Uncommon Grounds

Name: Uncommon Grounds | New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East
Brand: I.B. Tauris
Price: 53.41 EUR
Availability: OutOfStock

New Media and Critical Practices in North Africa and the Middle East

Anthony Downey(Author)

I.B. Tauris (Publisher)

Published on 4. September 2014

Book

Paperback/Softback

296 pages

978-1-78453-035-8 (ISBN)

€53.41incl. 7% vat

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Description

In this groundbreaking book, a range of internationally renowned and emerging academics, writers, artists, curators, activists and filmmakers critically reflect on the ways in which visual culture has appropriated and developed new media across North Africa and the Middle East. Examining the opportunities presented by the real-time generation of new, relatively unregulated content online, Uncommon Grounds evaluates the prominent role that new media has come to play in artistic practices - and social movements - in the Arab world today. Analysing alternative forms of creating, broadcasting, publishing, distributing and consuming digital images, this book also enquires into a broader global concern: does new media offer a 'democratisation' of - and a productive engagement with - visual culture, or merely capitalise upon the effect of immediacy at the expense of depth?Featuring full-colour artists' inserts, this is the first book to extensively explore the degree to which the grassroots popularity of Twitter and Facebook has been co-opted into mainstream media, institutional and curatorial characterisations of 'revolution' - and whether artists should be wary of perpetuating the rhetoric and spectacle surrounding political events.
In the process, Uncommon Grounds reveals how contemporary art practices actively negotiate present-day notions of community-based activism, artistic agency and political engagement.

Reviews / Votes

'groundbreaking' - Bespoke International Magazine; 'The strength of the book lies in the diversity of the selection of art as well as the scope of area studies and theoretical frameworks... The variation is refreshing and allows the anthropology to be appreciated from a multitude of angles... Uncommon Grounds provides a comprehensive narrative of the region's current transitional moment and the expansive role of new media, for the first time.' - Wided Rihana Khadraoui, Kalimat Magazine; 'it is very difficult not to enjoy and be stimulated by the passionate contributions... What readers get out of this book is an intimate and close reading of certain arts practices situated in various local contexts within the Middle East... Uncommon Grounds is a stimulating exploration into art practices in the region, but also a thought-provoking look at the fluid relationship between art and society more generally.' - Arek Dakessian, LSE Review of Books; 'Edited by the always insightful Anthony Downey, Uncommon Grounds is a good place to start for those seeking to understand the role of new media in the region. This isn't a conventional art book, but an exploration of new media and its impact on a land often manipulated and colonized (particularly through images) by foreign forces.' - Hyperallergic; 'a valuable volume...well edited' - Jane Jakeman, The Art Newspaper; 'rich...provides a crucial and necessary discussion and critique of recent cultural phenomena and artistic practices in new media throughout the MENA region' - Sascha Crasnow, H-Net Reviews; 'Uncommon Grounds is an ambitious anthology that attempts to take the measure of ... the widespread impact and appropriation of social/new media throughout visual culture in its broadest sense' - Jay Murphy, Transnational Cinemas, vol. 6, 2015

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