Research Catalog

Title

The new Philistines : how identity politics disfigure the arts / Sohrab Ahmari.

Author

Ahmari, Sohrab

Publication

• London : Biteback Publishing, 2016.
• ©2016

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Description

xvii, 107 pages; 19 cm.

Summary

"Contemporary art is obsessed with the politics of identity. Visit any contemporary gallery, museum or theatre, and chances are the art on offer will be principally concerned with race, gender, sexuality, power and privilege. The quest for truth, freedom and the sacred has been thrust aside to make room for identity politics. Mystery, individuality and beauty are out; radical feminism, racial grievance and queer theory are in. The result is a drearily predictable culture and the narrowing of the space for creative self-expression and honest criticism. Sohrab Ahmari book is a passionate cri de coeur against this state of affairs. The New Philistines takes readers deep inside a cultural scene where all manner of ugly, inept art is celebrated so long as it toes the ideological line, and where the artistic glories of the Western world are revised and disfigured to fit the rigid doctrines of identity politics. The degree of politicisation means that art no longer performs its historical function, as a mirror and repository of the human spirit - something that should alarm not just art lovers but anyone who cares about the future of liberal civilisation."--Publisher description.

Series Statement

Provocations

Uniform Title

Provocations (London, England)

Subject

• Arts > Political aspects
• Identity (Psychology) in art
• Moderne
• Kunst
• Kunstkritik

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

Preface -- Part I: Intruders in the temple -- Part II: The illiberal imagination -- Part III: 'Super-fucking-problematic' -- Conclusion: The new Philistines.

ISBN

• 1785901273
• 9781785901270

OCLC

• ocn961250541
• 961250541
• SCSB-8882550

Owning Institutions

Princeton University Library