Hiroshima After Iraq : Three Studies in Art and War PDF
Preview Hiroshima After Iraq : Three Studies in Art and War
d hiroshima after iraq e (CONTINUED FROM FRONT FLAP) PRAISE FOR u Many on the left lament an apathy or hiroshima after iraq ts amnesia toward recent acts of war. Par- c three studies in art and war questioning both the role of totalizing h ticularly during the George W. Bush ad- e images in the production of warlike sub- ministration’s invasion of Iraq, opposi- jects and the fantasies that perpetuate, tion to war seemed to lack the heat and “Hiroshima After Iraq is a powerful, timely, and original con- especially among the left, traditional no- potency of the 1960s and 1970s, giving tribution to the cultural discourse on art, war, and contempo- tions of political dissent. She ultimately the impression that passionate dissent reveals the passive collusion between rary art criticism. Like Judith Butler’s Precarious Life and Susan was all but dead. h leftist critique and dominant discourse Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others, Rosalyn Deutsche’s i in which personal dimensions of war are elegantly concise and pointed analysis promises to be imme- r Through an analysis of three politically o denied. engaged works of art, Rosalyn Deutsche diately and enduringly influential as an intervention in the s argues against this melancholic attitude, h ethicopolitical discourse of the Iraq era. I found it gripping.” confirming the power of contemporary i ROSALYN DEUTSCHE is an art historian m art to criticize subjectivity as well as —Mignon Nixon, Courtauld Institute of Art, London and critic who teaches modern and con- war. Deutsche selects three videos cen- a temporary art at Barnard College. She is tered on the deployment of the atomic the author of Evictions: Art and Spatial “Rosalyn Deutsche argues for a certain modesty—or perhaps, a bomb: Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Hiroshima f Politics, which investigates the politics I should say, a modest uncertainty—with regard to the de- t Projection (1999), made after the first of space in art, architecture, and urban e Gulf War; Silvia Kolbowski’s After Hiro- mands placed upon art in response to war. She brings a deep planning and design. r shima mon amour (2005–2008); and Les- knowledge of both contemporary art and the psychoanalytic i lie Thornton’s Let Me Count the Ways r literature on war to her study as well as the careful exposition a (2004–2008), which followed the U.S. in- and lucid prose we’ve come to expect from her work.” q vasion of Iraq. —Douglas Crimp, author of Melancholia and Moralism: Each of these works confronts the ethi- cal task of addressing historical disaster, Essays on AIDS and Queer Politics rosalyn deutsche and each explores the intersection of past and present wars. These artworks The Wellek Library Lectures c o profoundly contribute to the discourse l u of war resistance, illuminating the com- m Columbia University Press / New York plex dynamics of viewing and interpre- b Jacket image: www.cup.columbia.edu ia tation. Deutsche employs feminist and Leslie Thornton, Let Me Count the Ways, 2004–2008, psychoanalytic approaches in her study, still from color video. Jacket design: Milenda Nan Ok Lee (CONTINUED ON BACK FLAP) Printed in the U.S.A. hiroshima after iraq wellek library lectures PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED WELLEK LIBRARY LECTURES The Breaking of the Vessels The Fateful Question of Culture Harold Bloom (1983) Geoff rey Hartman (1997) In the Tracks of Historical Materialism The Range of Interpretation Perry Anderson (1984) Wolfgang Iser (2000) Forms of Attention History’s Disquiet: Modernity and Frank Kermode (1985) Everyday Life Harry Harootunian (2000) Memoires for Paul de Man Jacques Derrida (1986) Antigone’s Claim: Kinship Between Life and Death The Ethics of Reading Judith Butler (2000) J. Hillis Miller (1987) The Vital Illusion Peregrinations: Law, Form, Event Jean Baudrillard (2000) Jean- François Lyotard (1988) Death of a Discipline A Reopening of Closure: Organicism Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak (2003) Against Itself Murray Krieger (1989) Postcolonial Melancholia Paul Gilroy (2005) Musical Elaborations Edward W. Said (1991) On Suicide Bombing Talal Asad (2007) Three Steps on the Ladder of Writing Hélène Cixous (1993) Cosmopolitanism and the Geographies of Freedom The Seeds of Time David Harvey (2009) Fredric Jameson (1994) Refi guring Life: Meta phors of Twentieth- Century Biology Evelyn Fox Keller (1995) hiroshima after iraq three studies in art and war rosalyn deutsche columbia university press new york Columbia University Press Publishers Since 1893 New York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2010 Columbia University Press All rights reserved Columbia University Press would like to express its appreciation to the Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in Fine Arts for assistance with the costs of illustrations in this volume. Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Deutsche, Rosalyn. Hiroshima after Iraq: three studies in art and war / Rosalyn Deutsche. p. cm.—(Wellek library lectures in critical theory) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-231-15278-5 (cloth: alk. paper) 1. Art and war. 2. Kolbowski, Silvia. After Hiroshima mon amour. 3. Wodiczko, Krzysztof. Hiroshima projection. 4. Thornton, Leslie, 1951– Let me count the ways. I. Title. II. Title: Three studies in art and war. III. Series. N8260.D48 2010 700.1'03—dc22 2010000457 Casebound editions of Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid- free paper. Printed in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for Web sites that may have expired or changed since the book was prepared. editorial note The Wellek Library Lectures in Critical Theory are given annually at the University of California, Irvine, under the auspices of the Critical Theory Institute. The following lectures were given in May 2009. The Critical Theory Institute Kavita Philip, Director To Jennifer Hayslett and Elizabeth Miller contents Ac know ledg ments xi Introduction 1 one Silvia Kolbowski 9 two Leslie Thornton 33 three Krzysztof Wodiczko 55 Notes 71 Bibliography 77 Index 83
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