The Accident of Art (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents) [Paperback]

Sylvère Lotringer (Author), Paul Virilio (Author), Mike Taormina (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents | Publication Date: August 12, 2005

There is a catastrophe within contemporary art. What I call the "optically correct" is at stake. The vision machine and the motor have triggered it, but the visual arts haven't learned from it. Instead, they've masked this failure with commercial success. This "accident" is provoking a reversal of values. In my view, this is positive: the accident reveals something important we would not otherwise know how to perceive.-- Paul Virilio, The Accident of ArtUrbanist and technological theorist Paul Virilio trained as a painter, studying under Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Bazaine and de Stael. In The Accident of Art, his third extended conversation with Sylvère Lotringer, Virilio addresses the situation of art within technological society for the first time. This book completes a collaborative trilogy the two began in 1982 with Pure War and continued with Crepuscular Dawn, their 2002 work on architecture and biotechnology.In The Accident of Art, Virilio and Lotringer argue that a direct relation exists between war trauma and art. Why has art failed to reinvent itself in the face of technology, unlike performing art? Why has art simply retreated into painting, or surrendered to digital technology? Accidents, Virilio claims, can free us from speed's inertia. As technological catastrophes, accidents are inventions in their own right.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"There is a catastrophe within contemporary art. What I call the "optically correct" is at stake. The vision machine and the motor have triggered it, but the visual arts haven't learned from it. Instead, they've masked this failure with commercial success. This "accident" is provoking a reversal of values. In my view, this is positive: the accident reveals something important we would not otherwise know how to perceive. - Paul Virilio, The Accident of Art"

About the Author

Sylvere Lotringer, general editor of Semiotext(e), lives in New York and Baja, California. He is the author of Overexposed: Perverting Perversions (Semiotext(e), 2007). Paul Virilio has published twenty-five books, including Pure War (1988) (his first in English) and The Accident of Art (2005), both written with Sylvere Lotringer, as well as Speed and Politics and Lost Dimension, all published by Semiotext(e).

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Semiotext(e) (August 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1584350202
• ISBN-13: 978-1584350200
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,209,064 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Discussion against art, June 6, 2010

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Zippo "Zippo" (Mexico) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Accident of Art (Semiotext(e) / Foreign Agents) (Paperback)

This rather short book - about 100 pages - is made up of a discussion (of sorts) about art. Two very intelligent and well-read persons talk about a wide variety of issues more or less closely related to general "problems" in the field of art and culture. They don't really talk to each other, it's more like two parallel monologues than a dialogue; one will say something which will cause the other to think of some other issue, and then the first person will connect that to yet another subject, but it's all very fragmentary. It seems they don't really listen to (or understand?) each other. They do come off as pompous at times, and seem to enjoy making sweeping and totalizing statements a little too much; there are very few attempts too provide any solid arguments (that would get in the way of the short and quotable pithy sound-bite). I personally disagree with most conclusions and/or ideas, but it's still a good book in that it makes me have to think through these things for myself. The issues discussed are fascinating.