Type
Text
Type
Dissertation
Advisor
Wang, Jin | Donald B. Kuspit | Zabet Patterson | Reinitz, John | Andrew V. Uroskie | Neil Smith.
Date
2010-05-01
Keywords
Art Criticism -- Art History -- Ethics | Aesthetics, Alfredo Jaar, Hans Haacke, issues of representation, Krzysztof Wodiczko, witness of trauma
Department
Department of Art History and Criticism
Language
en_US
Source
This work is sponsored by the Stony Brook University Graduate School in compliance with the requirements for completion of degree.
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/11401/72601
Publisher
The Graduate School, Stony Brook University: Stony Brook, NY.
Format
application/pdf
Abstract
This dissertation takes as its point of departure the crisis of perception that photojournalism cannot adequately take into account the problems of representing atrocity without repeating the violence and considers the position of art in expressing the ineffable. I present the work of three artists: Hans Haacke, Krzysztof Wodiczko, and Alfredo Jaar; each has struggled for decades to resolve the issues of confrontation and presentation, offering a vantage point from which viewers can critically address the causes, consequences, and representation of suffering. What purpose does the aesthetic serve in rendering atrocity visible? Can we visualize suffering without perpetuating abuse? What are the ethics behind the icons? Within the context of the art historical tradition of representing tragedy and the persistent vernacular obsession with visualizing abuse, this dissertation considers Haacke's, Wodiczko's, and Jaar's counter-strategies to the practice of witnessing trauma by confronting the ethics of witness and by creating an aesthetics of response.
Recommended Citation
MacQueen, Kathleen, "Tactical Response: Art in an Age of Terror" (2010). Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions). 1804.
https://commons.library.stonybrook.edu/stony-brook-theses-and-dissertations-collection/1804