THE MEDIUM IS THE MASSAGE

The Medium Is the Massage

If you didn't know how badass Marshall McLuhan was, just consider that he predicted the World Wide Web almost thirty years before it was invented and fathered the theory of media ecology. The Medium Is the Massage reads like a contemporary zine (thanks to the graphic prowess of Quentin Fiore) and takes to task all contentious subjects that we still discuss today. Being born into the digital age (the mass age?), it's always refreshing reading theorists' critical reactions to the birth of the age of electronic media.

The Art of Cruelty

The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning

Is there potential for revolutionary power in images of violence and brutality, or are we just too used to the shock? Nelson examines the work of Ana Mendieta, Francis Bacon, Franz Kafka, Marina Abromovic and much more. For those who appreciated Society of the Spectacle, this is a contemporary, nuanced look at how representations of violence in art and popular culture influence us, and whether they still pack a punch.

It's full of great wisdom nuggets, like this one:

"Cruelty, as the Buddhists see it, is the far enemy of compassion. Compassion also has a near enemy - that is, an enemy that so closely resembles it that it can be difficult, albeit utterly crucial, to differentiate between them. This near enemy is called idiot compassion."

How utterly relevant!

the Loves of the Poets

the Loves of the Poets

Two headed women, alien babies and dog people populate the pages of the Loves of the Poets. While I'm all for hearkening back to the tried and true art form of dadaist montage, Joseph Miller's work falls short, lacking a clear contemporary twist. Reviews of the book unsurprisingly include descriptions like 'nightmarish', 'troubling' and 'disquieting'. However, those words don't seem to pack the same punch that they did in the early 20th century, when dadaist artists like Max Ernst, Salvador Dali and Grete Stern first began espousing all things nonsensical in response to the atrocities of WW1. Perhaps I'm being overly scathing, but in the 21st century, where things are arguably more absurd than ever, I get bored looking at the same kind of faux-vintage montages with the inevitable animal/human hybrids and Native American imagery.

However, check it out to either form your own opinion or pet the nice velvet cover, and check out Max Ernst while you're at it!

Un Semaine de Bonte

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