Art-Language Vol. 4 No. 3: Difference between revisions
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February 2023<ref>https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/crvc/events/research-seminars/2022-23/art-language's-critique-of-ways-of-seeing.aspx</ref> | February 2023<ref>https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/crvc/events/research-seminars/2022-23/art-language's-critique-of-ways-of-seeing.aspx</ref> | ||
Stephen Moonie | Stephen Moonie | ||
The whole issue, consisting of one extensive text, was devoted to a critique of Ways of Seeing. Despite its 'almost incredible number and variety of defects,' Art-Language conceded that the book was 'a paradigm of sorts.' As such, it was ripe for 'de-mystification,' its cultural influences conducive to a broad-ranging analysis of 'the conditions of their occurrence.' As Ways of Seeing recedes from us historically, so too does Art-Language's critique. As Peter Osborne has remarked, early issues of the journal appear to us as relics from a lost civilisation. How might we consider Ways of Seeing from our current vantage point alongside its critique and the attendant promises of 'theory'?</blockquote> | <blockquote> | ||
'It is obvious to anyone worth talking to that it is a bad book etc.' Berger's Ways of Seeing was dismissed with these stern words in the anonymously penned issue of Art-Language in October 1978. The cover mimicked Berger's reproduction of René Magritte's The Key of Dreams (1935). Art-Language borrowed the image but altered the text beneath. (For instance, the jug at bottom left is captioned 'the Walter Benjamin,' another bugbear of the Art & Language collective). | |||
The whole issue, consisting of one extensive text, was devoted to a critique of Ways of Seeing. Despite its 'almost incredible number and variety of defects,' Art-Language conceded that the book was 'a paradigm of sorts.' As such, it was ripe for 'de-mystification,' its cultural influences conducive to a broad-ranging analysis of 'the conditions of their occurrence.' As Ways of Seeing recedes from us historically, so too does Art-Language's critique. As Peter Osborne has remarked, early issues of the journal appear to us as relics from a lost civilisation. How might we consider Ways of Seeing from our current vantage point alongside its critique and the attendant promises of 'theory'? | |||
</blockquote> | |||
== References == | == References == | ||
{{Navbox-Art-Language}} | {{Navbox-Art-Language}} | ||
[[Category:Art-Language]] | [[Category:Art-Language]] |
Revision as of 15:09, 31 August 2023
Art-Language Vol. 4 No. 3 | |
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Publication | Art-Language |
Date | October 1978 |
Volume | 4 |
Number | 3 |
Publisher | |
Editor | Michael Baldwin, Charles Harrison, Sandra Harrison, Lynn Lemaster, Philip Pilkington, Mel Ramsden |
Contents
Title | pg. | Notes |
---|---|---|
A Note to the Reader | 1-2 | |
Ways of Seeing | 3-123 | Excerpt (73)
Excerpt (73-88) |
Background
- This issue contains a lengthy critique of John Berger's 1972 book Ways of Seeing
- The cover image is a parody of Ways of Seeing which features René Magritte's 1935 painting "La Clef des songes (The Key to Dreams)." Art & Language's reproduction features "the modern historical consciousness," "the camera," "the Walter Benjamin," and "the contradiction." Their version of the painting appears in Index: The Studio at 3 Wesley Place (1982)
Reviews
University of Nottingham Centre for Research in Visual Culture
February 2023[1]
Stephen Moonie
'It is obvious to anyone worth talking to that it is a bad book etc.' Berger's Ways of Seeing was dismissed with these stern words in the anonymously penned issue of Art-Language in October 1978. The cover mimicked Berger's reproduction of René Magritte's The Key of Dreams (1935). Art-Language borrowed the image but altered the text beneath. (For instance, the jug at bottom left is captioned 'the Walter Benjamin,' another bugbear of the Art & Language collective).
The whole issue, consisting of one extensive text, was devoted to a critique of Ways of Seeing. Despite its 'almost incredible number and variety of defects,' Art-Language conceded that the book was 'a paradigm of sorts.' As such, it was ripe for 'de-mystification,' its cultural influences conducive to a broad-ranging analysis of 'the conditions of their occurrence.' As Ways of Seeing recedes from us historically, so too does Art-Language's critique. As Peter Osborne has remarked, early issues of the journal appear to us as relics from a lost civilisation. How might we consider Ways of Seeing from our current vantage point alongside its critique and the attendant promises of 'theory'?