Published to accompany an exhibition organized by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden and held at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C., October 24, 2013-May 26, 2014; Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean, Luxembourg, July 5-October 12, 2014; and Kunsthaus Graz, Austria, November 15, 2014-March 15, 2015. Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-223) and index.
Summary:
Timely and wide-ranging, this volume explores in-depth the theme of destruction in international contemporary art. While destruction as a theme can be traced throughout art history, from the early atomic age it has remained a pervasive and compelling element of contemporary visual culture. Damage Control features the work of more than 40 international artists working in a range of media--painting, sculpture, photography, film, installation, and performance--who have used destruction as a means of responding to their historical moment and as a strategy for inciting spectacle and catharsis, as a form of rebellion and protest, or as an essential part of re-creation and restoration. Including works by such diverse artists as Jean Tinguely, Andy Warhol, Bruce Conner, Yoko Ono, Gordon Matta-Clark, Pipilotti Rist, Yoshitomo Nara, and Laurel Nakadate, the book reaches beyond art to enable a broader understanding of culture and society in the aftermath of World War II, under the looming fear of annihilation in the atomic age, and in the age of terrorism and other disasters, real and imagined.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.