Product Description

A leading philosopher presents a radical manifesto for the future of art and film.

In The Future of the Image, Jacques Rancière develops a fascinating new concept of the image in contemporary art, showing how art and politics have always been intrinsically intertwined. Covering a range of art movements, filmmakers such as Godard and Bresson, and thinkers such as Foucault, Deleuze, Adorno, Barthes, Lyotard and Greenberg, Rancière shows that contemporary theorists of the image are suffering from religious tendencies.

He argues that there is a stark political choice in art: it can either reinforce a radical democracy, or create a new reactionary mysticism. For Rancière there is never a pure art: the aesthetic revolution must always embrace egalitarian ideals.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #58753 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-02
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 147 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781844672974
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

"A series of gratifyingly knotty and close discussions of nineteenth and twentieth century literature, film and painting."

(Guardian )

"French philosopher Jacques Ranciere is a refreshing read for anyone concerned with what art has to do with politics and society."

(Art Review )

"It's clear that Jacques Ranciere is relighting the flame that was extinguished for many--that is why he serves as such a signal reference today."

(Thomas Hirschhorn )

"Ranciere's writings offer one of the few conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist."

(Slavoj Zizek )

"What we see here is Ranciere developing a unique voice as a political theorist."

(Bookforum )

“Like all of Jacques Rancière’s texts, The Future of the Image is vertiginously precise.”

(Les Cahiers du Cinema )

About the Author
Jacques Rancière is a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris-VIII. His books include The Emancipated Spectator, The Future of the Image, The Politics of Aesthetics, On the Shores of Politics, Short Voyages to the Land of the People and The Nights of Labor.

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Customer Reviews

The emancipatory potential of art
"The Future of the Image" by Jacques Ranciere offers an unique critique and perspective on contemporary art forms ranging from film to painting, photography and theater. As an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of Paris, Mr. Ranciere approaches the subject matter not as an art historian but as an intellectual who is interested in exploring the importance of art in society. This fascinating book succeeds in presenting a sophisticated analysis of the image that can help artists and audiences better appreciate the emancipatory potential of art.

Mr. Ranciere reminds us that the autonomy of art was first asserted in the 1760s when highly representational art forms that were based on a shared cultural history were beginning to be abandoned. Mr. Ranciere explains that modern art represents a neo-Platonic discourse that derives its meaning from the interaction between the image and the audience. For example, the canvas is merely a surface upon which the painter's ideals are expressed and communicated to viewers. Mr. Ranciere contends that whether the artist produces figurative representations or abstract symbols, their forms are always endowed with meaning; indeed, art remains art insofar as the image stimulates interpretation. In this manner, the author questions the popular notion that 20th century artists merely strove to emphasize the flatness of the medium for its own sake, and challenges us to look at art anew.

Mr. Ranciere contends that modern art can achieve sublimity through varied techniques such as juxtaposition and narration. In particular, Mr. Ranciere believes that the early film noir classic 'The Spiral Staircase' and its depiction of the stalking of a vulnerable invalid is successful in that it symbolically conveys the film maker's horror about the clinical extermination of the weak in Nazi Germany. In such films, Mr. Ranciere sees a dialectical process at work where art helps to humanize us by writing a history that opposes violence and power.

I highly recommend this challenging but highly rewarding book to demanding readers who may be interested in the meaning of contemporary art.