COME CLOSER: The Biennale Reader

(Paperback)

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A reader on issues of race, class, and gender in post-Socialist states from an artworld perspective. Come Closer- The Biennale Reader, published on the occasion of the inaugural Prague biennale, considers the present via counter-hegemonic readings of the past. The book explores various perspectives of class, race, and gender differences in post-socialist states, past and present. In societies today that can seem fragmented, alienated, and sealed-off, a feeling of "us" and "them" can potentially emerge. The reliance on a common language to bring people closer often does the opposite, leading to feelings of contempt, anxiety, and fear. By drawing attention to themes of intimacy, care, and empathy, the contributions in this book search for new types of communication that can bring people together. Like language, art can be used to mediate these differences, and to examine issues relating to how people coexist in society. Come Closer comprises republished texts as well as newly commissioned contributions from both emerging and established artists, social and political scientists, and art historians from Eastern Europe, Asia, and the United States. Contributors Jer me Bazin, Heather Berg, Pavel Berky, Anna Dauikova, Patrick D. Flores, Isabela Grosseova, Vit Havranek, Marie Iljaenko, Rado Itok, Barbora Kleinhamplova, Eva Koatkova, Kateina Likova, Ewa Majewska, Tuan Mami, Alice Nikitinova, Alma Lily Rayner, Sarah Sharma, Jirka Skala, Adela Souralova, Edita Stejskalova, Tereza Stejskalova, Matj Spurn , Ovidiu Tichindeleanu, Simone Wille

Author Bio

Vit Havranek is a curator and art organizer based in Prague, Czech Republic. Since 2002 he has been a director of the initiative for contemporary art tranzit (www.tranzit.org). Tereza Stejskalova (Czech Republic) is a curator and a writer working for tranzit.org and a lecturer of art theory at the Film Academy in Prague (FAMU).