Seeing Witness
eBook - PDF

Seeing Witness

Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony

  1. 180 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Seeing Witness

Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony

About this book

The act of bearing witness can reveal much, but what about the figure of the witness itself? As contemporary culture is increasingly dominated by surveillance, the witness—whether artist, historian, scientist, government official, or ordinary citizen—has become empowered in realms from art to politics. In Seeing Witness, Jane Blocker challenges the implicit authority of witnessing through the examination of a series of contemporary artworks, all of which make the act of witnessing visible, open to inspection and critique. Considering such artists as Marina Abramovi , James Luna, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Eduardo Kac, and Ann Hamilton, Blocker investigates the artists and spectators who look, the technologies they look with, and the forms of power and moral authority that permit their viewing. Going beyond particular traumatic or sensational events, Blocker contemplates the politics of witnessing and argues that the witness represents a morally unique—and even problematic—position of privilege. Separating Seeing Witness from previous literature on the subject, she finds that the visual is inherent in witnessing and asserts that contemporary art is integral to questioning and understanding how witnessing is mobilized in culture today.

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Information

Year
2009
eBook ISBN
9780816668045

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. List of Illustrations
  3. Acknowledgments
  4. Introduction: Imagery Specialists
  5. I. History
  6. II. Technology
  7. III. Biopower
  8. Conclusion: A Mysterious Picture of God
  9. Notes
  10. Bibliography
  11. Index

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Yes, you can access Seeing Witness by Jane Blocker in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Art & Art Theory & Criticism. We have over 1.5 million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.