Documents of utopia : the politics of experimental documentary

219 Pages·2015·3.43 MB·English

by  Magagnoli

DOCUMENTS OF UTOPIA
Nonfictions is dedicated to expanding and deepening the range of contemporary documentary
studies. It aims to engage in the theoretical conversation about documentaries, open new areas of
scholarship, and recover lost or marginalised histories.
Other titles in the Nonfictions series:
Direct Cinema: Observational Documentary and the Politics of the Sixties
by Dave Saunders
Projecting Migration: Transcultural Documentary Practice
edited by Alan Grossman and Aine O’Brien
The Image and the Witness: Trauma, Memory and Visual Culture
edited by Frances Guerin and Roger Hallas
Films of Fact: A History of Science in Documentary Films and Television
by Timothy Boon
Building Bridges: The Cinema of Jean Rouch
edited by Joram ten Brink
Vision On: Film, Television and the Arts in Britain
by John Wyver
Chavez: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – A Case Study of Politics and the Media
by Rod Stoneman
Documentary Display: Re-Viewing Nonfiction Film and Video
by Keith Beattie
The Personal Camera: Subjective Cinema and the Essay Film
by Laura Rascaroli
The Cinema of Me: The Self and Subjectivity in First Person Documentary
by Alisa Lebow
Killer Images: Documentary Film, Memory and the Performance of Violence
edited by Joram ten Brink and Joshua Oppenheimer
Documenting Cityscapes: Urban Change in Contemporary Non-Fiction Film
by Iván Villarmea Álvarez.
DOCUMENTS
OF UTOPIA
THE POLITICS OF EXPERIMENTAL DOCUMENTARY
PAOLO MAGAGNOLI
A Wallflower Press Book
Published by
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York • Chichester, West Sussex
cup.columbia.edu

Copyright © Columbia University Press 2015
All rights reserved.
E-ISBN 978-0-231-85077-3
Wallflower Press® is a registered trademark of Columbia University Press

A Columbia University Press E-book.
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Cover image:
Bubble House (1999)
(Courtesy Tacita Dean and Marian Goodman Galley, New York)

A complete CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN 978-0-231-17270-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-17271-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-0-231-85077-3 (e-book)
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
Introduction – Nostalgia: Pathalogical and Critical
1 RUINS OF UTOPIA
2 REINVENTING PROPAGANDA FILMS
3 ARCHIVES OF COMMODITIES
4 DIGITAL UTOPIA IN THE POST-INTERNET AGE
Epligue – Utopia Now
Bibliography
Index
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book would have remained a utopian project itself were it not for the
support and guidance of numerous individuals over many years. I have a
lot of people to thank, and wholeheartedly so, although limitations of
space prevent me from being as specific as I would like. My first debt is
to TJ Demos, a remarkable teacher and writer who ignited my interest in
contemporary art and the conjunction of art and politics, encouraged me
to pursue this subject and offered tremendous inspiration, insight and
assistance along the way. I am also grateful to Tamar Garb and Briony
Fer, whose strength and enthusiasm have been an inspiration for me
throughout all my years as a research student at University College
London (UCL). I thank Amna Malik of the Slade School of Fine Art at
UCL for offering me some constructive criticism on chapter one.
I would also like to thank the faculty members of the Department of
History of Art at UCL, where a significant part of this research was
developed: Diana Dethloff, Natasha Eaton, Mechthild Fend, Charles
Ford, Sarah James, Petra-Lange Berndt, Maria H. Loh, Rose Marie San
Juan, Stephanie Schwartz, Frederic Schwartz and Alison Wright. Aspects
of this book were presented during the course of its preparation at a
diverse range of lectures, symposia and conferences, and it always came
away better as a result. I am grateful to all of those who have invited me
to present my drafts and to all the audiences and participants at these
events. A section of chapter three was presented in a panel on art and
obsolescence organised by Richard Taws and Katie Scott at the 2011
Association of Art Historians (AAH) Conference. Chapter four benefitted
from my participation as a speaker in the conference ‘The Versatile
Image: Photography in the Era of Web 2.0’, which was held at the
University of Sunderland in June 2011 and organised by Alexandra
Moschovi and Carol McKay. Also, I would like to convey my gratitude to
Margaret Iversen for providing unpublished materials on Zoe Leonard
and Tacita Dean.
I also owe a debt of gratitude to the artists whose work is the subject