David L. Weaver-Zercher
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195170382
- eISBN:
- 9780199835669
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195170385.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This essay discusses cultural narratives that shape both American society and Anabaptist scholarship. A key cultural narrative for most Americans is that their nation is at or near the center of ...
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This essay discusses cultural narratives that shape both American society and Anabaptist scholarship. A key cultural narrative for most Americans is that their nation is at or near the center of God’s purposes. Anabaptist scholars often display a counter-cultural stance toward the American narrative because their own Anabaptist cultural values emphasize nonviolence and commitment to the poor.Less
This essay discusses cultural narratives that shape both American society and Anabaptist scholarship. A key cultural narrative for most Americans is that their nation is at or near the center of God’s purposes. Anabaptist scholars often display a counter-cultural stance toward the American narrative because their own Anabaptist cultural values emphasize nonviolence and commitment to the poor.
Michael Maizels
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780816694686
- eISBN:
- 9781452952314
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816694686.001.0001
- Subject:
- Art, Visual Culture
In the late 1960s, the artist Barry Le Va began to use non-traditional materials (shattered glass, spent bullets, sound recordings, scattered flour, and sharpened meat cleavers) to execute a striking ...
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In the late 1960s, the artist Barry Le Va began to use non-traditional materials (shattered glass, spent bullets, sound recordings, scattered flour, and sharpened meat cleavers) to execute a striking body of sculptural installations. Taking inspiration from popular crime novels and contemporary art theory, Le Va conceived of these works as an aesthetic aftermath. He charged his viewers to act like detectives at a crime scene, attempting to decipher an order underlying the apparent chaos. In addition to the aesthetic charge of its scattered visual poetry, Le Va’s work is compelling because of how clearly it articulates the web of perceived connections autonomous art objects, conservative politics and scientific objectivity. The artist's ephemeral installations were designed to erode not simply the presumed autonomy of the art object but also the economic and political authority of the art establishment. And while their unstable nature echoed the broad counter-cultural agitation against the social and political status quo, their embrace of impermanence was also informed by scientific discourse. Indeed, Le Va’s work reflects the degree to which engagement with scientific and mathematical topics such as entropy and information theory forms a significant but under-examined thread running through much of the most important sculpture of the late 1960s. In essence, Le Va’s aim to “keep the piece in a suspended state of flux, with no trace of a beginning or end” sought to challenge the metaphysics of stability that underpinned the interlocking assumptions behind blind faith in lasting beauty, just government and perfectible knowledge.Less
In the late 1960s, the artist Barry Le Va began to use non-traditional materials (shattered glass, spent bullets, sound recordings, scattered flour, and sharpened meat cleavers) to execute a striking body of sculptural installations. Taking inspiration from popular crime novels and contemporary art theory, Le Va conceived of these works as an aesthetic aftermath. He charged his viewers to act like detectives at a crime scene, attempting to decipher an order underlying the apparent chaos. In addition to the aesthetic charge of its scattered visual poetry, Le Va’s work is compelling because of how clearly it articulates the web of perceived connections autonomous art objects, conservative politics and scientific objectivity. The artist's ephemeral installations were designed to erode not simply the presumed autonomy of the art object but also the economic and political authority of the art establishment. And while their unstable nature echoed the broad counter-cultural agitation against the social and political status quo, their embrace of impermanence was also informed by scientific discourse. Indeed, Le Va’s work reflects the degree to which engagement with scientific and mathematical topics such as entropy and information theory forms a significant but under-examined thread running through much of the most important sculpture of the late 1960s. In essence, Le Va’s aim to “keep the piece in a suspended state of flux, with no trace of a beginning or end” sought to challenge the metaphysics of stability that underpinned the interlocking assumptions behind blind faith in lasting beauty, just government and perfectible knowledge.
Thomas J. Osborne
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520283084
- eISBN:
- 9780520958913
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520283084.003.0003
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
In the 1960s and early 1970s a profound shift in the Golden State’s history was taking place. The convergence of California’s counter-cultural movement, a Bay Area conservation effort, public ...
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In the 1960s and early 1970s a profound shift in the Golden State’s history was taking place. The convergence of California’s counter-cultural movement, a Bay Area conservation effort, public insistence on beach access at the Sea Ranch development along the Sonoma coast, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the struggle to pass environmental legislation in Sacramento catalyzed a robust, grass roots ecological consciousness. This consciousness, which spread nationwide, was resident in Douglas. The sea change in public thinking about the importance of protecting the environment that was taking place paved the way for statewide, as opposed to merely local, management of California’s shore.Less
In the 1960s and early 1970s a profound shift in the Golden State’s history was taking place. The convergence of California’s counter-cultural movement, a Bay Area conservation effort, public insistence on beach access at the Sea Ranch development along the Sonoma coast, the Santa Barbara oil spill, and the struggle to pass environmental legislation in Sacramento catalyzed a robust, grass roots ecological consciousness. This consciousness, which spread nationwide, was resident in Douglas. The sea change in public thinking about the importance of protecting the environment that was taking place paved the way for statewide, as opposed to merely local, management of California’s shore.
