Shelf-light wear to spine, covers and corners. A light stain (possibly tea? ) marks this otherwise near-fine copy. ; With unusual corrugated cardboard covers with blue free-end papers. Shelf-light wear to spine, covers and corners. A light stain (possibly tea? ) marks this otherwise near-fine copy. A thought-provoking exploration of contemporary photography and its intersection with economics, politics, and society. The book examines how photographers respond to global capitalism's shifting dynamics, presenting a collection of works that critique labor, consumption, and economic inequality. Campbell and Durden analyze the way photography reflects, questions, and often challenges the visual representations of power and capital. The book features various artists and their approaches to documenting these themes, offering insights into the role of visual culture in shaping public perception of global economic forces and inequalities in the modern world. Colour and b&w photographic plates throughout. ; 29.5 x 23 x 1.5 cm; 151 pages.

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Bibliographic Details

Title: Variable Capital
Publisher: The Bluecoat and Liverpool University Press, Great Britain
Publication Date: 2008
Language: English
ISBN 10: 1846311268
ISBN 13: 9781846311260
Binding: Softcover
Edition: First Edition; First Impression.
Condition: Very Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket

About this title

Synopsis

Artists fascination with pop culture and commodity aesthetics has led to the development of some of the most significant and popular art of the last fifty years. Yet while much of this art has concerned itself with the celebration of commodities as objects of desire, relatively little attention has been given to the human cost underpinning such cultures of excess. Variable Capital counters this trend and examines the way in which contemporary artists have critically responded to the seductive allure of globalised commodity consumption. Taking its title from a term Karl Marx used to explain how value is produced in a commodity, the book charts the strategies artists have employed to redirect attention toward the apparently invisible processes of exploitation and alienation underlying production. The book, in accompaniment to an exhibition presented by the Bluecoat Arts Centre, Liverpool, examines the work of a range of international artists including Common Culture, Hans Op de Beeck, Richard Dedomenici, Alexander Gerdel, Richard Hughes, Melanie Jackson, Louise Lawler, Ken Probst, Wang Qingsong, Julian Rosenfeldt, Santiago Sierra, Larry Sultan, Brian Ulrich and Andy Warhol. Much of the work discussed is characterised by a willingness to engineer awkward and embarrassing situations, challenging the viewer with uncomfortable realities. Many of the artists achieve this by humorously subverting familiar objects and rituals to displace, critique and emphasise the ridiculous. This art is not redemptive, but a vehicle by which the often absurd and brutal logic of commodification is revealed.

About the Author

David Campbell and Mark Durden are artists and work collaboratively as Common Culture.

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