Art and Ventriloquism

David Goldblatt

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780415370592
• eBook ISBN: 9781136578403
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

This exciting collection of David Goldblatt's essays, available for the first time in one volume, uses the metaphor of ventriloquism to help understand a variety of art world phenomena. It examines how the vocal vacillation between ventriloquist and dummy works within the roles of artist, artwork and audience as a conveyance to the audience of the performer's intentions, emotions and beliefs through a created performative persona. Considering key works, including those of Nietzsche, Foucault, Socrates, Derrida, Cavell and Wittgenstein, Goldblatt examines how the authors use the framework of ventriloquism to construct and negate issues in art and architecture. He ponders 'self-plagiarism'; why the classic philosopher cannot speak for himself, but must voice his thoughts through fictional characters or inanimate objects and works. With a close analysis of two ventriloquist paintings by Jasper Johns and Paul Klee, a critical commentary by Garry L. Hagberg, and preface by series editor Saul Ostrow, Goldblatt's thoroughly fascinating book will be an invaluable asset to students of cultural studies, art, and philosophy.

index

Note:

Artworks and books are entered by title, followed by the name of the artist or writer in brackets, e.g. Art as Language (Hagberg)

The medium of works other than books is shown in brackets after the title and before the author or artist’s name, e.g. Actor (painting) (Klee) 170

Illustrations are indexed by page number and figure number, e.g. Aronoff Center (DAAP) 109 (Fig. 5.1)

References to material in the pre-liminary section is shown in Roman numbers, e.g. Greenberg, C. xiii–xiv

“active spectatorship” 148

Actor (painting) (Klee) 170

actors see drama; performers

Actor’s Mask (painting) (Klee) 170

aesthetic style see style

Alcibiades 95–6

analogy, in architectural text 126

animate/inanimate duality 1, 2, 3, 155–6, see also anthropomorphism

Anscomber, Elizabeth 78

anthropocentrism 101, 115, 171

anthropomorphism 59–60; in Cavellian conversation 155–6; in Greek theater 101–2; nature and art 57

aphorisms 164–5

Apology (Plato) 99–100

appearance and reality 6, 7

Aronoff Center (DAAP) 109(Fig. 5.1), 113–14, 128

“arbitrary text” 111, 123–8

architectural self 108, 109–11, 115–16; dislocation of 124–8

architecture: the “arbitrary text” 123–8; the architectural text 122–3, 126; classicism and modernism 23–5; concept of ecstasis in 107–8, 116–19; Eisenman’s projects 112–16; Greek 117; modern 163–4; Nietzsche on 64; “ordinary” 162–3; as philosophical paradigm 129; and self-intervention 22–3; tradition/dislocation dichotomy in 108–11, 127; transfiguration ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Critical Voices in Art, Theory and Culture
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Critical commentary
• Bergen and McCarthy: the logic of an act
• Nietzsche and ventriloquism
• Self-spacing: Foucault's ventriloqual tendencies
• Socratic ventriloquism: theatricality and the voice of logos
• The dislocation of the architectural self
• Self-plagiarism: the ecstatic recycling of the artist's voice
• Cavellian conversation and the life of art
• Epilogue: two ventriloqual paintings
• Notes
• Index