The Sphinx Contemplating Napoleon: Global Perspectives on Contemporary Art and Difference

Description

Anchored in artistic practice, this vibrant collection of essays and writings spans a period from 1992–2017 and the work of leading artists such as Adel Abdessemed, Richard Avedon, Sonia Boyce, Frank Bowling, Omer Fast, Mona Hatoum, Susan Hiller, Alfredo Jaar, Glenn Ligon and Shen Yuan. A key figure in British and international art, Gilane Tawadros draws difference to the surface, recuperating it as a potentially radical frame through which to understand contemporary art and the everyday world. Playing with forms of writing, from critical analyses to fictional narratives, the book functions as a practice-based meditation on how to write about contemporary art. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction Notes Part One The leftovers of translation 1 But what is the question? Art, research and the production of knowledge I II III IV V Notes 2 Extra-Extra Interview with Raul Ortega Ayala 3 Dissonant chorus I II III Notes 4 Shen Yuan The left overs of translation Notes 5 Voices off Interview with Susan Hiller Notes Part Two The banality of difference 6 ‘We are the Martians . . .’ I ‘No reason for alarm’: UFOs, communism and the media II Robots and aliens: The good, the bad and the ugly III Alien landscapes: Deserts, cities and suburbia Notes 7 Van Leo: Self-portraits Notes 8 Shirana Shahbazi The banality of difference Notes 9 A case of mistaken identity Notes from the scene of the crime Notes 10 Electrifying Eve Notes Part Three Re-siting the city 11 The real me Notes 12 Vladimir and Estragon are still waiting I Ending II Beginning III Middle Notes 13 Alfred’s favourite tree I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV XV Notes 14 The leopard 15 Maps of desire Notes Part Four Studies in a postcolonial body 16 The revolution stripped bare I A common struggle II A vernacular modernity III Mapping space IV The algebra of diff erence V Signs and meanings VI Cities under construction VII Notes on the postcolony Notes 17 Studies in a postcolonial body I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX Notes 18 Veil: Veiling, representation and contemporary art Orientalism, Edward Said and ‘imaginative geographies’ Architecture, space and modernity Photography, veiling and the politics of representation Veiling the body: Sexuality, censorship and cultural diff erence Women, history and the veil Notes Part Five Relocating the remains History and representation 19 Strangers and barbarians Representing ourselves and others I II The violence of strangers III Shadows of empire IV Prologue to madness V Fantasy, identity and celebrity culture VI The limits of photography Notes 20 Telling tales Keith Piper’s relocating the remains Notes 21 Sweet oblivion Notes 22 Godville Interview with Omer Fast Part Six Going global 23 Going global 4th International Istanbul Biennial 24 Detonations Jonathan Hernández and the Rongwrong series Notes 25 Modern Europeans Notes 26 Slipping away (or uncompliant cartographies) Notes Part Seven Transmission interrupted 27 Interruption in four acts, or disappearing irises, brokendown buses and ceramic Citroens I Interjection II Interruption III Obstruction IV Disruption Notes 28 Egypt at the Venice Biennale 1967 and the year that changed everything Notes 29 From zero to infi nity The work of Adel Abdessemed Notes 30 Reading (and curating) from right to left 31 Dissonant divas Sonia Boyce, sound and collaboration Notes 32 A thousand and one Endnotes Index