Counter-Realism - (Rethinking Art's Histories) by Tamara Trodd (Hardcover)

About the Book

An ambitious and original study with case studies focusing on the works of William Kentridge, Amalia Ulman, Melanie Gilligan, Ryan Trecartin and Elizabeth Price, Counter-Realism shows the ways in which key features of contemporary art may be understood in relation to fundamental aspects of contemporary political and economic life.

Book Synopsis

Counter-Realism: Art and subjectivity in contemporary capitalism is an ambitious and original study of key works of film and video art made since 2008 by leading contemporary artists, including William Kentridge, Amalia Ulman, Melanie Gilligan, Lizzie Fitch/Ryan Trecartin and Elizabeth Price. It argues their work should be understood as a reconfigured form of 'realism', expressing economic forces and political pressures across contexts ranging from post-apartheid South Africa, through austerity-era Spain, to contemporary Britain and North America. Supported by original artist interviews and detailed visual analysis of individual works of art, as well as a wide-ranging research base, which synthesises arguments from a variety of disciplines including art history, literary, film and political studies, the book is clearly written, and makes legible the ways in which some of the most vivid and compelling works of contemporary moving-image art engage with historical and contemporary political debates.

From the Back Cover

An ambitious and original study of contemporary art, Counter-Realism examines works by William Kentridge, Amalia Ulman, Melanie Gilligan, Ryan Trecartin and Elizabeth Price, and shows the ways in which they may be understood in relation to fundamental aspects of contemporary political and economic life.

Emerging from the period of economic global orthodoxy from the 1970s until the financial crisis of 2007-8, together these artists' films and videos protest the 'common sense' of neoliberalism and speak eloquently of the forms of distortion, haunting and decreation produced by the economic reality we habitually take for granted.

Looking to the future, as increased economic inequality, fraying social cohesion, and decay in democratic institutions prompt a global reckoning, some fear a return to the violent and repressive politics of the 1930s. In response, Counter-Realism proposes a counter-model of return to artistic and critical strategies which bring to visibility the forces structuring the present. Convulsed by the spectre of historical return but to dynamic critical purpose, this is art which alienates and estranges audiences, awakening us to the forces distorting both our selves and the world around us.

About the Author

Tamara Trodd is Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Edinburgh