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Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary

Online ISBN:
9780231850773
Print ISBN:
9780231172714
Publisher:
Columbia University Press
Book

Documents of Utopia: The Politics of Experimental Documentary

Paolo Magagnoli
Paolo Magagnoli
University of Sydney
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Published:
12 May 2015
Online ISBN:
9780231850773
Print ISBN:
9780231172714
Publisher:
Columbia University Press

Abstract

This volume discusses the experimental documentary projects of some of the most significant artists working in the world today, including Hito Steyerl, Joachim Koester, Tacita Dean, Matthew Buckingham, Zoe Leonard, Jean-Luc Moulène, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Jon Thomson and Alison Craighead, and Anri Sala. It focuses on their films, videos, and photographic works that address failed utopian experiments and counter-hegemonic social practices. The book illustrates the political significance of these artistic practices and critically contributes to the debate on the conditions of utopian thinking in late-capitalist society. It argues that contemporary artists’ interest in the past is the result of a shift within the temporal organization of the utopian imagination from its futuristic pole toward remembrance. The book provides a critical examinations of the recent turn toward documentary in the field of contemporary art.

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