| Description |
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references (p. 113-115) and index.
Translated from the original French.
Contents:
A pitiless art? -- The accident of art -- The Museum of accidents.
Summary:
In this dialogue with Sylvere Lotringer, the prophet of speed argues that "the art of the motor" (electronics, computer, Internet and so on) has surpassed the static nature of the visual arts. Digital technology has replaced the analogical and art has become extra-retinal. Something has been lost in the arts of the 20th century and their very success is their failure. But this critique is not a condemnation. On the contrary, an accident is always positive. It reveals something that otherwise would not have been perceived, and acknowledging it is a sign of hope. The accident of art announces a reversal of the tendencies and values traditionally associated with art.
Review:
"There is a catastrophe within contemporary art. What I call the "optically correct" is at stake. The vision machine and the motor have triggered it, but the visual arts haven't learned from it. Instead, they've masked this failure with commercial success. This "accident" is provoking a reversal of values. In my view, this is positive: the accident reveals something important we would not otherwise know how to perceive. - Paul Virilio, The Accident of Art"
Biography:
Sylvere Lotringer is Professor of French Literature at Columbia University. He is the co-author, with Jean Baudrillard, of Forget Foucault (1987) and co-editor, with Chris Kraus, of Hatred of Capitalism: A Semiotext(e) Reader (2001). He frequently lectures on art. Paul Virilio is considered the most important theorist of technology since Heidegger. Beginning with Speed and Politics (1977), his books have transformed our understanding of the nature of velocity, politics, relativity, space, and time. |