ON THE ANIMATION OF THE INORGANIC by Spyros Papapetros ( 9780226645681 )

Item Details

Title:

ON THE ANIMATION OF THE INORGANIC
ART, ARCHITECTURE, AND THE EXTENSION OF LIFE

By:

Spyros Papapetros

Format:

Hardback

List price:

£80.00

Our price:

£72.00

Discount:

10% off

You save:

£8.00

ISBN 10:

0226645681

ISBN 13:

9780226645681

Availability:

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Stock:

Currently 0 available

Publisher:

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS

Pub. date:

27 July, 2012

Pages:

440

Description:

Throughout human history, people have imagined inanimate objects to have intelligence, language, and even souls. This book examines ideas about simulated movement and inorganic life during and after the turn of the twentieth century - a period of great technical innovation whose effects continue to reverberate today.

Synopsis:

Throughout human history, people have imagined inanimate objects to have intelligence, language, and even souls. In our secular societies today, we still willingly believe that nonliving objects have lives of their own as we find ourselves interacting with computers and other equipment. In "On the Animation of the Inorganic", Spyros Papapetros examines ideas about simulated movement and inorganic life during and after the turn of the twentieth century - a period of great technical innovation whose effects continue to reverberate today. Exploring key works of art historians such as Aby Warburg, Wilhelm Worringer, and Alois Riegl, as well as architects and artists like Fernand Leger, Mies van der Rohe, and Salvador Dali, Papapetros tracks the evolution of the problem of animation from the fin de siecle through the twentieth century. He argues that empathy - the ability to identify with objects of the external world - was repressed by twentieth-century modernist culture, but it returned, projected onto inorganic objects such as machines, automobiles, and crystal-line skyscrapers.These modern artifacts, he demonstrates, vibrated with energy, life, and desire of their own and had profound effects on people. Subtle and insightful, this beautifully illustrated book will change how we view modernist art, architecture, and their histories.

Illustrations:

10 colour plates, 164 halftones

Publication:

Imprint:

University of Chicago Press

Returns:

Returnable

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