What is the place of Critical Realism today, given the fact that both realism and commitment in art have become highly problematic notions since at least several decades? Realism in the first place appears to be relegated to the museum of pre-modern styles and devices, safely locked-up in the toolbox of 19th-Century art history. Secondly, in our cool, postmodern times, the place for commitment has become highly confuse. The naive confusion between Critical Realism and notions like Social(ist) Realism or Political Correctness has complexified that situation. The ambition of this volume is to position Critical Realism as clearly as possible in the current art scene. This book makes a strong plea for a critically engaged art, as it can be encountered in a most exemplary way in the work of Allan Sekula. Sekula's oeuvre features a number of characteristics whose combination makes it unique: his iconography rediscovers and reinvents the theme of labor and his photos, on the verge between art and documentary - thus creating a kind of proto-documentary, reflect on the possibilities for the visual arts today to deliver an 'act of criticism'. Internationally known as one of the most prominent artists engaged in this debate, Sekula's research methods allow us to discuss the ways art can be critical about contemporary social questions without succumbing into a plain or overtly partial political statement.

About the Author
Hilde Van Gelder is professor of contemporary art history at KU Leuven. She is director of the Lieven Gevaert Research Centre for Photography, Art and Visual Culture. Jan Baetens is professor of Literature and Cultural Studies at KU Leuven.


Book Information
ISBN 9789058675637
Author Jan Baetens
Format Paperback
Page Count 207
Imprint Leuven University Press
Publisher Leuven University Press