Tickle Your Catastrophe! : Imagining Catastrophe in Art, Architecture and Philosophy

by Le Roy, Frederik; Wynants, Nele; Hoens, Dominiek; Vanderbeeken, Robrecht

• ISBN13: 9789038217222
• ISBN10: 9038217226
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-14
• Publisher: Univ Pr of New England

Summary

Whereas the twentieth century was dominated by political extremism and (coping with) trauma, it is the fear of the inevitable and complete catastrophe that reigns at the beginning of a new century. Although worst-case scenarios have always been part of the modern cultural identity, the impending depletion of the world's oil resources, the devastating effects of climate change (both current and future), international terrorism or the sudden breakdown of the financial markets made catastrophe into a crucial notion to understand our relation with our time today. This collection of essays wants to take stock of the current impact of the image and imagination of the catastrophe in art, science and philosophy. It collects some of the most inspiring thoughts and lectures of the conference TICKLE YOUR CATASTROPHE! and reflects the versatile and interdisciplinary approach of this meeting. The first chapter, entitled Ruin Value, addresses the motif of the ruin in visual art and urban planning. The second section, State of Emergency, clusters texts on catastrophism in philosophy. The contributions of Media Disaster focus on how the image of the catastrophe is mediated and mediatized as multimedia spectacles. The closing section, Worst Case Scenario, considers the method of scenario thinking in art, politics, military and urban planning.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Ruin Value

Catastrophe and its Fallout

Notes on Cataclysms, Art and Aesthetics, 1755-1945

Ruins & Reconstructions

Eroding Modernism in the Work of Robert Smithson, Gordon Matta-Clark and Luc Deleu

In Ruins

State of Emergency

Corresponding Catastrophes - Walter Benjamin on Allegory and History

The Worst is Yet to Come

Mapping the Present Through Catastrophe - On Philip K. Dick Science Fiction and the Critique of Ideology

Media Disaster

It Takes Place When It Doesn't - Catastrophe in Performance

"It is as if ... a catastrophe overcame the canvas" - Deleuze and the Pictorial Set-Up

The Most Dangerous Film in the World

Live True Life or Die Trying

Worst-Case Scenario

The Mad Max phase of Globalization

Dr. Strangelove, I Presume - On the Relation of Scenarios and Paranoia

Emergence vs. Emergency - How Knowledge Must Follow Fashion

Contributors

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