The all-encompassing mass culture of today is not an invention of the late 20th century. Contrary to what might be assumed, given the capitalist under- and over-tones of contemporary mass media, our visual culture has its roots in the totalitarian regimes of the 20s and 30s. Back then, the main venue for visual communication was the reproduction and circulation of pictures via posters and films. Fascism and communism made radical use of these new opportunities for the consistent transformation of culture, even to the point ...
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The all-encompassing mass culture of today is not an invention of the late 20th century. Contrary to what might be assumed, given the capitalist under- and over-tones of contemporary mass media, our visual culture has its roots in the totalitarian regimes of the 20s and 30s. Back then, the main venue for visual communication was the reproduction and circulation of pictures via posters and films. Fascism and communism made radical use of these new opportunities for the consistent transformation of culture, even to the point of co-opting such traditional media as painting and sculpture. The centrally organized Soviet mass culture of the Stalin period is one of the foremost example of these highly effective propaganda machines. Beginning with the late realist works of Kasimir Malevich, Dream Factory Communism presents the macrocosm of Soviet art in the Stalin era--still little known in the West--as a unified aesthetic phenomenon that transcended individual media. The later works of Soz-Art, a style in which characteristics of socialist realism are combined with Pop Art, provides a running visual commentary and a critical take on the aesthetics of totalitarianism. The inclusion of works by contemporary Russian artists such as Erik Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov and Komar & Melamid marks the chasm that separates today's artists both aesthetically and politically from their predecessors.
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Add this copy of Traumfabrik Kommunismus: Die Visuelle Kultur Der to cart. $94.50, good condition, Sold by Mullen Books, Inc. ABAA / ILAB rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Marietta, PA, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Hatje Cantz.
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Seller's Description:
VG-/VG-sharpie dot on bottom text block, light corner and edge wear to book and dust jacket. White boards with brown lettering. Color-illustrated wraps with white lettering. 461 pp. Mainly color illustrations. Catalog of exhibition at Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, September 24, 2003 to January 4, 2004. Parallel text in German and English. Contents as follows: Die Massenkultur der Utopie = Utopian mass culture / Boris Groys--Der sozialistische Realismus: als Fabrik des neuen Menschen = Socialist realism: factory of the new man / Aleksander Morozov--Die Kollektivierung der Moderne = The collectivization of modernism / Ekaterina Degot--Der Heldenmythos im sozialistischen Realismus = The heroic myth in socialist realism / Hans Günther--Der Wille zum Wissen: Rezeptionsmodelle sowjetischer Kunst im Westen = The will to knowledge: models for the reception of Soviet art in the West / Martina Weinhart--Der Waggon Let's go girls! : eine Installation = The wagon Let's go girls! : installation / by Ilya and Emilia Kabakov--Kollektive Tagträume = Collective daydreaming / Oksana Bulgakowa--Die kinetische Ikone in der Trauerarbeit: Prologomena zur Analyse eines textuellen Systems = The kinetic icon in the work of mourning: prolegomena to the analysis of a textual system / Annette Michelson--Georg Baselitz im Gespräch mit Boris Groys = Georg Baselitz in conversation with Boris Groys--Ilya Kabakov im Gespräch mit Boris Groys = Ilya Kabakov in conversation with Boris Groys.
