contributed to the complex and multifaceted relationship between feminism and art today. The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, cultural studies, visual culture, material culture, and gender studies"--