Falling for Gravity

Invisible Forces in Contemporary Art

Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, General Art, Art History
Cover of the book Falling for Gravity by Catherine James, Peter Lang
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Catherine James ISBN: 9781787078215
Publisher: Peter Lang Publication: December 5, 2017
Imprint: Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers Language: English
Author: Catherine James
ISBN: 9781787078215
Publisher: Peter Lang
Publication: December 5, 2017
Imprint: Peter Lang Ltd, International Academic Publishers
Language: English

This book begins with the observation that contemporary artists have embraced and employed gravity as an immaterial readymade. Necessarily focusing on material practices – chiefly sculpture, installation, performance, and film – this discussion takes account of how and why artists have used gravity and explores the similarities between their work and the popular cultural forms of circus, vaudeville, burlesque, and film.

Works by Rodney Graham, Stan Douglas, and Robert Smithson are mediated through ideas of Gnostic doubt, atomism, and new materialism. In other examples – by John Wood and Paul Harrison, Gordon Matta-Clark, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Trisha Brown, and Bas Jan Ader – mass and momentum, falling objects, and falling bodies are examined in relation to architecture, sculpture, and dance. In performances, projects and events curated by Bruce Nauman, Santiago Sierra, and Catherine Yass, gravity is resisted in Sisyphean ordeals and death-defying stunts.

This account of contemporary art and performance, read through the invisible membrane of gravity, exposes new and distinctive approaches to agency reduction, authorial doubt, and redemptive failure.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This book begins with the observation that contemporary artists have embraced and employed gravity as an immaterial readymade. Necessarily focusing on material practices – chiefly sculpture, installation, performance, and film – this discussion takes account of how and why artists have used gravity and explores the similarities between their work and the popular cultural forms of circus, vaudeville, burlesque, and film.

Works by Rodney Graham, Stan Douglas, and Robert Smithson are mediated through ideas of Gnostic doubt, atomism, and new materialism. In other examples – by John Wood and Paul Harrison, Gordon Matta-Clark, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Trisha Brown, and Bas Jan Ader – mass and momentum, falling objects, and falling bodies are examined in relation to architecture, sculpture, and dance. In performances, projects and events curated by Bruce Nauman, Santiago Sierra, and Catherine Yass, gravity is resisted in Sisyphean ordeals and death-defying stunts.

This account of contemporary art and performance, read through the invisible membrane of gravity, exposes new and distinctive approaches to agency reduction, authorial doubt, and redemptive failure.

More books from Peter Lang

Cover of the book Student Involvement & Academic Outcomes by Catherine James
Cover of the book Ideologies and Forms of Leisure and Recreation in Victorian Manchester by Catherine James
Cover of the book «Sailing towards Poland» with Joseph Conrad by Catherine James
Cover of the book Exploring the Utopian Impulse by Catherine James
Cover of the book Die Gefaehrdung von Tatbeteiligten im Anwendungsbereich der §§ 315 b, 315 c StGB by Catherine James
Cover of the book A Web of New Words by Catherine James
Cover of the book Vorkoloniale Afrika-Penetrationen by Catherine James
Cover of the book La triple chaîne prédicative by Catherine James
Cover of the book Karl Jaspers und Jean-Paul Sartre im Dialog by Catherine James
Cover of the book Formal Education: A Catalyst to Nation Building by Catherine James
Cover of the book «Wooden Man»? by Catherine James
Cover of the book The Maidan Uprising, Separatism and Foreign Intervention by Catherine James
Cover of the book Argot(s) et variations by Catherine James
Cover of the book La nature, lautre «frontière» by Catherine James
Cover of the book Rodrigo de Valdés: Poema heroyco hispano-latino panegyrico de la fundación, y grandezas de la muy noble, y leal ciudad de Lima by Catherine James
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy