Impossible Images
Contemporary Art After the Holocaust
Published on 1. October 2003
Book
Paperback/Softback
285 pages
978-0-8147-9826-3 (ISBN)
Description
Impossible Images brings together a distinguished group of contributors, including artists, photographers, cultural critics, and historians, to analyze the ways in which the Holocaust has been represented in and through paintings, architecture, photographs, museums, and monuments.
Exploring frequently neglected aspects of contemporary art after the Holocaust, the volume demonstrates how visual culture informs Jewish memory, and makes clear that art matters in contemporary Jewish studies. Accepting that knowledge is culturally constructed, Impossible Images makes explicit the ways in which context matters. It shows how the places where an artist works shape what is produced, in what ways the space in which a work of art is exhibited and how it is named influences what is seen or not seen, and how calling attention to certain details in a visual work, such as a gesture, a color, or an icon, can change the meaning assigned to the work as a whole.
Written accessibly for a general readership and those interested in art and art history, the volume also includes 20 color plates from leading artists Alice Lok Cahana, Judy Chicago, Debbie Teicholz, and Mindy Weisel.
Exploring frequently neglected aspects of contemporary art after the Holocaust, the volume demonstrates how visual culture informs Jewish memory, and makes clear that art matters in contemporary Jewish studies. Accepting that knowledge is culturally constructed, Impossible Images makes explicit the ways in which context matters. It shows how the places where an artist works shape what is produced, in what ways the space in which a work of art is exhibited and how it is named influences what is seen or not seen, and how calling attention to certain details in a visual work, such as a gesture, a color, or an icon, can change the meaning assigned to the work as a whole.
Written accessibly for a general readership and those interested in art and art history, the volume also includes 20 color plates from leading artists Alice Lok Cahana, Judy Chicago, Debbie Teicholz, and Mindy Weisel.
Reviews / Votes
"(Makes) a cogent case for a deeper, unmastered engagement with Holocause trauma." (Journal of Jewish Studies)More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 232 mm
Width: 146 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
445 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8147-9826-3 (9780814798263)
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
Persons
Shelley Hornstein (Editor)
Shelley Hornstein is Associate Professor of Art and Architectural History at York University.
Laurence J. Silberstein (Editor)
Laurence J. Silberstein is Philip and Muriel Berman Professor of Jewish Studies at Lehigh University, where he directs the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies.
Laura Levitt (Editor)
Laura Levitt is Associate Professor of Religion at Temple University. She is the author of Jews and Feminism: The Ambivalent Search for Home and co-editor of Impossible Images: Contemporary Art after the Holocaust and Judaism Since Gender.
Shelley Hornstein is Associate Professor of Art and Architectural History at York University.
Laurence J. Silberstein (Editor)
Laurence J. Silberstein is Philip and Muriel Berman Professor of Jewish Studies at Lehigh University, where he directs the Philip and Muriel Berman Center for Jewish Studies.
Laura Levitt (Editor)
Laura Levitt is Associate Professor of Religion at Temple University. She is the author of Jews and Feminism: The Ambivalent Search for Home and co-editor of Impossible Images: Contemporary Art after the Holocaust and Judaism Since Gender.
Content
Introduction: Framing the Holocaust: Contemporary Visions I. GEOGRAPHIES OF THE HEART: PLACES/SPACESOF REMEMBRANCE1. Archiving an Architecture of the Heart 2. Haunted by Memory: American Jewish Transformations 3. A House for an Uninhabitable Memory (The Center for Holocaust Studies at Clark University) II. ISRAEL AND THE POLITICS OF MEMORY4. The Return of the Repressed 5. Racism and Ethics: Constructing Alternative History 6. "Don't Touch My Holocaust"-Analyzing the Barometer of Responses: Israeli Artists Challenge the Holocaust Taboo III. TRANSGRESSING TABOOS7. Holocaust Toys: Pedagogy of Remembrance through Play8. The Nazi Occupation of the "White Cube": Piotr Uklan'ski's The Nazis and Rudolf Herz's Zugzwang 9. On Sanctifying the Holocaust: An Anti-Theological Treatise IV. CURATING MEMORY10. Holocaust Icons: The Media of Memory11. Sense and/or Sensation: The Role of the Body in Holocaust Pedagogy Artists' Works A selection of works by artists Alice Lok Cahana, Judy Chicago,Debbie Teicholz, and Mindy Weisel, who participated in theBerman Center's conference, "Representing the Holocaust:Practices, Products, Projections."About the Artists About the Editors About the Contributors Index