This exhibition catalogue was published on the occasion of the touring exhibition 'Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950' organised by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in 2014. It is a thematic exhibition that encompasses works that were composed to express or delineate destruction and catastrophes, both natural and artificial.

'Damage Control: Art and Destruction Since 1950 is the first in-depth exploration of the theme of destruction in international contemporary visual culture. In all areas of art production since the mid-twentieth century, the notion of destruction has played an important role, whether as spectacle, as catharsis, as a reaction to world-weariness, as a means of depersonalizing emotional or cultural angst, as a form of rebellion against institutions, or as an essential component of re-creation. This groundbreaking exhibition includes works by a diverse range of international artists working in painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation, and performance. It begins in the aftermath of World War II, under the looming fear of total annihilation in the atomic age, and explores the continuing use that artists have made of destruction as part of the creative process - sometimes sinister, sometimes playful, often iconoclastic, and always challenging.'
(back cover)

Includes essays, exhibition checklist, and bibliography. Please note that only artists of Asian descent are indexed below.