Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony

Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony - Paperback

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Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony
  • Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony
Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony - Paperback

Seeing Witness: Visuality and the Ethics of Testimony - Paperback

by Jane Blocker
$50.40
$50.40

Book Overview

by Jane Blocker (Author)

Unearthing the meaning of witnessing in contemporary art and politics

The act of bearing witness can reveal much, but what about the figure of the witness itself? As contemporary culture is increasingly dominated by surveillance, the witness--whether artist, historian, scientist, government official, or ordinary citizen--has become empowered in realms from art to politics.

In Seeing Witness, Jane Blocker challenges the implicit authority of witnessing through the examination of a series of contemporary artworks, all of which make the act of witnessing visible, open to inspection and critique. Considering such artists as Marina Abramovic, James Luna, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Eduardo Kac, and Ann Hamilton, Blocker investigates the artists and spectators who look, the technologies they look with, and the forms of power and moral authority that permit their viewing.

Going beyond particular traumatic or sensational events, Blocker contemplates the politics of witnessing and argues that the witness represents a morally unique--and even problematic--position of privilege. Separating Seeing Witness from previous literature on the subject, she finds that the visual is inherent in witnessing and asserts that contemporary art is integral to questioning and understanding how witnessing is mobilized in culture today.

Author Biography

Jane Blocker is associate professor of art history at the University of Minnesota and the author of What the Body Cost: Desire, History, and Performance (Minnesota, 2004) and Where is Ana Mendieta? Identity, Performativity and Exile.

Number of Pages: 192
Dimensions: 0.6 x 9.8 x 6.9 IN
Publication Date: March 01, 2009
ISBN9780816654772
Author Jane Blocker
PublisherUniversity of Minnesota Press
GenreArts and History
FormatPaperback
PublishedMarch 2009
LanguageENG- English
Pages192
Weight1.0 lb
Target AudienceAdults
Print SizeStandard Print

Related Subjects

Art History Nonfiction

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