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Places anxiety at the heart of the aesthetic experience.
Anxiety Aesthetics is the first book to consider a prehistory of contemporaneity in China through the emergent creative practices in the aftermath of the Mao era. Arguing that socialist residues underwrite contemporary Chinese art, complicating its theorization through Maoism, Jennifer Dorothy Lee traces a selection of historical events and controversies in late 1970s and early 1980s Beijing. Lee offers a fresh critical frame for doing symptomatic readings of protest ephemera and artistic interventions in the Beijing Spring social movement of 1978–80, while exploring the rhetoric of heated debates waged in institutional contexts prior to the '85 New Wave. Lee demonstrates how socialist aesthetic theories and structures continued to shape young artists' engagement with both space and selfhood and occupied the minds of figures looking to reform the nation. In magnifying this fleeting moment, Lee provides a new historical foundation for the unprecedented global exposure of contemporary Chinese art today.
Aesthetic Anxiety analyzes uncanny repetition in psychology, literature, philosophy, and film, and produces a new narrative about the centrality of aesthetics in modern subjectivity. The often horrible, but sometimes also enjoyable, experience of anxiety can be an aesthetic mode as well as a psychological state. Johnson's elucidation of that state in texts by authors from Kant to Rilke demonstrates how estrangement can produce attachment, and repositions Romanticism as an engine of modernity.
A history of Kantian and post-Kantian thought and of a foundational stage of German orientalism. German orientalism has been understood, variously, as a form of latent colonialism, as a quest for academic hegemony in Europe, and as an effort to diagnose and treat the ills of modern Western culture. Nicholas Germana identifiesa different impetus for orientalism in German thought, seeing it as an effort to come to grips with the Other within German society at the turn of the nineteenth century and within the dynamics of subjectivity itself. Drawing largely on work by feminist scholars, the book uncovers an anxiety at the core of Kantian and post-Kantian thought, thus shedding light on its derogation (or elevation) of Oriental cultures. Kant's philosophy of freedom is a construction of modern, Western masculinity. Reason, which alone can make freedom possible, subverts and orders chaotic nature and protects the rational subject from the enervating influences of the senses and the imagination. The feminized, sexually charged Orient is a threat to the historical achievement of Western male rationality. Germana's book emphasizes aesthetics in the German orientalist discourse, a subject that has received little attention todate. In this tradition of German thought, aesthetics became a form of spiritual anthropology, ordering and classifying societies, races, and genders in terms of their ability to master the senses and the imagination, forces thatundermine rational autonomy, the very source of human (i.e., masculine) dignity. Nicholas A. Germana is Professor of History at Keene State College, New Hampshire.
W. H. Auden and Hannah Arendt belonged to a generation that experienced the catastrophic events of the mid-twentieth century, and they both sought to respond to the enormity of the novel phenomena they witnessed. Regions of Sorrow explores the remarkable affinity between their works. As incisive exponents and uncompromising proponents of the insuperable condition of plurality, Auden and Arendt give voice to an unexpected and inconspicuous messianism--a messianism in which contingency, frailty, and faultiness are neither rejected nor scorned but celebrated as the indispensable elements of what Auden calls "anxious hope." Beginning with an examination of Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism and Auden's Age of Anxiety, which both conclude with meditations on Nazi terror, the author turns to an unprecedented presentation of Arendt's Human Condition in terms of Jewish-German messianism, and concludes with Auden's "In Praise of Limestone," which lays out the frail and faulty space in which messianism breaks free from apocalyptic forecasts.
"This fascinating and well-researched book explores a little-examined side of Surrealism with rigor and style. Lyford has delved into little-known archives, finding means to put pressure on the gendered relationships within the movement and, most important, on the Surrealists' conceptions and experiences of masculinity. Surrealist Masculinities will become a classic resource for all scholars of Surrealism and the highly gendered literary and artistic subcultures of early twentieth-century Europe and North America."--Amelia Jones, Professor and Pilkington Chair, University of Manchester
This collection brings together artists and theoreticians to provide the first anthology of a new field: Practical Aesthetics. A work of art already contains its own criticism, a knowledge of its own which need not be conceptual or propositional. Yet today, there are many approaches to different forms of art that work on the brink between science and art, 'sensible cognition' and proposition, aesthetic knowledge and rational knowledge, while thinking with art (or the artistic material) rather than about it. This volumes presents ways of thinking with different forms of art (film, sound, dance, literature, etc), as well as new forms of aesthetic research and presentation such as Media Philosophy, the audiovisual essay, fictocriticism, the audio paper, and Artistic Research. It reveals how writing about art can become 'artistic' or 'poetic' in its own right: not only writing about artistic effects, but producing them in the first place. This takes art not as an object of (external) analysis, but as a subject with a knowledge in its own right, creating a co-composing 'conceptual interference pattern' between theory and practice. A 'practical aesthetics' thus understood, can be described as thinking with art, in order to find new ways to create worlds and thus to make the world perceivable in different ways.
