What is contemporary art? / Terry Smith.

By:

Smith, Terry (Terry E.)

Material type: Text

TextPublication details: Chicago : The University of Chicago Press, 2009.Description: 329 p. ; 24 cmISBN:

0226764303 (cloth : alk. paper)
9780226764306 (cloth : alk. paper)
9780226764313 (pbk. : alk. paper)
0226764311 (pbk. : alk. paper)

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

709.05 SMI

Contents:

Contemporary art inside out -- Museums: modern/contemporary -- Remodernizing Manhattan -- Sublime-on-Hudson: Dia : Beacon now -- SensationSaatchi -- Contemporizing the Tate Modern -- Spectacles: architecture/sculpture -- The experience museum: Bilbao and beyond -- The intensity exhibit: Barneyworld at McGuggenheim -- Markets: global/local -- Going global: selling contemporary art -- From the desert to the fair -- Countercurrents: south/north -- The postcolonial turn -- Our otherness: the beauty of the animal -- Contemporaneity: times/places -- Taking time -- Art, truth, and politics -- An art historical hypothesis -- What is contemporary art?

Summary: Who gets to say what counts as contemporary art? Artists, critics, curators, gallerists, auctioneers, collectors, or the public? Revealing how all of these groups have shaped today\'s multifaceted definition, the author brilliantly shows that an historical approach offers the best answer to the question: What is Contemporary Art? She argues that the most recognizable kind is characterized by a return to mainstream modernism in the work of such artists as Richard Serra and Gerhard Richter, as well as the retro-sensationalism of figures like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, she reveals, postcolonial artists are engaged in a different kind of practice: one that builds on local concerns and tackles questions of identity, history, and globalization. A younger generation embodies yet a third approach to contemporaneity by investigating time, place, mediation, and ethics through small-scale, closely connective art making. Inviting readers into these diverse yet overlapping art worlds, the author offers a behind-the-scenes introduction to the institutions, the personalities, the biennials, and of course the works that together are defining the contemporary. The resulting map of where art is now illuminates not only where it has been but also where it is going.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Standard Loan	LSAD Library Main Collection	709.05 SMI (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		39002100478578

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Smith argues that the most recognizable kind is characterized by a return to mainstream modernism in the work of such artists as Richard Serra and Gerhard Richter, as well as the retro-sensationalism of figures like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, Smith reveals, postcolonial artists are engaged in a different kind of practice: one that builds on local concerns and tackles questions of identity, history, and globalization. A younger generation embodies yet a third approach to contemporaneity by investigating time, place, mediation, and ethics through small-scale, closely connective art making. Inviting readers into these diverse yet overlapping art worlds, Smith offers a behind-the-scenes introduction to the institutions, the personalities, the biennials, and of course the works that together are defining the contemporary. The resulting map of where art is now illuminates not only where it has been but also where it is going.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 273-305) and index.

Who gets to say what counts as contemporary art? Artists, critics, curators, gallerists, auctioneers, collectors, or the public? Revealing how all of these groups have shaped today\'s multifaceted definition, the author brilliantly shows that an historical approach offers the best answer to the question: What is Contemporary Art? She argues that the most recognizable kind is characterized by a return to mainstream modernism in the work of such artists as Richard Serra and Gerhard Richter, as well as the retro-sensationalism of figures like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, she reveals, postcolonial artists are engaged in a different kind of practice: one that builds on local concerns and tackles questions of identity, history, and globalization. A younger generation embodies yet a third approach to contemporaneity by investigating time, place, mediation, and ethics through small-scale, closely connective art making. Inviting readers into these diverse yet overlapping art worlds, the author offers a behind-the-scenes introduction to the institutions, the personalities, the biennials, and of course the works that together are defining the contemporary. The resulting map of where art is now illuminates not only where it has been but also where it is going.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Terry Smith is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor of Contemporary Art History and Theory at the University of Pittsburgh. His many books include The Architecture of Aftermath , also published by the University of Chicago Press.