'On the Contrary: Rethinking Engaged Art in an Age of Social Unrest' is a collection of essays that re-evaluate key artistic concepts that influence the way in which engaged practices are conducted. Historically produced ideas about, for example, spectatorship, autonomy, what an artwork is, and the political role of the artist determine to a large degree how contemporary practices constitute themselves. Might these concepts be faulty when acted out in practices that occupy fundamentally diffe...

This edited volume offers an in-depth exploration of Dutch media art from 1985 onwards from many different perspectives. Through early access to the Internet, state subsidies and dedicated institutions and festivals, a vivid counter-cultural environment and a cosmopolitan artistic and intellectual scene the Netherlands hold a unique position in regards to the development of media art.

Introduced by four chapters that retrace the main events and actors (governmental institutions, festivals an...

Mix & Stir, this book’s aim is an endeavour to understand art as being a panhuman phenomenon of all times and cultures; to steer away from the persistent Eurocentric/Western-centric viewpoint towards a transcultural and transnational interconnected model of exchange and processes of interculturalization. Mix & Stir wants to expand this landscape by bringing to the fore new, recalcitrant, queer, idiosyncratic practices and discourses, theories and topics, methods and concerns that open up wa...

In 'The emancipated museum' the art historian and researcher Steven ten Thije engages in a personal inquiry into the importance of art museums in a society that is becoming ever more fragmented. In spite of the unprecedented success of museums in attracting masses of visitors, the future of the museum is uncertain. Museums may appear calm and self-assured to outsiders, but not even this noble showcase of art is immune to the cracks in society. The tensions between high and low, newcomer and n...

The fourth instalment of the ‘Teaching Objects’ series revolves around “Creation”. In this art novella the reader is guided by Lisa, a young artist who is facing death. A dialogue with four works by the American painter Cy Twombly emerges from the question of life’s duration, and Lisa discovers the secret of creative speech. The protagonist’s thoughts bring her to Gaeta, a seaside town near Velia, the ancient Greek town in Italy, now named Elea – the place where the school of Pa...

In The Aesthetics of Ambiguity: Understanding and Addressing Monoculture betogen Pascal Gielen en Nav Haq dat multiculturalisme paradoxaal genoeg gebaseerd is op monocultureel denken. De publicatie verkent deze paradox door monocultuur in verschillende hedendaagse contexten te onderzoeken. Het boek wil monocultuur analyseren met behulp van een veelzijdige benadering, door historische, sociale, culturele en ideologische perspectieven samen te brengen. Kunst kan daarbij zowel dienen als middel ...

Met de publicatie van 'Cultural Activism Today. The Art of Over-Identification' willen de initiatiefnemers een lans breken voor activistische kunstuitingen die durven te provoceren. In het huidige neoliberale politieke klimaat is weinig ruimte voor maatschappijkritische culturele uitingen tenzij ze zich aanpassen aan de wetten van de vrije markt of de afgesproken normen en waarden. Dit boek wil aantonen dat dit doorbroken kan worden met over-identificatie: compromisloos je idealen naleven. In...

We are living in a time of polarization. Cultural and educational institutions are confronted with the responsibility to provide tools and spaces for critical reflection, for engagement, and, more fundamentally, for meeting and recognizing each other in our differences. In this decolonial essay Rolando Vázquez introduces his critique which offers an option for thinking and doing beyond the dominant paradigms. It provides a critical analysis of modernity understood broadly as the western proj...

The Impossibility of Silence is a book for artists, designers and photographers interested in approaching writing about their vocation and culture. Drawing upon decades of experience as a writer, designer, artist and teacher, Ian Lynam offers up a plethora of inspirational and concrete approaches to writing about creative fields.