
Transitional Aesthetics
Contemporary Art at the Edge of Europe
Uros Cvoro(Author)
Bloomsbury Academic (Publisher)
Published on 17. May 2018
Book
Hardback
184 pages
978-1-350-05341-0 (ISBN)
Description
Using the way in which artists from the former Eastern bloc perceive the experience of EU integration and transition from a Soviet past as a conceptual launching pad, this book explores how artists critically inhabit a permanent state of 'in-between' to capture the simultaneous existence of multiple and overlapping temporalities.
Transitional aesthetics are artistic strategies that disrupt and interrogate ideologically loaded trajectories of cultural, social, or political transition. Examples of such trajectories include the movement from totalitarianism to democracy (post-socialism), from war to freedom and reconciliation (post-conflict), and from the edges of Europe to its centre (inclusion in the European Union).
These transitional states include: the future orientation of (failed) socialism and the perpetual present of global capital; the history of unresolved past conflicts and reconciliation through 'transitional justice'; nationalist obsessions with the past and the cultural appeal of kitsch and retro objects in fashion, film and music; and the uncertain future promise of EU membership and resurgence of global right-wing populism, headed by figures like Berlusconi, Le Pen, and Trump.
Transitional Aesthetics shows that apprehending time in contemporary art is fundamental to capturing the lived experience of a permanent state of instability; particularly relevant to Europe in the contemporary moment. In a world that has entered 'accelerated transition' towards instability, understanding this experience has broad and resonating relevance for politics, art and society.
Transitional aesthetics are artistic strategies that disrupt and interrogate ideologically loaded trajectories of cultural, social, or political transition. Examples of such trajectories include the movement from totalitarianism to democracy (post-socialism), from war to freedom and reconciliation (post-conflict), and from the edges of Europe to its centre (inclusion in the European Union).
These transitional states include: the future orientation of (failed) socialism and the perpetual present of global capital; the history of unresolved past conflicts and reconciliation through 'transitional justice'; nationalist obsessions with the past and the cultural appeal of kitsch and retro objects in fashion, film and music; and the uncertain future promise of EU membership and resurgence of global right-wing populism, headed by figures like Berlusconi, Le Pen, and Trump.
Transitional Aesthetics shows that apprehending time in contemporary art is fundamental to capturing the lived experience of a permanent state of instability; particularly relevant to Europe in the contemporary moment. In a world that has entered 'accelerated transition' towards instability, understanding this experience has broad and resonating relevance for politics, art and society.
Reviews / Votes
Post-communism is not merely a historical condition; it is an ideology too that makes people mis-perceive their present, falsify their past and forget their future - all in the interest of the new rulers. This has become obvious in former Yugoslavia like nowhere else in the post-communist world. In his book Uros Cvoro has excellently demonstrated both the intellectual courage to openly reveal this truth and scholar's capacity to make his principle witness speak, the post-Yugoslav contemporary art, lucid, cheeky and unapologetic as ever - a necessary reading for all those who are tired of all the empty promises of the post-communism. -- Boris Buden, Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Art and Design, Bauhaus University, GermanyMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
15 bw illus
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Weight
440 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-350-05341-0 (9781350053410)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
05/2018
1st Edition
Bloomsbury Academic
€37.49
Available for download
Person
Uros Cvoro is senior lecturer in Art and Design and a researcher at Contemporary Culture, Art & Politics (CCAP) at the University of New South Wales, Australia.
Author
Associate Professor in Art Theory at UNSW Australia, Arts, Design & ArchitectureUniversity of New South Wales, Australia
Content
Acknowledgements
Series preface
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1: The Politics of Transitional Aesthetics
Chapter 2: 'We Came To Take Your Jobs Away': Migration and Agency in the Work of Tanja Ostojic and Angela Melitopoulos
Chapter 3: Going Too Far: Translation and Over-Identification as a Critique of Transition
Chapter 4: Halfway Tradition
Chapter 5: The Afterlife of Abandoned Monuments
Chapter 6: Transitional Archives: Art and Historical Memory in Former Yugoslavia
Afterword: Beyond Transitional Aesthetics
Bibliography
Index
Series preface
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1: The Politics of Transitional Aesthetics
Chapter 2: 'We Came To Take Your Jobs Away': Migration and Agency in the Work of Tanja Ostojic and Angela Melitopoulos
Chapter 3: Going Too Far: Translation and Over-Identification as a Critique of Transition
Chapter 4: Halfway Tradition
Chapter 5: The Afterlife of Abandoned Monuments
Chapter 6: Transitional Archives: Art and Historical Memory in Former Yugoslavia
Afterword: Beyond Transitional Aesthetics
Bibliography
Index