Suchergebnisse

The practice of estrangement retains an essential political function. It is possible to link this narrative formula to the investigative paths typical of Thing Theory: in this way the perspective guaranteed by the matter can shed light upon the ideological coordinates of capitalist logic, through an interpretation of the commodity in a dissident key according to the suggestion offered by Francesco Orlando in his Freudian theory. This article therefore aims to document the relationship between Šklovskij's intuition, Thing Theory and Orlando's proposal through a close reading of Solid Object, a short story by Virginia Woolf. ; La pratica dello straniamento conserva un'imprescindibile funzione politica. È possibile legare tale formula narrativa ai percorsi indagativi propri della Thing Theory: in tal modo la prospettiva garantita dalla materia può far luce sulle coordinate ideologiche proprie della logica capitalistica, attraverso una rilettura della merce in chiave dissidente secondo il suggerimento offerto da Francesco Orlando in merito alla sua teoria freudiana. Questo contributo mira perciò a documentare il connubio tra l'intuizione di Šklovskij, la Thing Theory e la proposta di Orlando attraverso una lettura ravvicinata di "Solid Object", racconto di Virginia Woolf.

pt. 1. Western European fads : porcelain, fetishes, museum objects, antiques -- pt. 2. Under Eastern eyes : garments, portraits, books -- pt. 3. Latin American encounters : coins, food, accessories, maps -- pt. 4. Imagining other spaces : trinkets, collectibles, ethnographic artifacts, scientific objects.

n And Another Thing: Nonanthropocentrism and Art, Katherine Behar and Emmy Mikelson explore how artists engage with nonanthropocentrism, one of the primary tenets shared by recent speculative realist and new materialist philosophies. Extending their investigations in And Another Thing, an exhibition which the authors curated in 2011, this volume documents both that exhibition and expands on two of its curatorial aims: prioritizing art historical contexts for contemporary philosophy (rather than the other way around), and apprehending artworks as historically specific objects of philosophy. The book is organized in three sections. In the first section, Behar and Mikelson provide long-form essays that chart the evolution of nonanthropocentrism and art, spanning eighteenth-century architectural drawing, performance, minimalist sculpture, and contemporary postminimalism. These essays raise the stakes for art and speculative realism, showing how artists have figured and prefigured nonanthropocentric ideas strikingly similar to those expounded in various "new" realist, materialist, and speculativist philosophies. Literally occupying the center of the volume, in section two, the exhibition is represented by full-color plates of eleven works by Carl Andre, Laura Carton, Valie Export, Regina José Galindo, Tom Kotik, Mary Lucking, Bruce Nauman, Grit Ruhland, Anthony Titus, Ruslan Trusewych, and Zimoun. Artworks by these emerging and canonical figures lay bare the networks of alliances underlying the exhibition. The book concludes with three short meditations on the relation between nonanthropocentrism and art, and what that relation might portend for future thought. These essays, by Bill Brown, Patricia Ticineto Clough, and Robert Jackson, are speculative in the sense that they perceive potentials for theory arising from nonanthropocentrism's manifestations in art.

This dissertation analyzes the appeal of things in thirties British literature. I argue that in a time in which a catastrophic and world-changing war seemed to be on the way, many writers saw seemingly unshakable material things as a source of comfort. Drawing on thing theory, I explore thirties writers' recognition of the duality of things, their alienness to human society even as people invest great significance in them. Therefore, I show that despite this frequent appeal to the material world as a place of stability and comfort, many of these writers also recognized conflicting aspects of things, knowing (and fearing) that even seemingly impenetrable things could change as the world was changing around them. Yet although furnishings such as tables and chairs could warp, decay, become lost, or perish in the bombs of war, their ultimate remoteness from human society made them appealing and seemingly safe from the traumatic political and cultural changes that seemed to be on their way. Many critics have analyzed the importance of things to modernist writers, but few have addressed the representation of things in the works of the slightly younger generation associated primarily with the thirties--the generation of Christopher Isherwood, Elizabeth Bowen, and Evelyn Waugh. Thirties writers have long been either neglected or associated primarily with political commitments, though this has begun to change. I argue that thirties writers often position things as an alternative to politics, religion, or even ideas. Though the writers I discuss have significant differences, they share a fixation on the things that may outlive competing ideologies. Chairs, tables, and knickknacks--simple things, often ugly things, without great monetary or aesthetic value--persist after the fall or death of the people who own them and the societies in which they function.

Encountering Things brings together leading design scholars to explore the relationship between thing theory and design, exploring production processes and offering an engaging, theoretical perspective about the social and cultural lives of objects. Focusing on the themes of process and product, the contributors investigate the productive interplay between the activity of design and the objects that design uses and produces. Chapters span the design disciplines and essays examine the processes by which objects, things, and artifacts are made; the lives of design objects; and things in their cultural contexts. Theoretical discussion is encouraged by in-depth case studies of things themselves. Each chapter includes an informational sidebar per essay and a useful glossary of key terms

This volume addresses the dynamics of materiality over time and space. In cross-cultural, multi-temporal and interdisciplinary studies the authors examine how things gain meaning and status, generate a multitude of emotions, and feed into the propagation of myths, narratives and discourses. The book is divided according to four themes: soft objects, stoic stories, consuming and the collectable, and waste and technologies. The first section discusses the meanings of the lived environment on the individual and national levels. The second section provides specific examples on the role of things in identity construction. The third section focuses on historical and contemporary aspects of consumption and collecting. The phenomena under scrutiny in the fourth section are moral dilemmas associated with and representations of dirt/waste and advancements in science and technology. Presenting diverse case studies of material culture, the volume points to rich interdisciplinary approaches in cultural theory.

"A guide to the assumptions, readings and writings of cultural theory, and an intervention in contemporary debates, this book will be invaluable to anyone involved in studying, teaching or researching media and cultural studies."--Bloomsbury Publishing