Dead history, live art?

Spectacle, Subjectivity and Subversion in the Visual Culture since 1960s
While scholars and critics generally agree that the 1960s signaled the end of high modernism, what is less clear is how to characterize contemporary art since the 1960s.Jonathan Harris here tackles this question by assembling a rich body of essays, along with a extended interview with feminist art scholar Amelia Jones, that track the movements in and issues central to contemporary art practice since this pivotal decade. The contributors argue that visual art since 1960s can no longuer claim a separate abd exalted status; rather, it should be interpreted as an integral part a larger culture display, consumption, and power that continues to evolve within a global capitalism system. Distinguished writers and artist such as Frazer Ward, Anna Dezeuze, richard Layzell, and Jane Chin Davidson launch a new discussion on art and mass culture in their essays, with uncompromissing examinations of how, inthe context of modern capitalism, visual culture has radically redefined the relationships between the production and use of images, texts, and interpretative analysis. Issues explored in their essays include the rise of "performance art" in the 1960s and 1970s, the focus on diverse installation and mixed-media practices during the 1980s and 1990, and, in an investigation reaching into the political sphere, the theater of visuality and spectacle created to support the invasion of and war in Iraq in 2003. Dead History, Live Art? proposes an intriguing new perspective on art history and practice with its critical examination of their conventions, values, and institutions. As such, the volume reconfigures not only our understanding of contemporary art but also the entire concept of the avant-garde.