Landscape As Weapon - Cultures of Exhaustion and Refusal

Once the playgrounds and raw material for the avantgarde, abandoned places and things--decommissioned military sites, postindustrial spaces, contested and forgotten edgelands--are now just as likely to be seen as assets for entrepreneurs or connoisseurs of the authentically worn-out. This is the age of patina, where the material remains of times past--the fields and factories, test sites, back alleys, machines, and statues--are coveted, adored, mourned, and commemorated, as well as sometimes despised. Through an exploration of a wide range of recent film, photography, art, and writing about place, Landscape as Weapon argues that these abandoned sites are a critical arena for debate about the meaning of space and time under late capitalism.

About the author

John Beck is Professor of Modern Literature and Director of the Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture at the University of Westminster. His many books include Dirty Wars: Landscape, Power, and Waste in Western American Literature (2009).

Product details

• Authors: John Beck
• Publisher: Reaktion Books
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.01.2021
• EAN: 9781789143058
• ISBN: 978-1-78914-305-8
• No. of pages: 208
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History; Cultural Studies, POLITICAL SCIENCE / General, HISTORY / General, Social & cultural history, Politics & government, History of Art, History of art & design styles: from c 1900 -, Social and cultural history, Politics and government