Browse Books
Modern Melbourne
Melbourne founded in 1835 among marshes and beside a sluggish stream grew from wetlands into a world-class modern city. Drawing on a wide range of historical literary and artistic sources this book explores the cultural and environmental history of the city and its site. Tracing the city from its swampy beginnings in a squatter’s settlement nestled in the marshy delta of the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers Rod Giblett illuminates Melbourne through its visible structures and the invisible history of its site.
The book places Melbourne within an international context by comparing and contrasting it to other cities built on or beside wetlands including London New York Paris Los Angeles and Toronto. Further it is the first book to apply the work of European thinkers and writers on modernity and the modern city – such as Walter Benjamin and Peter Sloterdijk – to an analysis of Melbourne. Giblett considers the intertwining of nature and culture people and place and cities and wetlands in this bioregional and ecocultural analysis. Placing the city in its proper bioregional and international contexts Modern Melbourne provides a rich historical analysis of the cultural capital of Australia.
MASKS
This interdisciplinary anthology explores the complex relationships in an artist’s life between fact and fiction presentation and existence and critique and creation and examines the work that ultimately results from these tensions.
Using a combination of critical and personal essays and interviews MASKS presents Bowie as the key exemplifier of the concept of the 'mask' then further applies the same framework to other liminal artists and thinkers who challenged the established boundaries of the art/pop academic worlds such as Friedrich Nietzsche Oscar Wilde Søren Kierkegaard Yukio Mishima and Hunter S. Thompson. Featuring contributions from John Gray and Slavoj Žižek and interviews with Gary Lachman and Davide De Angelis this book will appeal to scholars and students of cultural criticism aesthetics and the philosophy of art; practising artists; and fans of Bowie and other artists whose work enacts experiments in identity.
Morality by Design
The eleven short linked essays in Morality by Design represent a culmination of two decades of research and writing on the topic of moral realism. Wade Rowland first introduces readers to the basic ideas of leading moral thinkers from Plato to Leibniz to Putnam and then explores the subject through today’s political economic and environmental conundrums. The collection presents a strong argument against postmodern moral relativism and the idea that only science can claim a body of reliable fact; challenges currently fashionable notions of the perfectibility of human individuals – and even the human species – through technology; and argues for the validity of common sense.
In guiding the reader through Enlightenment-era rationalist thought as it pertained to human nature and the foundations of morality Rowland provides a coherent intellectually sound and intuitively appealing alternative to the nihilistic views popularised by contemporary radical relativism. Morality by Design ultimately seeks to convince readers that there is such a thing as moral fact and that they do indeed have what it takes to make robust and durable moral judgments.
The Music of Antônio Carlos Jobim
In The Music of Antônio Carlos Jobim one of the first extensive musicological analyses of the Brazilian composer Peter Freeman examines the music philosophy and circumstances surrounding the creation of Jobim’s popular songs instrumental compositions and symphonic works. Freeman attempts to elucidate not only the many musical influences that formed Jobim’s musical output but also the stylistic peculiarities that were as much the product of a gifted composer as the rich musical environment and heritage that surrounded him.
The Making of an Artist
Powerfully insightful and fully accessible The Making of an Artist will be an invaluable resource for practicing artists those just setting out on artistic careers and art teachers alike.
Mindful Movement
Memory, Space and Sound
Montréal Chic
The Multisensory Film Experience
Magnet Theatre
Cape Town’s Magnet Theatre has been a force in South African theatre for three decades a crucial space for theatre education performance and community throughout a turbulent period in South African history. Offering a dialogue between internal and external perspectives as well as perspectives from performers artists and scholars this book analyses Magnet’s many productions and presents a rich compendium of the work of one of the most vital physical theatre companies in Africa.
Meyerhold and the Cubists
This book offers a rich analysis of collage practices in the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold. Focusing on the philosophical and formal tenets of the form and supporting her analysis with wide-ranging examples from both theatre and fine art Amy Skinner develops collage as a framework for reading the whole of the theatrical experience from scenography and mise-en-scène to text and spectatorship. An innovative exploration of the influence of collage on twentieth- and twenty-first-century theatre Meyerhold and the Cubists will be essential reading for theatre scholars and practitioners alike.
Money Talks
Music and Levels of Narration in Film
Martha Graham
Martha Graham’s name was internationally recognized as part of the modern dance world and though trends in choreography continue to change her influence on dance as an art form endures. In this book the first extended feminist look at the modern dance pioneer Victoria Thoms explores the cult of Graham and her dancing through a critical lens that exposes the gendered meaning behind much of her work. Thoms synthesizes a diverse archive of material on Graham from films photographs memoir and critique in order to highlight Graham’s unique contribution to the dance world and arts culture in general.
Modern Argentine Masculinities
Manifesto Now!
Manifesto Now! maps the current rebirth of the manifesto as it appears at the crossroads of philosophy performance and politics. While the manifesto has been central to histories of modernity and modernism the editors contend that its contemporary resurgence demands a renewed interrogation of its form its content and its uses. Featuring contributions from trailblazing artists scholars and activists currently working in the United States the United Kingdom and Finland this volume will be indispensable to scholars across the disciplines. Filled with examples of manifestos and critical thinking about manifestos it contains a wide variety of critical methodologies that students can analyse deconstruct and emulate.
Media, Monarchy and Power
Is obsession with the Royal Family in Britain a fact of culture or an illusion of media culture? What interest do the European media display in their royal families? Does twenty-first century monarchy remain a political and ideological force - or is it just an economic commodity? Media Monarchy and Power provides a radical insight into the cultural and political functioning of royalty in five countries. Blain and O'Donnell examine the bonds between monarchies and their 'subjects' or 'citizens' and the relationships between royal families the media and nation-states. Numerous case-studies from press and television in Europe and the UK support a theoretical account of the operation of monarchy and royalty in the media. Central to the concerns of Media Monarchy and Power are the complex relationship between Britain and Europe and the limits of British political modernization.
Mediation and Protest Movements
Over the past year international and national media have been full of stories about protest movements and tumultuous social upheaval from Tunisia to California. But scholars have not yet fully addressed the connection between these movements and the media and communication channels through which their messages spread. Correcting that imbalance Mediation and Protest Movements explores the nature of the relationship between protest movements media representation and communication strategies and tactics.
In a series of fascinating essays contributors to this timely volume focus on the processes and practices in which contemporary protesters engage when acting with and through media. Covering both online and offline contexts as well as mainstream and alternative media they consider media environments around the world in all their complexity. They also provide a broad and comparative perspective on the ways that protest movements at local and transnational levels engage in mediation processes and develop media practices. Bridging the gap between social movement theory and media and communication studies Mediation and Protest Movements will serve as an important reference for students and scholars of the media and social change.
Myths
Myths is a visual and written exploration on the subject of myths. It contains contributions from writers illustrators designers photographers and artists from around the world who have each responded to the theme in their own unique way.
Myths is important as it approaches the theme in various ways but also includes interviews with artists who have been inspired by myths in some way – furthering our understanding and appreciation for myths within an artistic context. The book should appeal to an audience who value aesthetics both in design terms and creative content. The area of myths is one of interest to most people but the originality and wide investigation of the theme in this book should offer further insights to readers. The book also benefits from its eclectic international content and strong sense of creative community.