Theatre As Metaphor
Issue No. 60, Winter 2008
This issue of Art Lies is situated between theatre and theatricality or, in more direct terms, between the theatre and its metaphors. The trigger for this inquiry is a continued disdain for—and obsession with—theatrical tropes that preoccupy certain strains of contemporary artistic practice, as traced by a series of exhibitions over the past year. Out of these exhibitions grew the pressing need to readdress the legacies and the pervasiveness of metaphors related to the stage that continue to permeate the discourses of painting, sculpture, performance, installation, photography, film and video. What this issue is not is an inquiry into a specific form or tradition. Nor is it a guidebook to all of the likely—and unlikely—places from which theatre, theatricality and its antecedents might be thought to emerge. Instead, it is meant to interrogate the primacy of theatre as metaphor. And, much like W. J. T. Mitchell, who identified the vital signs of a “pictorial turn” in contemporary culture in the mid 1990s, one might ask what the characteristics of a “theatrical turn” would be, if there were ever such a turn. Rather than accept the image that the theatre offers of itself—both in vision and language—a notion of a theatrical turn would surely have to contend with the possibility that it is through this very mode that all cultural and social exchanges are mediated.
- Anjali Gupta, Editor & Aram Moshayedi, Guest Editorial Contributor
Feature Contributors:
Walead Beshty
Liam Gillick
Michael Ned Holte*
Shannon Jackson
Vishal Jugdeo
William Leavitt
Judy Radul
David Román
Alexandro Segade
Susan Silton
Damon Willick
*Exclusive online curatorial project
artlies.org/article.php?id=1693&issue=60&s=0
Reviews Include:
Austin—Eric Zimmerman on Susan Collis
Houston—Kurt Mueller on Damaged Romanticism
Houston—Noah Simblist on Walid Raad
Fort Worth—Noah Simblist on Teresa Hubbard & Alexander Birchler
Dallas—Michael Odom on Richie Budd
New York—John Ewing on Perverted by Theater
New York—Evan J. Garza on Jim Pirtle
Cover Image: Anthony Goicolea, Ash Wednesday, 2001; color photograph;
40 by 80 inches; collection of Stéphane Janssen; image courtesy Postmasters Gallery, New York
Upcoming Art Lies Events:
College Art Association 2009
February 25-28, Los Angeles
conference.collegeart.org/2009/
Cocktail party honoring Aram Moshayedi, Guest Editorial Contributor
Details TBA
The Armory Show
March 5-8, New York City
www.thearmoryshow.com/cgi-local/content.cgi
Upcoming Issues:
Issue No. 61—Guest Editorial Contributor Stuart Horodner, Artistic Director,
Atlanta Contemporary Art Center
Issue No. 62—Guest Editorial Contributor Barbara Perea, Independent Curator, Mexico City
Art Lies is available in the United States at independent bookstores, museums and select Barnes & Noble locations and internationally via the Web.
Art Lies, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1993, publishes a contemporary art quarterly that provides a forum for the critical exploration and examination of current art production, practice and theory. Art Lies is funded in part by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, The Houston Endowment, The Brown Foundation, The Tocker Foundation, The National Endowment for the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts, the Houston Arts Alliance and our members.
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