Wonder in Contemporary Artistic Practice

Christian Mieves is a painter and Senior Lecturer at Wolverhampton University, UK. Recent publications include journal articles on Luc Tuymans, Dana Schutz and the Beach in Contemporary Art Making. He has been co- editor of the special edition of the Journal of Visual Art Practice 9.3 (2010) and works currently on a special journal edition on erosion and visibility (forthcoming 2017).Irene Brown is an artist and Senior Lecturer in Fine Art at Newcastle University, UK Recent projects include Poetics of the Archive: Creative Community Engagement with the Bloodaxe Archive, an AHRC funded project at the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts, 2015; Phantasmagoria Electric, an installation, exhibited as part of the Twice Upon a Time: Magic, Alchemy and the Transubstantiation of the Senses, Centre for Fine Art Research, School of Art, Birmingham Institute of Art & Design, 2014 and International Research Fellowship at the Bakken Museum of Electricity and Mesmerism, Minneapolis, USA, 2013.

• IntroductionChristian Mieves and Irene BrownPart I: Taxonomy, Structures and Identities 1. Archives of Wonder: Collecting the Liminal in Contemporary ArtTiffany Shafran2. One Hour: Visual Practice Exploring a Collective HistoryShirley Chubb 3. Wonders Without Wonder: Divining the Donkey-RatWill Buckingham 4. Wonder, Subversion and NewnessRunette Kruger5. The Snow Globe as Object of WonderAnne Hilker 6. From Nimbus Cloud to Cloud Canyon: Artistic Practice and the Idea of Wonder in Contemporary ArtChristian MievesPart II: Contemporary Curatorial Practices 7. Spectral Exhibitions: ‘The Wonders of the InvisibleWorld’ (or, Exhibiting Contradiction – Known Knowns and Unknown Unknowns)Alistair Robinson8. Wonder on TourIrene Brown9. Coral-Fishing and Pearl-Diving: Curatorial Approaches to Doubt and WonderMarion Endt-Jones10. Preternatural: Curating WonderCelina JefferyPart III: Contemporary Artistic Practice and the Function of Wonder11. Collecting Skulls and Hair: In Pursuit of Wonder in Death’s ChambersJane Wildgoose12. Wunderkammer of the Now: In Search of the Wunderbare: Romanticising as a Contemporary Fine Art PracticeLaura Kuch 13. The Enemies of Wonder: An Itinerant ConversationSilke Dettmers and Mark Sanderson14. Claude Glass Re-visited: ‘...the largest down to the smallest balls of mercury reflect the entire universe.’ Alison Dalwood 15. Photographing the Wunderkammer: a Personal Journey of art Making and MeaningTerry Ownby16. Gothic Wonder in the Contemporary LandscapeJuliette Losq

"Brown and Mieves bring a much neglected attention to the topic of wonder and the visual arts in this edited collection of reflections drawn from a diverse range of distinguished scholars and practitioners. The emphasis on practice is to be welcomed. It goes beyond theory into the studio and the role wonder has in the production and reception of visual arts. This stimulating volume is a must read for academics and practitioners in the visual arts." - Christopher Smith, University of the Arts London, UK and Editor, Journal of Visual Art Practice