Laments in Contemporary Art
by Guy Cools ; ed. by Lisa Marie Bowler; design by Metahaven
- Author(s)
- Guy Cools
- Editor(s)
- Lisa Marie Bowler Amsterdam : Valiz, 2021. - 244 p., 21 cm. - (Antennae – Arts in Society, 30)
- Publication
- Amsterdam : Valiz, 2021
- Scope
- 244 Pages, 21 cm.
- Carrier
- essay bundle
- ISBN
- 9789492095985
In a poetic, meandering, personal way Cools explores cultural habits, traditions, rituals, and artists’ performances. His narrative looks into many forms of laments: literary, anthropological, philosophical, and in contemporary art practices. The latter part delves into artistic strategies to address or embody mourning: dialogical strategies that deal with personal losses; collective mourning rituals and how they invite communities to witness these losses; contemporary examples of laments that are not only used to dialogue with the dead but also to communicate with loved ones who are absent because of migration or exile; a very specific form of mourning that occurs when we grieve for the unrealized potential of a child’s unlived life, including that of an unborn child. And finally, the very recent phenomenon of lamenting not just the losses of the past, but also the loss of a future.
- Keywords
- performance , mourning rituals , grief
- Location
- Cabinet 31 - 1: Performance ; lichaam en ruimte
