Theorizing Visual Studies: Writing Through the Discipline

321 Pages·2012·16.37 MB·English

by  James Elkins

THEORIZING VISUAL
STUDIES
This forward-thinking collection brings together over sixty essays that invoke images to
summon, interpret, and argue with visual studies and its neighboring fields such as art
history, media studies, visual anthropology, critical theory, cultural studies, and aesthet-
ics. The product of a multi-year collaboration between graduate students from around
the world, spearheaded by James Elkins, this one-of-a-kind anthology is a truly interna-
tional, interdisciplinary point of entry into cutting-edge visual studies research. Reflect-
ing the ongoing growth of visual studies, the book is fluid in relation to disciplines; it
is frequently inventive in relation to guiding theories; and it is unpredictable in its alle-
giance and interest in the past and future of the discipline.
James Elkins teaches at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Kristi McGuire is an artist, writer, and editor based in Chicago. She teaches at the School
of the Art Institute of Chicago, and holds graduate degrees from SAIC and the University
of Chicago.
Maureen Burns is a writer, editor, and arts consultant, currently living in Chicago. She
received her MA in visual and critical studies from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago in 2010.
Alicia Chester is a Chicago-based artist and writer. She completed her MA in visual and
critical studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2010.
Joel Kuennen is an editor at ArtSlant.com and an arts writer living in Chicago. He
received his MA in visual and critical studies from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago in 2010.

