Hiroshima After Iraq: Three Studies in Art and War (Wellek Library Lectures) (The Wellek Library Lectures) - Softcover

Deutsche, Rosalyn

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0231152795 ISBN 13: 9780231152792

Publisher: Columbia University Press, 2011

Synopsis

Many on the left lament an apathy or amnesia toward recent acts of war. Particularly during the George W. Bush administration's invasion of Iraq, opposition to war seemed to lack the heat and potency of the 1960s and 1970s, giving the impression that passionate dissent was all but dead. Through an analysis of three politically engaged works of art, Rosalyn Deutsche argues against this melancholic attitude, confirming the power of contemporary art to criticize subjectivity as well as war. Deutsche selects three videos centered on the deployment of the atomic bomb: Krzysztof Wodiczko's Hiroshima Projection (1999), made after the first Gulf War; Silvia Kolbowski's After Hiroshima mon amour (2005-2008); and Leslie Thornton's Let Me Count the Ways (2004-2008), which followed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Each of these works confronts the ethical task of addressing historical disaster, and each explores the intersection of past and present wars. These artworks profoundly contribute to the discourse of war resistance, illuminating the complex dynamics of viewing and interpretation. Deutsche employs feminist and psychoanalytic approaches in her study, questioning both the role of totalizing images in the production of warlike subjects and the fantasies that perpetuate, especially among the left, traditional notions of political dissent. She ultimately reveals the passive collusion between leftist critique and dominant discourse in which personal dimensions of war are denied.

About this title

Product Description:

Unusual book

Review:

Rosalyn Deutsche argues for a certain modesty--or perhaps, I should say, a modest uncertainty--with regard to the demands placed upon art in response to war. She brings a deep knowledge of both contemporary art and the psychoanalytic literature on war to her study, as well as the careful exposition and lucid prose we've come to expect from her work.--Douglas Crimp, author of Melancholia and Moralism: Essays on AIDS and Queer Politics

About this edition

• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0231152795
• ISBN 13: 9780231152792
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 104