Art and the Politics of Visibility : Contesting the Global, Local and the In-Between

How does cultural context affect the interpretation of art? What makes artists' work transnational or national in character, and how will their visibility be impacted by either label? Art and the Politics of Visibility questions these dynamics, asking how the dissemination of visual culture on a global scale affects art and its institutions. Taking Shanghai-based artist Yang Fudong's practice as a point of departure, this volume focuses on how politically charged images produced in contemporary art, cinema, literature, news media and fashion become widely consumed or marginalised. Through case studies of artists including Titus Kaphar, Sara Maple, Shirin Neshat, J.M. Coetzee, Barbara Walker and Apichatpong Weerasethakul, the book illuminates the relationship between visibility, politics and identity in contemporary visual culture. Cover Author bio Title page Copyright information Table of contents List of figures List of contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: Why Visibility Matters Recognition and Misunderstanding Reading Visual Culture Through the Politics of Visibility Notes 1 Chinese Artist Films in the Transnational Art World: Yang Fudong and the Politics of Precarity Introduction The Precarious Gesture in Yang Fudong’s Work The Precarious Space of the Artscape The Politics of the Precarious Gesture Notes 2 The Blind Spots of Representation: The Difficulty of Reading Notes 3 Defiant Embodiments and the Gender Geopolitics of Seeing Introduction Rationale and Argument Intellectual Background Veiled Bodies Misbehaving: ‘Islam is the New Black’36 Naked Bodies in/as Protest Analysis: Modalities of Refusal Conclusion: The Geopolitics of Seeing Notes 4 (In)Visibility as Resistance: Performing the Right to Disappear in J. M. Coetzee’s Life and Times of Michael K Introduction Narrative Voice and Writing as Effacement Tactical Invisibility or a Poetics of Disappearance Conclusion Notes 5 Valences of Subjectivity: The Politics of Personal Narrative in Video Art Contemporary Contexts: From Race to Faith and the Persistence of Visual Codes Some Historical Junctures in Art The Personal Narrative Notes 6 Hauntology and Hospitality in the Films of Apichatpong Weerasethakul The Beginning The Beginning II Haunted Film Spectral Knowledge Hospitality: A Seat at the Table Notes 7 Ethics and Visual Culture Notes Bibliography Index "How does cultural context affect the interpretation of art? What makes artists work transnational or national in character, and how will their visibility be impacted by either label? Art and the Politics of Visibility questions these dynamics, asking how the dissemination of visual culture on a global scale affects art and its institutions. Taking Shanghai-based artist Yang Fudong's practice as a point of departure, this volume focuses on how politically charged images produced in contemporary art, cinema, news media and fashion become widely consumed or marginalised. Through case studies of artists including Titus Kaphar, Sarah Maple, Shirin Neshat, J.M. Coetzee, Barbara Walker, and Apichatpong Weeasethakul, the book illumintates the relationship between visibility, politics and identity in contemporary visual culture."-- Publisher's website "How does cultural context affect the interpretation of art? What makes artists work transnational or national in character, and how will their visibility be impacted by either label? Art and the Politics of Visibility questions these dynamics, asking how the dissemination of visual culture on a global scale affects art and its institutions. Taking Shanghai-based artist Yang Fudong's practice as a point of departure, this volume focuses on how politically charged images produced in contemporary art, cinema, news media and fashion become widely consumed or marginalised. Through case studies of artists including Titus Kaphar, Sarah Maple, Shirin Neshat, J.M. Coetzee, Barbara Walker, and Apichatpong Weeasethakul, the book illumintates the relationship between visibility, politics and identity in contemporary visual culture."--Back cover