Living Matter


Book Description

This innovative volume is the first to address the conservation of contemporary art incorporating biological materials such as plants, foods, bodily fluids, or genetically engineered organisms. Eggshells, flowers, onion peels, sponge cake, dried bread, breast milk, bacteria, living organisms—these are just a few of the biological materials that contemporary artists are using to make art. But how can works made from such perishable ingredients be preserved? And what logistical, ethical, and conceptual dilemmas might be posed by doing so? Because they are prone to rapid decay, even complete disappearance, biological materials used in art pose a range of unique conservation challenges. This groundbreaking book probes the issues associated with displaying, collecting, and preserving these unique works of art. The twenty-four papers from the conference present a range of case studies, prominently featuring artists’ perspectives, as well as conceptual discussions, thereby affording a comprehensive and richly detailed overview of current thinking and practices on this topic. Living Matter is the first publication to explore broadly the role of biological materials in the creative process and present a variety of possible approaches to their preservation. The free online edition of this open-access publication is available at www.getty.edu/publications/living-matter/ and includes videos and zoomable illustrations. Also available are free PDF, EPUB, and Kindle/MOBI downloads of the book.




Adrián Villar Rojas: From the Series Brick Farm


Book Description

A timely experiment in dwelling and creative gardening Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas (born 1980) creates large-scale, site-specific sculptural installations, drawing upon the ruins of ancient civilizations. This book documents his 2012 project the Brick Farm, which began as a collaborative studio and led to his well-known Hornero bird nest installations.




Adrián Villar Rojas


Book Description




Arrival Cities


Book Description

Exile and migration played a critical role in the diffusion and development of modernism around the globe, yet have long remained largely understudied phenomena within art historiography. Focusing on the intersections of exile, artistic practice and urban space, this volume brings together contributions by international researchers committed to revising the historiography of modern art. It pays particular attention to metropolitan areas that were settled by migrant artists in the first half of the 20th century. These arrival cities developed into hubs of artistic activities and transcultural contact zones where ideas circulated, collaborations emerged, and concepts developed. Taking six major cities as a starting point – Bombay (now Mumbai), Buenos Aires, Istanbul, London, New York, and Shanghai –the authors explore how urban topographies and landscapes were modified by exiled artists re-establishing their practices in metropolises across the world. Questioning the established canon of Western modernism, Arrival Cities investigates how the migration of artists to different urban spaces impacted their work and the historiography of art. In doing so, it aims to encourage the discussion between international scholars from different research fields, such as exile studies, art history, social history, architectural history, architecture, and urban studies.




Wines of South America


Book Description

Introduces the variety and quality of wine available in ten South American countries, exploring the regions, styles, and prominent grapes of the continent's two leading producers, Argentina and Chile, as well other nations' evolving industries.




Surviving Sudden Environmental Change


Book Description

Archaeologists have long encountered evidence of natural disasters through excavation and stratigraphy. In Surviving Sudden Environmental Change, case studies examine how eight different past human communities—ranging from Arctic to equatorial regions, from tropical rainforests to desert interiors, and from deep prehistory to living memory—faced, and coped with, such dangers. Many disasters originate from a force of nature, such as an earthquake, cyclone, tsunami, volcanic eruption, drought, or flood. But that is only half of the story; decisions of people and their particular cultural lifeways are the rest. Sociocultural factors are essential in understanding risk, impact, resilience, reactions, and recoveries from massive sudden environmental changes. By using deep-time perspectives provided by interdisciplinary approaches, this book provides a rich temporal background to the human experience of environmental hazards and disasters. In addition, each chapter is followed by an abstract summarizing the important implications for today’s management practices and providing recommendations for policy makers. Publication supported in part by the National Science Foundation.




The Roof Garden Commission


Book Description

Celebrated Argentinian artist Adrián Villar Rojas is known for his site-specific sculptural installations. For The Theater of Disappearance, the artist mines The Met’s collection, drawing on the five thousand years of world history within its galleries, to create an elaborate ahistorical work. Set atop the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, Villar Rojas’s installation transforms the space into a performative diorama, where banquet tables occupy an oversize black-and-white checkerboard floor punctuated by sculptures that fuse together human figures and artifacts found within the museum. The resulting juxtapositions put forth a radical reinterpretation of museum practices. This illustrated book is the fifth edition in a series that documents and contextualizes The Met’s annual rooftop commissions. The introductory essay by Beatrice Galilee explores the conceptual framework that informs Villar Rojas’s remarkable commission as well as his interventions around the world. While exploring the Museum, Villar Rojas took thousands of photographs of objects and moments of interest. A selection of these images is featured here alongside the artist’s commentary, offering a unique visual diary of Villar Rojas’s thought process as he developed this arresting installation.




Adrian Villar Rojas


Book Description

The first book to explore the fascinating career and fantasy-driven worlds created by the acclaimed Argentinean artist Adrián Villar Rojas's works concoct imaginary realms. Usually made from clay, his colossal installations are transitory and so cannot be collected, as they disappear or decay over time. His practice confronts the public with ideas of obsolescence and extinction, but also with the possibilities of humankind and its endless imagination. This is the first book to include all of Villar Rojas' most significant projects, featured in international biennials such as Venice, Documenta, Shanghai, and others.




The Lidless Eye


Book Description

War World is a future military shared-world anthology created by John F. Carr and Jerry Pournelle. The War World series includes seven short story collections and six novels all taking place in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium and Empire of Man Future History, spanning several thousand years. The primary setting is a barely-habitable moon named Haven, or War World as it later becomes known. Born of rebellion and civil war, Haven, is a world forever at war, each with all-and all against the Saurons. The New Harmonies were original owners and settlers of Haven until the CoDominium decided any place that inhospitable would make an excellent dumping ground for political exiles, troublesome minorities and garden variety criminals. Over a year from Earth, by way of the old Bureau of Relocation deportee ships, Haven was the end of the line of CoDominium occupied space. During the Imperium, Haven was used as a recruiting ground for the Imperial Marines and became one of the first worlds abandoned when the war against the Sauron dominated Coalition of Secession got ugly. Although humanity has annihilated the Sauron Homeworld, the cost was high: the First Empire is beginning its long spiral into a Dark Age and the secret of interstellar travel will soon be lost for centuries. When a shipload of Saurons bent on conquest arrive unexpectedly, War World goes from pest-hole to Hellhole. Born of rebellion and civil war, cut off from the rest of humanity after the Secession Wars, Haven is bombed back to barbarism by the Sauron invaders. The Saurons, in fear of Imperial revenge, have vowed to cut Haven off from the rest of the Empire while they slowly absorb the superior human norms into their own perverted gene pool. Any and all who resist will die. The Haveners should have been easy pickings for the superhuman newcomers. However, what the Saurons hadn't anticipated was the Haven is a world forever at war, each with all-and all against the Saurons.




Working the Plate


Book Description

The story of Eric Gregg, the first notable black National League umpire in professional baseball.