ART

Contemporary Condition - Co-existence of Times - A conversation with John Akomfrah

Sternberg Press 2020 ISBN 9783956795718 Acqn 30944
Pb 12x19cm 48pp col ills £7.00

In the form of a conversation with filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah, this book sets out to
explore how his work with montage can be understood to articulate contemporaneity in sensuous
ways. In multilayered video installations, sequences of images are forced into the same time and
space, allowing the viewer to experience connections in her/his/their present. With examples from
many of his key works, topics discussed include untold histories and the diaspora, migration, and
"the enigma of arrival." Akomfrah defines his way of working with montage not only as a
technique but as an ethic, an ontology in which differences are brought together.

orders@artdata.co.uk

www.artdata.co.uk
 ART

Contemporary Condition - Exhibition-ism Temporal Togetherness

Sternberg Press 2020 ISBN 9783956795725 Acqn 30945
Pb 12x19cm 48pp £7

In Exhibition-ism, theorist and artist Mieke Bal develops the idea that exhibiting is a significant
form of the contemporary. In an exhibition, visitors are in the actual company of artworks that can
perform. This essay considers recent shows of Bal's own video work, and is framed by
observations on contemporary sculpture's response to classics of the form. Looking at art as
process, Bal makes the case that the being-together-in-time of an exhibition visit encourages and,
if the curation is well thought-out, can heighten the sense of the contemporaneity-art being more
capable of this than anything else.

orders@artdata.co.uk

www.artdata.co.uk