This book forms the first critical study of Jacques Rancière's impact and contribution to contemporary theoretical and interdisciplinary studies. It showcases the work of leading scholars in fields such as political theory, history and aesthetic theory; each of whom are uniquely situated to engage with the novelty of Rancière's thinking within their respective fields. Each of the essays provides an investigation into the critical stance Rancière takes towards his contemporaries, concentrating on the versatile application of his thought to diverse fields of study (including, political and education theory, cinema studies, literary and aesthetic theory, and historical studies). The aim of this collection is to use the critical interventions Rancière's writing makes on current topics and themes as a way of offering new critical perspectives on his thought. Wielding their individual expertise, each contributor assesses his perspectives and positions on thinkers and topics of contemporary importance. The edition includes a new essay by Jacques Rancière, which charts the different problems and motivations that have shaped his work.

This collection of essays aims to investigate the unique place of Jacques Rancière in the contemporary intellectual scene

How democratic progressive politics can happen and how it is happening in very different political arenas

The 60th Jahresring takes the form of a compilation of artist interviews and offers a snapshot of a highly active art scene that stretches from Berlin, as a new international center for art. Nicolaus Schafhausen put a series of questions to thirty-one art practitioners, less geared toward the artists' respective praxis and more toward the conditions under which it arises. Art's presence in the field of new media has never been more pronounced; access to media images and Internet-based possibilities for research have significantly altered contemporary art production. The art market too has changed, gaining influence in the field of contemporary art as even art institutions take a different approach today than they did twenty years ago. The focus in these interviews is on the respective self-positioning by the artists in an era shaped by such far-reaching changes. What emerges are temporally fixed positions within an activity that is, for the most large part, associated with precarious working conditions and the logistics of the market more than ever before. This book offers insight into this "other" dimension of an artist's existence and registers attention economy as a central component of contemporary art production. Contributors Saâdane Afif, Thomas Bayrle, Michael Beutler, Monica Bonvicini, Mike Bouchet, Ulla von Brandenburg, Angela Bulloch, Andrea Bu]ttner, Keren Cytter, Simon Denny, Thea Djordjadze, Ólafur Elíasson, Harun Farocki, Dani Gal, Katharina Grosse, Eberhard Havekost, Florian Hecker, Christian Jankowski, Susanne Kriemann, Antje Majewski, Olaf Metzel, Carsten Nicolai, Olaf Nicolai, Marcel Odenbach, Silke Otto-Knapp, Willem de Rooij, Cornelia Schleime, Michael Stevenson, Hito Steyerl, Haegue Yang, Tobias Zielony

The alienation between modern high culture and its public is a fundamental conflict of art. This book develops a theory of contemporary art in response to our moment, when artists and critics must respond to art's unprecedented popularity. Close readings of Friedrich Nietzsche, Jacques Rancière, Theodor W. Adorno, Clement Greenberg, Benjamin Buchloh, and Boris Groys provide the theoretical framework to comprehend a dialectic of art propelled by tension between the enduring history of art and the domineering presence of mass culture. "In dialogue with some of the most interesting modern and contemporary philosophical figures, Bettina Funcke traces the divisions and alternations in twentieth-century art between high and low engagements with popular forms. She reveals fascinatingly how twentieth-century artists not only seek to engage the people but also problematize 'the people' as a political and cultural construct." -- Michael Hardt, co-author of Empire and Multitude "In this far-ranging, muscular book, Bettina Funcke persuasively argues for a renewed attention to the dialectical relationship between high culture and mass culture. Against the notion that the two domains have become wholly indistinguishable, Funcke posits a stubborn, even agonistic sphere still discernable between them; in her account, it is the praxis of 'contemporary art' that both embodies and reflects upon this condition. Skillfully delivering a complex history of the longstanding, slippery debates around hierarchical and repressive structures of culture, Funcke moves through two centuries of philosophical and art historical discourse. Tending to canonical--and often contradictory--premises by authors including Buchloh, Derrida, Foucault, and Greenberg and to still-ambiguous and heavily debated artistic practices like those of Beuys and Warhol, Funcke's analysis extends, with great implication, into the philosophical and artistic details of our own moment. In Pop or Populus, Funcke delivers a cohesive, suggestive narrative that takes up the central issues of contemporary culture and refuses to consider any history a closed case." --Johanna Burton, art historian and critic, Associate Director and Senior Faculty, Whitney Museum of American Art Independent Study Program, New York Bettina Funcke studied philosophy, art history, and media theory at the Hochschule für Gestaltung/ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany, and has lectured at Bard College, Columbia University, Yale University, and the ZKM. Her writings have been published widely, both in artist monographs and magazines including Afterall, Artforum, Bookforum, Public, and Texte zur Kunst. A co-founder of The Leopard Press and the Continuous Project group, Funcke has worked as an editor at Dia Art Foundation and recently as Senior Editor U.S., Parkett. Translated from the German by Warren Niesluchowski

It is evident that modernity is a popular mountain for analysis and reflection of a largely controversial nature. Numerous theories have also been written about the beginning as well as the end of modernity. The aim of Modernologies is to achieve an account of the state of artistic research and to discuss selected contributions to the subject matter that appears central after two to three decades of an ever intensely blazing conflict over the legacy of modernity and modernism.

"This book documents and extends the exhibition-project 'Interarchiv' of the Kunstraum der Universität Lüneburg in co-operation with Hans-Peter Feldmann and Hans Ulrich Obrist, 1997-2002"--Colophon.

Writing Contemporary History brings together some of the world's most pre-eminent historians to discuss the core issues confronting students of contemporary history today. Tackling ten key questions of current historiographical debate, each chapter sets in parallel and in opposition the contributions of two scholars. Questions include: Does gender history have a future? When does colonial history end? What is cultural history now about? This volume takes to heart the central rationale of the Writing History series, namely to combine theoretical reflection with the practice of producing historical texts. It introduces the reader to a variety of important theoretical approaches in the field of contemporary history writing and asks how these approaches have shaped historical writing in this important sub-discipline. Writing Contemporary History an invaluable introduction to the central debates that have shaped the field of contemporary history.