Narratives of Art Practice and Mental Wellbeing draws on extensive research carried out with mental health service users who are also practicing artists. Using narrative data gained through hours of reflective conversation, it explores not whether art can contribute to positive wellbeing and improved mental health - as this is now established ground - but rather how art works, and the role art making can play in people’s lives as they encounter crises, relapse, recovery or ‘beyonding’. The book maps the delicate ways in which finding a means to tell our story sometimes is the creative project we seek, and offers a reminder of how intrinsically linked our life trajectories are with creative opportunities. It describes the wide range of artistic activity occurring in health and community settings and the meanings of these practices to people with histories of mental turbulence. Drawing on psychoanalytic theory, the book explore the stories and various forms of visual arts practices spoken of, and considers the art making processes, the creative moments and the objects which in some cases have changed people’s lives. The seven chapters of the book offer a blend of personal testimony, theory, debate, critique and celebration, and examine key topics of deliberation within the fields of art therapy, arts in health, community arts practice, participatory arts, and widening participation within arts education. It will be valuable reading for researchers, students, artists and practitioners in these fields.
This comprehensive text challenges the taken-for-granted opposition of science and art by combining the fundamental principles of psychology, art and creativity and presenting the interdependent disciplines together in one unique, clear, and accessible resource. The author, Shannon Whitten, begins with an introduction to the foundations of art and psychology, providing readers with a critical understanding and history of the key concepts in both disciplines before establishing their interdependency. Drawing on a solid evidence base, the book then presents an assortment of extensive topics, from the human perception of color to the ability of art to impact mental health. The exploration of these topics enables the reader to reflect on the phenomenal power of human creativity. The chapters include vital categories of human psychology such as emotion, perception, personality, and social psychology to show the extensive connections between these elements of experience and art. Featuring a wealth of additional resources, this illuminating text equips the reader with a sound knowledge of the vocabulary and issues in the study of empirical aesthetics through visual content and stimulating prompts for reflection. Emphasizing the link between creativity and good mental health, the book is an essential read for students of the psychology of art, creativity, art therapy, and empirical aesthetics, as well as any discipline within the humanities, arts and science. It will also be of relevance to anyone interested in understanding the psychology behind creativity and its therapeutic effects on the artist.
Foundations of Art Therapy: Theory and Applications is an essential and comprehensive introduction to the field of art therapy that blends relevant psychological and neuroscience research, theories, and concepts and infuses cultural diversity throughout each chapter. The text includes full color photos, informative charts, and case examples and is divided into four parts beginning with the basics of art therapy knowledge and concluding with professional practices in art therapy. The fundamentals of art therapy section includes coverage of art therapy founders, art materials, multicultural perspectives, intersections with neuroscience, and research methods. An overview and in-depth explorations of different theoretical approaches to the practice of art therapy are covered in the second part of the book. A bio-psycho-social approach integrates current research on art therapy with specific populations (children, mental health, older adults, and trauma). The book concludes with art therapy professional practices in group concepts, community-based art therapy, and developing a career in the field. Each chapter contains chapter objectives, practical applications, ethical considerations, reflection questions, experiential exercises, and a list of terms. The unique, practical, and interdisciplinary approach of this text provides a solid base for understanding the field of art therapy and is well suited for use in undergraduate art therapy courses. This book will appeal to those who want an introduction to the field's theories, research, and practice and those seeking a comprehensive understanding on the foundations of art therapy. - Full color photos, informative charts, and case examples - Definitions, key details, and clear explanations of major concepts - Evidence-based research and attention to diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in each chapter - Reader experiential activities and reflection questions to enhance deeper levels of processing - Instructor resources that include: chapter outlines, experiential classroom activities and lecture enhancements, multiple choice and short answer questions for each chapter