Precarious Visualities : New Perspectives on Identification in Contemporary Art and Visual Culture

Through the study of exemplary media works and practices - photography, film, video, performance, installations, web cams - scholars from various disciplines call attention to the unsettling of identification and the disablement of vision in contemporary aesthetics. To look at an image that prevents the stabilization of identification, identity and place; to perceive a representation that oscillates between visibility and invisibility; to relate to an image which entails a rebalancing of sight through the valorization of other senses; to be exposed, through surveillance devices, to the gaze of new figures of authority - the aesthetic experiences examined here concern a spectator whose perception lacks in certainty, identification, and opticality what it gains in fallibility, complexity, and interrelatedness. Precarious Visualities provides a new understanding of spectatorship as a relation that is at once corporeal and imaginary, and persistently prolific in its cultural, social, and political effects. Contributors include Raymond Bellour (École des hautes études en sciences sociales), Monika Kin Gagnon (Concordia University), Beate Ochsner (University of Mannheim -Universität Mannheim), Claudette Lauzon (McGill University), David Tomas (Université du Québec à Montréal), Slavoj Zizek (Ljubljiana University and University of London), Marie Fraser (Université du Québec à Montréal), Alice Ming Wai Jim (Concordia University), Julie Lavigne (Université du Québec à Montréal), Amelia Jones (University of Manchester), Eric Michaud (École des hautes études en sciences sociales), Hélène Samson (McCord Museum), and Thierry Bardini (Université de Montréal).' Through The Study Of Exemplary Media Works And Practices - Photography, Film, Video, Performance, Installations, Web Cams - Scholars From Various Disciplines Call Attention To The Unsettling Of Identification And The Disablement Of Vision In Contemporary Aesthetics. To Look At An Image That Prevents The Stabilization Of Identification, Identity And Place; To Perceive A Representation That Oscillates Between Visibility And Invisibility; To Relate To An Image Which Entails A Rebalancing Of Sight Through The Valorization Of Other Senses; To Be Exposed, Through Surveillance Devices, To The Gaze Of New Figures Of Authority - The Aesthetic Experiences Examined Here Concern A Spectator Whose Perception Lacks In Certainty, Identification, And Opticality What It Gains In Fallibility, Complexity, And Interrelatedness. Precarious Visualities Provides A New Understanding Of Spectatorship As A Relation That Is At Once Corporeal And Imaginary, And Persistently Prolific In Its Cultural, Social, And Political Effects. Contributors Include Raymond Bellour ( Cole Des Hautes Tudes En Sciences Sociales), Monika Kin Gagnon (concordia University), Beate Ochsner (university Of Mannheim -universit T Mannheim), Claudette Lauzon (mcgill University), David Tomas (universit Du Qu Bec Montr Al), Slavoj Zizek (ljubljiana University And University Of London), Marie Fraser (universit Du Qu Bec Montr Al), Alice Ming Wai Jim (concordia University), Julie Lavigne (universit Du Qu Bec Montr Al), Amelia Jones (university Of Manchester), Eric Michaud ( Cole Des Hautes Tudes En Sciences Sociales), H L Ne Samson (mccord Museum), And Thierry Bardini (universit De Montr Al). Contents Acknowledgments Introduction: The Precarious Visualities of Contemporary Art and Visual Culture PART ONE: “Am I Still in the Picture?”: The Unsettling of Identification Introduction 1 Self-Portraits 2 Ending Myths and the Catholic Outing of Andy Warhol 3 The Persistence of Spectatorship: The Racialized and Ethnicized Gaze 4 “Are We Still in the Game?”: David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ PART TWO: Interfaces of (In)Visibility Introduction 5 What the Body Remembers: Rebecca Belmore’s Memorial to Missing Women 6 The Threshold of an Interface: Ilya Kabakov's Looking up, Reading the Words (1997) 7 The Star and the Prisoner: The Spectacle and Surveillance of the Self on the Web PART THREE: The Staging of Hallucination (of Hallucination) Introduction 8 Hallucination as Ideology in Cinema PART FOUR: Para-Siting Visuality Introduction 9 Media Image, Public Space, and the Body: Around Krzysztof Wodiczko’s Alien Staff 10 Mediating Place-Identity: Notes on Mathias Woo's A Very Good City PART FIVE: The Polysensorialized Screen Introduction 11 Janine Antoni's Lick and Lather: Eroticism as Identity Subversion 12 Televisual Flesh: The Body, the Screen, the Subject 13 Real Time, Lived Time: A R Art, Perception, and the Possibility of the Event PART SIX: The Generating Image Introduction 14 The Descent of the Image 15 Resemblance and Identification: The Paradox of Gary Schneider's Genetic Self-Portrait 16 Variations on Genetic Insignificant: Metaphors of the (Non)Code Author Bios Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Z "Through the study of exemplary media works and practices - photography, film, video, performance, installations, web cams - scholars from various disciplines call attention to the unsettling of identification and the disablement of vision in contemporary aesthetics. To look at an image that prevents the stabilization of identification, identity and place; to perceive a representation that oscillates between visibility and invisibility; to relate to an image which entails a rebalancing of sight through the valorization of other senses; to be exposed, through surveillance devices, to the gaze of new figures of authority - the aesthetic experiences examined here concern a spectator whose perception lacks in certainty, identification, and opticality what it gains in fallibility, complexity, and interrelatedness. Precarious Visualities provides a new understanding of spectatorship as a relation that is at once corporeal and imaginary, and persistently prolific in its cultural, social, and political effects."--Pub. desc