Touching and Imagining: An Introduction to Tactile Art (International Library of Modern and Contemporary Art Book 1)

Jan Švankmajer wrote this remarkable book on tactile art when he stopped directing films after censorship by the Czechoslovakian government and experimented intensively with tactile phenomena and the creative imagination. Illustrated with over 100 images, the book is organized around many reproductions of Švankmajer's wondrous tactile art objects, tactile poems, experiments and games. It also includes dialogues with, and artworks by, other collaborating artists from the Group of Czech and Slovak Surrealists. Švankmajer also gathers together as contributors such notable exponents of tactual experience as Edgar Allen Poe, Guillaume Apollinaire, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Meret Oppenheim, Ay-O, and F.T. Marinetti. Michael Havas, producer of some of Švankmajer's films, says of the book: 'it is typically Švankmajer: erudite and very consequential. Sometimes also very funny and erotic. Totally unique.' Jan Svankmajer wrote this remarkable book on tactile art when he stopped directing films and experimented intensively with tactile art after repeated censorship by the communist governmnent of Czechoslovakia. Illustrated with over 100 imges, this book is organised around many reproductions of Svanmajker's wondrous tactile art objects, tactile poems, experiments and games. It includes dialogues with, and artworks by, other collaborating artists from the Group of Czech and Slovak Surrealists. Svankmajer also gathers together as contributors such notable exponents of tactical experience as Edgar Allan Poe, Guillaume Appollinaire, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Meret Oppenheim, Edith Clifford Williams, Ay-O, Valie Export, F.T. Marinetti and Karel Teige. Jan Svankmajer wrote this remarkable book on tactile art when he stopped directing films after censorship by the Czechoslovakian government and experimented intensively with tactile phenomena and the creative imagination. Illustrated with over 100 images, the book is organized around many reproductions of Svankmajer's wondrous tactile art objects, tactile poems, experiments and games. It also includes dialogues with, and artworks by, other collaborating artists from the Group of Czech and Slovak Surrealists. Svankmajer also gathers together as contributors such notable exponents of tactual experience as Edgar Allen Poe, Guillaume Apollinaire, Salvador Dali, Marcel Duchamp, Meret Oppenheim, Ay-O, and F.T. Marinetti.0Translated by Stanley Dalby Written After The Author Stopped Directing Films And Based Around His Tactile Art Objects, Poems, Experiments And Games, Also Includes Dialogues With And Artworks By Other Czech And Slovak Surrealist Artists. Introduction -- Between Utilitarianism And Imagination -- Restorer -- Sources Of Tactile Imagination -- Short Anthology Of Tactile Art -- Inside -- Afterword : Tactilism Reviewed. Jan Švankmajer ; English Translation By Stanley Dalby ; Edited By Cathryn Vasseleu. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 177-178) And Index. Translated From The Czech.