Themes of Contemporary Art

Jean Robertson is Chancellor's Professor Emerita of Art History at Indiana University, Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI. Other books coauthored with Craig McDaniel include Spellbound: Rethinking the Alphabet (2016) and Painting as a Language: Material, Technique, Form, Content (2000). She is lead coauthor with Deborah Hutton of The History of Art: A Global View (2022). Craig McDaniel is Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at Indiana University, Herron School of Art and Design, IUPUI. In addition to volumes coauthored with Jean Robertson, McDaniel has published essays on art and culture, most notably a series of articles that reevaluates the practice of painting and the achievements of key painters. In addition to participating in exhibitions of his own art, McDaniel has curated more than fifty exhibitions of contemporary art by others. Scott Contreras-Koterbay (guest author) is Professor in the Department of Art & Design, Adjunct Professor in the Department ofPhilosophy & Humanities, and Director of the Bert C. Bach Fine & Performing Scholars in the Honors College at East Tennessee State University. He is coauthor with Lukasz Mirocha of The New Aesthetic and Art: Constellations of the Postdigital (2016).

• ContentsPREFACEINTRODUCTIONThemes of Contemporary Art: What, Why, and HowA Brief OrientationCHAPTER ONEThe World Changes, The Art World ExpandsOverview of History and Art History: 1980-2020Traditions Survive, New Trends ArriveGlobalizationTheory Flexes Its MusclesImpact of the Digital*Social Experience as ArtArt Meets Contemporary CultureArtists Respond to the AnthropocenePROFILE: Hito Steyerl*CHAPTER TWO: IdentityA Focus on Identity in Art HistoryIdentity Is Collective and RelationalIdentity PoliticsOtherness and RepresentationEssentialism Versus DiversityAuthenticity and HybridityIdentity Is ConstructedDeconstructing DifferenceThe Fluidity of IdentitySynthetic IdentitiesFictional IdentitiesAre We Post-Identity?PROFILE: Shirin Neshat PROFILE: Ryan Trecartin and Lizzie FitchCHAPTER THREE: The BodyPast Figurative ArtPerforming BodiesThe Body BeautifulGrotesque BodiesThe Body Is a BattlegroundSexual BodiesGazing at BodiesMortal BodiesClassifying Humans in the Genomic AgePosthuman BodiesPROFILE: Renée CoxPROFILE: Zhang HuanCHAPTER FOUR: TimeChanging Views of TimeTime and Art HistoryTime as a MediumLive ArtFilm and VideoProcess ArtExploring the Structure of TimeCounting and Measuring Time Reordering TimePROFILE: Hiroshi SugimotoPROFILE: Ragnar KjartanssonCHAPTER FIVE: MemoryMemory and Art HistoryThe Texture of MemoryMemory Is EmotionalMemory Is UnreliableMemory Is MultisensoryStrategies for Representing the PastDisplaying EvidenceReenacting the PastFracturing Narratives and Reshuffling MemoriesStorehouses of MemoryRevisiting the PastRecovering HistoryRethinking HistoryReframing the PresentCommemorating the PastPROFILE: Christian BoltanskiPROFILE: Brian TolleCHAPTER SIX: PlacePlaces Have MeaningsPlaces Have ValueLooking Out for PlacesArt History's InfluenceRepresentations of Space(Most) Works of Art Exist in a PlaceWhat's Public? What's Private?DislocationFictionalized PlacesPROFILE: Turbine Hall at Tate ModernPROFILE: Andrea ZittelCHAPTER SEVEN: LanguageArt and Words: A Quick HistoryRecent Theories of LanguageReasons for Using LanguageLanguage Makes MeaningLanguage Takes FormTransparency and TranslucencySpatiality and PhysicalityBooks Made by ArtistsWielding the Power of LanguageConfronting the Challenge of TranslationCommunication in the Digital Age*Text and PowerText as Digital MaterialPROFILE: Nina KatchadourianPROFILE: Janet Cardiff and George Bures MillerCHAPTER EIGHT: ScienceWhat Is Science?Artists as Amateur ScientistsArtists Adopt Scientific Tools and MaterialsCreole TechnologiesBio ArtThe Visual Culture of ScienceScientific Imaging and ArtDeconstructing the Visual Culture of ScienceScientific Displays and ArchivesScience in Popular CultureThe Ideology of ScienceChanging Paradigms of ScienceIs Science Running Amok? Activist Art RespondsIs Nature Natural?The Anthropocene: Climate Change and MorePROFILE: Patricia PiccininiPROFILE: Eduardo KacCHAPTER NINE: SpiritualitySpirituality and ReligionEnchantmentA Short HistoryReligious IconographySpiritual Forms and MaterialsMingling the Sacred and the ProfaneSacred Spaces and RitualsFinding Faith and Harboring DoubtFacing Death, Doom, and DestructionArt and TranscendencePROFILE: Bill Viola PROFILE: José Bedia Selected BibliographyCreditsIndex*Sections authored by Scott Contreras-Koterbay

Themes of Contemporary Art, Fifth Edition, is one of the best introductions to the thematic artistic concepts that continue to create the varied field we call "contemporary art." The chapters on identity, memory, and time are peerless in an introductory text such as this." - Jae Emerling, University of North Carolina, Charlotte