Art and the Performance of Memory: Sounds and Gestures of Recollection (Routledge Studies in Memory and Narrative)

This book investigates the role that the visual and performing arts play in our experience and understanding of the past. Expanding upon longstanding concerns in cultural history about the relation of text and image, the book highlights the distinction between enactive and cognitive memory and the implications of this for artists and their publics.The essays highlight the role of oral history in the documentation of the visual and performing arts. Contributors are drawn from a range of backgrounds, including art and architectural history, film, theatre and performance studies, social and cultural history. Blending theory and case study, they cover subjects such as:* The response of artists to the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, violence in Columbia and Mexico and the Balkan Wars* The circuit of sexual desire in contemporary art and photography* Sites of collective and personal memory, including the internet, the urban landscape, family photographs and hiphop.Stressing the relation of media to the formation of collective memory, the volume explores how media intertextuality creates overlapping repertoires for understanding the past and the present. Scholars of art history, media and cultural studies, literature and performance studies will all find this work a valuable resource. This Book Investigates The Role That The Visual And Performing Arts Play In Our Experience And Understanding Of The Past. Exploring How Ideas Move Across And Between Expressive Forms, It Highlights The Role Of Oral History In The Documentation Of The Visual And Performing Arts. Contributors Are Drawn From A Range Of Backgrounds, Including Art And Architectural History, Film, Theater And Performance Studies, Social And Cultural History. Scholars Of Art History, Media And Cultural Studies, Literature And Performance Studies Will All Find This Work A Valuable Resource.--book Jacket. List Of Illustrations -- Notes On Contributors -- Acknowledgments -- 1. Introduction: Performing The Archive / Richard Cándida Smith -- 2. Resonating Testimonies From/in The Space Of Death: Performing Buenaventura's La Maestra / Warren Linds, Alejandra Medellín, And Kadi Purru -- 3. Truth And Consequences: Art In Response To The Truth And Reconciliation Commission / Stephanie Marlin-curiel -- 4. Precarious Boundaries: Affect, Mise-en-scène, And The Senses / Anne Rutherford -- 5. Stratum And Resonance: Displacement In The Work Of Renée Green / Elvan Zabunyan -- 6. Cities Memory Voices Collage / David Michalski -- 7. Eros In The Studio / Paul J. Karlstrom -- 8. Muscle Memory: Performing Embodied Knowledge / Jeff Friedman -- 9. Hope ... Teach, Yaknowhati'msayin: Freestylin Knowledge Through Detroit Hiphop / Ryan Snyder -- 10. Les Gammes: Making Visible The Representative Modern Man / Richard Cándida Smith -- 11. Composite Past: Photography And Family Memories In Brazil (1850-1950) / Ana Maria Mauad -- 12. Memories Of Mammy / Lizzetta Lefalle-collins -- 13. Official Art, Official Publics: Public Sculpture Under The Fereral Art-in-architecture Program Since 1972 / Ivy Schroeder -- 14. Private Reflections/public Matters: Public Art In The City / Iain Borden And Jane Rendell -- Index. Edited By Richard Cándida Smith. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. During an interview I conducted with the noted African American artist John Outterbridge, I noticed that John, in recalling his childhood in North Carolina, accompanied his vivid recollections of his mother making soap with a flurry of alternately subdued and expansive mime movements.