Destruction Rites
Ephemerality and Demolition in Postwar Visual Culture
Nonfiction, Art & Architecture, Art History, General Art, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science
| Author: | Mona Hadler | ISBN: | 9781786721594 |
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Publishing | Publication: | January 30, 2017 |
| Imprint: | I.B. Tauris | Language: | English |
| Author: | Mona Hadler |
| ISBN: | 9781786721594 |
| Publisher: | Bloomsbury Publishing |
| Publication: | January 30, 2017 |
| Imprint: | I.B. Tauris |
| Language: | English |
In the early sixties, crowds gathered to watch rites of destruction – from the demolition derby where makeshift cars crashed into each other for sport, to concerts where musicians destroyed their instruments, to performances of self-destructing machines staged by contemporary artists. Destruction, in both its playful and fearsome aspects, was ubiquitous in the new Atomic Age. This complicated subjectivity was not just a way for people to find catharsis amid the fears of annihilation and postwar trauma, but also a complex instantiation of ideological crisis-in a time with some seriously conflicted political myths.
In the early sixties, crowds gathered to watch rites of destruction – from the demolition derby where makeshift cars crashed into each other for sport, to concerts where musicians destroyed their instruments, to performances of self-destructing machines staged by contemporary artists. Destruction, in both its playful and fearsome aspects, was ubiquitous in the new Atomic Age. This complicated subjectivity was not just a way for people to find catharsis amid the fears of annihilation and postwar trauma, but also a complex instantiation of ideological crisis-in a time with some seriously conflicted political myths.
