'Utopian projects aspire to a better world but their forms may only ever live in our imaginations. Furthermore, we are as haunted by their failures as we are inspired by the aspiration to repair the failed and build the new. This anthology contextualises art's current engagement with the utopian in relation to political thought, viewing the utopian as a key term in the artistic lineage of modernity. It illuminates how the exploration of utopian themes in art today contributes to our understanding of contemporary cultures and the possibilities for shaping their futures.

'Artists surveyed include Joseph Beuys, Paul Chan, Guy Debord, Jeremy Deller, Liam Gillick, Antony Gormley, Dan Graham, Thomas Hirschhorn, Ilya Kabakov, Bodys Isek Kingelez, Paul McCarthy, Constant Nieuwenhuys, Paul Noble, Nils Norman, Philippe Parreno, Pil & Galia Kollectiv, Superflex, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Mark Titchner, Atelier van Lieshout, WochenKlausur and Carey Young.

'Writers include Theodor Adorno, Jennifer Allen, Catherine Bernard, Ernst Bloch, Yve-Alain Bois, Nicolas Bourriaud, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Alex Farquharson, Hal Foster, Michel Foucault, Alison Green, Fredric Jameson, Hari Kunzru, Donald Kuspit, Dermis P. Leon, Karl Marx, Jeremy Miller, Thomas More, William Morris, Molly Nesbit, Hans Ulrich Obrist, George Orwell, Jacques Ranciere, Stephanie Rosenthal, Beatrix Ruf and Karen Smith.' (Back cover)

Utopias is one of the Documents of Contemporary Art series, co-published by Whitechapel Gallery and The MIT Press which document major themes and ideas in contemporary art. Other sourcebooks of the same series are also available in the Archive. For more details, please go to this page.

Alternative title

Documents of Contemporary Art

Access level

Onsite

editor
Location code
REF.WHC
Language

English

Publication/Creation date

2009

No of pages

240

ISBN / ISSN

9780854881628

No of copies

2

Content type

anthology

Chapter headings

Introduction: The Utopian Impulse in Contemporary Art - Richard NOBLE

The Utopian Imaginary

Utopian Avant-Gardes

Therapeutic Utopias

Critical Utopias

Utopia and Its (Im)possibilities

Utopias
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Utopias