Full Description
This book draws on the work of anthropologist Alfred Gell to reinstate the importance of the object in art and society. Rather than presenting art as a passive recipient of the artist's intention and the audience's critique, the authors consider it in the social environment of its production and reception.
A Return to the Object introduces the historical and theoretical framework out of which an anthropology of art has emerged, and examines the conditions under which it has renewed interest. It also explores what art 'does' as a social and cultural phenomenon, and how it can impact alternative ways of organising and managing knowledge. Making use of ethnography, museological practice, the intellectual history of the arts and sciences, material culture studies and intangible heritage, the authors present a case for the re-orientation of current conversations surrounding the anthropology of art and social theory.
This text will be of key interest to students and scholars in the social and historical sciences, arts and humanities, and cognitive sciences.
Contents
Introduction: Gell and his influences Part I: Rethinking the frame Chapter 1: Lessons from the Art Nexus Chapter 2: The index and indexicality Chapter 3: The prototype and the model Chapter 4: Immanent relationality and its consequences Part II: Following the Prototype Chapter 5: Virtuosity and style Chapter 6: Aesthetics and the ethics of relation Chapter 7: Generativity and transformation Chapter 8: Agency (social) Part III: Rediscovering the object Chapter 9: Material agency Chapter 10: Colour, Palette and Gestalt Chapter 11: Patterns and their Transposition Chapter 12: Motile Animacy