Theorizing Visual
Studies
Writing Through the Discipline
Edited by James Elkins and Kristi McGuire,
with Maureen Burns, Alicia Chester,
and Joel Kuennen
First published 2013
by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Simultaneously published in the UK
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2013 Taylor & Francis
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the editorial
material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been
asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means,
now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording,
or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Theorizing visual studies : writing through the discipline /
edited by James Elkins, Kristi McGuire, Maureen Burns,
Alicia Chester, and Joel Kuennen.–1st [edition].
pages cm
1. Art and society. 2. Visual communication 3. Aesthetics.
I. Elkins, James, 1955– editor of compilation.
N72.S6T47 2012
700–dc23
2012021604
ISBN: 978–0–415–87793–0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–415–87794–7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–0–203–07923–2 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon
CONTENTS
List of Figures viii
List of Text Boxes xiii
Preface and Acknowledgments xiv
How to Use This Book—James Elkins 1
An Introduction to the Visual Studies That Is Not in This Book—James Elkins 3
A Short Introduction to Failure—Kristi McGuire 16
An Introduction to the Visual as Argument—James Elkins 25
Airborne Horses—Mike Gibisser 62
Anaesthetics—Kristi McGuire 65
Animal—Michelle Lindenblatt 69
Animations—Nea Ehrlich 73
Arial—Arden Stern 77
Ars Oblivionalis—Thomas Stubblefield 81
Artifact—Lucian Gomoll 84
Augmented Reality—Horea Avram 88
Breathing—Vivian Li 92
Collecting—Josephine Landback 96
Decolonial—Lara Haworth and Nicole Cormaci 100
Diaspora—W. Ian Bourland 104
Double-Consciousness—Cara Caddoo 107
vi | CONTENTS
Eleventh Prismatic—Samantha Topol 110
Ephemeral—Cecilia Aldarondo 113
Experimental Geography—Andrew Wasserman 116
Fetish—Johannes Bruder 120
Filiation—Simon Ferdinando 123
Frame—R. E. H. Gordon 128
Iconoclash—Julia Sonnevend 131
Imaginary—W. Keith Brown 134
Imaginary Twin—Kristi McGuire 138
Intertitles—Jana Žilová 143
Invisibility—Maureen Burns 146
Leviathan—Vera Chiquet 150
LTTR—Rebecca Vreeland 155
Masquerade—Meghan Chandler 159
Metadata—Elizabeth Stainforth and David Thom 163
Metaphors—Marco Bohr 166
Mimicry—Jessica L. Horton 169
Monstrative—Katrina Kuntz 172
Monuments—Jess Park 175
Nests—Marta Jecu 179
Nets—Pirkko Rathgeber 184
Non-Place—Joel Kuennen 188
Objectivity—Andrea Korda 192
Obscenity—Josh Guilford 196
Observing—Julia Marsh 199
Ordinary—Katherine Lennard 202
CONTENTS | vii
Palimpsest—Elise Haddad 206
Parafiction—Faye Gleisser 209
Performance—Arantxa Echarte 212
Performativity—Margaret Ellen Di Guilio 215
Politics—Manuel Ramos 218
Portrait’s Look—Jules Sturm 221
Queer Futures—Álvaro Luís Lima 224
Redaction—Katherine Lennard 227
Regimes—Amari Peliowski 230
Responsivity—Iris Laner 234
Sartorientalism—Jaimee K. Comstock-Skipp 237
Self-Perception—Tenley Bick 242
Sexualized—Andrew Salgado 246
Street Art—Peter Bengtsen 250
Surface—Alicia Chester 254
Syntagm—Joel Kuennen 259
Temples—Jaimee K. Comstock-Skipp 262
Terror—Charlotte Grievson 266
Trauma—Margaret Ellen Di Giulio 270
Visible Woman—Meredith Kooi 274
Visualism—Matthew Francis Rarey 278
White—Maureen Burns 282
Contributors 285
Index 295
LIST OF FIGURES
Time line (1994–2012) showing some of the more frequently cited and
assigned textbooks for visual studies. 3–7
A graph showing Bildwissenschaft branching into five paths. 5
Institutions around the world that either have visual culture departments or
centers, or else have faculty who publish in visual culture venues. 7
Time line (1989–1999) showing the essays and events that are most often
cited in visual studies. 9
Time line (2000–Present) showing the essays and events that are most often
cited in visual studies. 10
Time line (1994–2010) showing some of the more frequently cited and
assigned textbooks for Bildwissenschaft. 10–15
Chart showing some of the authors who are listed in the Topic
“Queer Futures,” on the theorist José Esteban Muñoz. 14
Time line (1920–2012) showing episodes in the history of the image as
argument. 33, 41
Examples of diagrams in Diderot’s Encyclopédie (“The Plates of the
Encyclopedia,” Eng. trans. 1986). 45
Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, Framing Conflict, detail of the installation
at the Ian Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne,
5 Nov. 2008–1 Feb. 2009. Courtesy the artists. 48
Lyndell Brown and Charles Green, Twin Towers, US Base, Tallil,
Southern Iraq. 2007–9, 37.4 × 51.7 cm, digital colour photograph,
inkjet print on rag paper. Courtesy the artists. 48
A diagram of the pathways between the political and the aesthetic. 55
Left: Image of “Terror” (Figure 20, from “a photograph by Dr. Duchenne”)
from Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,
1872. Scanned from the 1965 edition published by the University of
Chicago Press. 68
Right: Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant), “OCCUPY HOPE,” digital print
(first version), 2008. Image copyright: Shepard Fairey. Courtesy of:
www.obeygiant.com (artist’s website). 68
LIST OF FIGURES | ix
From Midway: Message from the Gyre. Photograph by and image copyright:
Chris Jordan (www.chrisjordan.com). Courtesy of: Kopeikin Gallery. 69
From Waltz with Bashir, an Ari Folman film. Illustration: David Polonsky.
Courtesy of: Bridgit Folman Film Gang. 74
From Waltz with Bashir, an Ari Folman film. Illustration: Tomer Hanuka.
Courtesy of: Bridgit Folman Film Gang. 75
The letter R in the Arial and Helvetica fonts. 79
Yinka Shonibare, Mr. and Mrs. Andrews Without Their Heads, wax-print
cotton costumes on mannequins, dog mannequin, painted metal bench, rifle,
165 × 635 × 254 cm with plinth, 1998. Image courtesy of and copyright: the
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. 83
“Beauty and Purpose: Art that Works” from Inter/sections: World Arts,
Local Lives, the Fowler Museum at the University of California,
Los Angeles, 2006. Photograph by: David Mayo. 85
Baldassare Peruzzi (1481–1536), Hall of the Perspectives with trompe l’oeil
fresco decorations. Southwall, Villa Farnesina, Rome, Italy. Photo: Alessandro
Angeli, 2003. Franco Cosimo Panini Editore ©Management Fratelli Alinari.
Photo Credit: Alinari / Art Resource, NY. 89
Layar, Augmented Reality Browser (application for smartphones, launched
in 2009). Courtesy of: Maarten Lens-FitzGerald and Layar. 91
Song Dong, Breathing, Part 1, 1996, Chromogenic transparency on translucent
polyester, 62 × 96 inches (157.5 × 243.8 cm), The David and Alfred Smart
Museum of Art, The University of Chicago; Purchase, Paul and Miriam
Kirkley Fund for Acquisitions, Image © 2012 courtesy of the David and
Alfred Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. 92
Song Dong, Breathing, Part 2, 1996, Chromogenic transparency on translucent
polyester, 62 × 96 inches (157.5 × 243.8 cm), the David and Alfred Smart
Museum of Art, The University of Chicago; Purchase, Paul and Miriam Kirkley
Fund for Acquisitions, Image © 2012 courtesy of the David and Alfred
Smart Museum of Art, The University of Chicago. 95
Nagiko (Vivian Wu), still from The Pillow Book (dir. Peter Greenaway), 1996. 97
Trans-Alaska Pipeline, 2009. Photography by and image courtesy of: Center
for Land-Use Interpretation. 100
Trans-Alaska Pipeline, 2009. Photography by and image courtesy of:
Center for Land-Use Interpretation. 102
Trisha Donnelly, Untitled, pencil on colored paper, 11½ × 8¼ inches, 2007.
Image courtesy of: the artist. 112
Trevor Paglen, LACROSSE/ONYX V near Cepheus (Synthetic Aperture Radar
Reconnaissance Satellite; USA 182), 2008, C-Print, 48 × 60 inches.
Image courtesy of: the artist. 118
Visitors look into the hole of Anish Kapoor’s Descent into Limbo, Kassel,
Germany, 1992. Photograph by: David Connor. Courtesy of: Art on File. 121