Another future : poetry and art in a postmodern twilight

New Book from Weseleyan University Press



Another Future
Poetry and Art in a Postmodern Twilight
Gilbert, Alan
“As the theoretical bubble bursts, Alan Gilbert brings us back to the attention poetry demands, with its local nuances, terms, and conditions. With referential breadth and political acuity, Another Future deftly traces cultures in the making within the confines of social space.” -- Ammiel Alcalay, author of From the Warring Factions

What’s next for contemporary poetry?

How do we write and think about poetry and visual art in the wake of postmodernism? Questions like this are central to poetry and art, especially when taught within an academic context. Another Future is a collection of critical essays on contemporary poetry, art, culture, and politics that investigates the current state of these fields by bringing together writings on the work of a number of poets and visual artists. Reading the social poetically and poetry socially, Gilbert illuminates poetic and artistic practices in the present and creates a new discourse for thinking beyond postmodernism. Both meticulous and comprehensive, Another Future makes an important contribution to the critical discussion of contemporary poetry and cultural aesthetics.

Essays cover authors, artists, and topics such as the Barbie Liberation Organization, Anselm Berrigan, Brenda Coultas, documentary aesthetics, Benjamin Friedlander, globalization, Andreas Gursky, Renee Gladman, Kevin Killian, David LaChapelle, Harryette Mullen, Mark Nowak, Keith Piper, pirate radio, “post-black” art, Martha Rosler, Edward Sanders, Andrew Schelling, Allan Sekula, September 11th, Prageeta Sharma, Roberto Tejada, Lorenzo Thomas, Anne Waldman, and the Zapatistas.

“Gilbert is brilliant. With a clear and intelligent prose style that is intellectually rigorous and jargon-free, he has found a vital and useful vocabulary with which to describe and investigate what's really new in North American poetry.”—Peter Gizzi, author of Some Values of Landscape and Weather


TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction • PART 1: CONSIDERING HOW MATERIAL DOCUMENTS CAN BE • The Present Versus (the) Now • Sound Mappings: free103point9’s Constructive Engagement • Anne Waldman Changing the Frequency • The Information of Art: A Martha Rosler Retrospective • Fade to Black: Kevin Killian’s Argento Series • The Costs of Style: Harryette Mullen and Freestyle • Adding Up to Plural: On the Work of Roberto Tejada • Poetry As Document, or The Y2K Problem Is the Illusion of Starting at Zero • Form and Culture • PART TWO: TERRITORIES AND OTHER FORMS OF KNOWING • re:Reading the Active Reader Theory • Poetic Ethnography: Mark Nowak’s Revenants • “There’s no center where / similarity would begin”: C.S. Giscombe’s Giscome Road and Here • A Global View: Andreas Gursky at Matthew Marks Gallery • Ghost Stories: Renee Gladman’s Juice • Poetry and Reportage: Andrew Schelling’s The Road to Ocosingo • What Are the Alternatives?—Lorenzo Thomas’ Extraordinary Measures, for Example • PART THREE: MEANING POLITICS WITHOUT REGRETS • “Startling and Effective”: Writing Art and Politics after 9/11 • Countercultural Studies: Edward Sanders’ 1968: A History in Verse • Shine a Dark Light on It: Benjamin Friedlander’s A Knot Is Not a Tangle • Picking Up the Diasporic Pieces: Keith Piper at the New Museum • “How Soon Is Now?”: Anselm Berrigan, Prageeta Sharma, Greg Fuchs, Magdalena Zurawski, and the New Independents • Building Locations: Recent Work by Ben Polsky • Musical Chairs in Public Spaces: Brenda Coultas’ The Bowery Project • Acknowledgments • Bibliography • Index