Summary
Diarmuid Costello, Jonathan Vickery: Art - key contemporary thinkers
What are all the ways of interpreting art and what different concepts and theoretical frameworks do they include? What is the value of art? How does art communicate or otherwise express its meaning? Why do the form and meaning of art change over time and within different contexts? Are changes in art reflected in culture and society as a whole, and if so, in what way? These are questions that we must constantly ask and reassess. Art itself is a "discourse" - a conceptual field within and around which various types of goals, activities, processes, ideas and theories, subcultures and movements, institutions and performances are set in motion. The central characteristic of this discourse is its unstable, internally conflicted and often incomprehensible character. This can make trying to master the discourse of art a frustrating but equally intellectually exciting task. Contemporary art has never enjoyed such widespread interest and importance as it does now, yet the theoretical frameworks it produces and relies on often remain inscrutable.
Biblos Newsletter
New titles, special copies and quiet recommendations from the antiquarian bookshop.