Whitechapel Gallery

Part of the acclaimed series of anthologies which document major themes and ideas in contemporary art. A timely and engaging set of writings for those wanting to critically reflect and build upon the relationships between science fiction and contemporary art. In the past two decades, artists and writers have increasingly adopted the idea that science fiction can be understood as a lens through which to search for fragments of truth emerging from the past or the future, and the proliferation of science fiction in contemporary art practice and discourse reflects an increased understanding of how this narrative field continues to grow in relevance. Split into four distinct approaches, 'estrangement', 'futures', 'posthumanism' and 'ecologies', this unique collection gathers key examples of the influence of science fiction in recent cultural development: from the integration and acceleration of technological change, to global urbanisation and concepts of futurity; from the boundaries of social structures and non-human life, to the threatening self-evidence of climate change. This book is the first major anthology to focus on relationships between science fiction and contemporary art, and is an essential read for all those exploring this vital genre. Artists surveyed include Denenge Akpem, Laylah Ali, Allora & Calzadilla, Pawel Althamer, Carol Bove, Lee Bul, Mark Dion, Jimmie Durham, Ellen Gallagher, Robert Gober, Eduardo Kac, Mikhail Karikis, Patrick Keiller, Karen Kilimnik, Jeff Koons, Moon Kyungwon and Jeon Joonho, Lawrence Lek, Paul Mc-Carthy, Mariko Mori, David Musgrave, Otolith Group, Eduardo Paolozzi, Kiki Smith, Sun Ra, Suzanne Treister, Jeff Wall. Writers include Peio Aguirre, Margaret Atwood, J.G. Ballard, Tiffany E. Barber, Jean Baudrillard, Franco 'Bifo' Beradi, Rosie Braidotti, Rachel Carson, Jeffrey Deitch, Donna Haraway, Cathy Lane, Amna Malik, Tom McCarthy, Alondra Nelson, Gwyneth Shanks, Jan Tumlir, Xin Wang, Gilda Williams.

From the hexing of presidents to a renewed interest in herbalism and atavistic forms of self-care, magic has furnished the contemporary imagination with mysterious and complex bodies of arcane thought and practice. This volume brings together writings by artists, magicians, historians, and theorists that illuminate the vibrant correspondences animating contemporary art's varied encounters with magical culture, inspiring a reconsideration of the relationship between the symbolic and the pragmatic. Dispensing with simple narratives of re-enchantment, Magic illustrates the intricate ways in which we have to some extent always been captivated by the allure of the numinous. It demonstrates how magical culture's tendencies toward secrecy, occlusion, and encryption might provide contemporary artists with strategies of remedial communality, a renewed faith in the invocational power of personal testimony, and a poetics of practice that could boldly question our political circumstances, from the crisis of climate collapse to the strictures of socially sanctioned techniques of medical and psychiatric care. Tracing its various emergences through the shadows of modernity, the circuitries of ritual media, and declarations of psychic self-defence, Magic deciphers the evolution of a 'magical-critical' thinking that productively complicates, contradicts and expands the boundaries of our increasingly weird present. Artists surveyed: Holly Pester, Katrina Palmer, Ithell Colquhoun, Anna Zett, Monica Sjoeo, Sofia Al-Maria, Jack Burnham, Jeremy Millar, Susan Hiller, Mike Kelley, Morehshin Allahyari, Center for Tactical Magic, David Steans, Porpentine, Travis Jeppesen, Linda Stupart, Caspar Heinemann, Elizabeth Mputu, Faith Wilding, David Hammons, Ana Mendieta, Henri Michaux, Kenneth Anger, Benedict Drew, Mark Leckey, Robert Morris, Jenna Sutela, Haroon Mirza, Zadie Xa, Saya Woolfalk, Ian Cheng, Tabita Rezaire, Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth, Elijah Burgher, Pierre Paulo Pasolini, Sahej Rahal Writers: Charles Fort, Victoria Nelson, Gary Lachman, Yvonne P. Chireau, Randall Styers, Isabelle Stengers, Alan Moore, Simon O' Sullivan, Lucy Lippard, Louis Chude Sokei, Patricia MacCormack, Mark Pilkington, AE, Annie Besant & C.W. Leadbeater, Michel Leiris, Aime Cesaire, Austin Osman Spare, Erik Davis, Mark Dery, Elaine Graham, Jeffrey Sconce, Giulia Smith, Esther Leslie, Alice Bucknell, Gary Zhexi Zhang, Hannah Gregory, Kristen Gallerneaux, Mahan Moalemi, Jamie Sutcliffe, Gregory Sholette, Aaron Gach, Eugene Thacker, Diane Di Prima, Allan Doyle, Aria Dean, Emily LaBarge, Lou Cornum, Joy KMT, Scott Wark, McKenzie Wark, Phil Hine, Jackie Wang, Sean Bonney

Drawing on the avant-garde movements of both Expressionism and Surrealism, the women of Abstract Expressionism redefined artistic practice as an immersive arena for action, process and consciousness. Their paintings were regarded not as images but as events. Although the movement officially began in mid-century USA, it quickly – through myriad means – spread around the world and became a catalyst for redefining ideas around aesthetics, poetry, philosophy and politics. This new publication, accompanying a major European touring exhibition, will include works by 40 artists from across the globe, from well-known practitioners such as Carmen Herrera, Etel Adnan, Sandra Blow and Helen Frankenthaler, to lesser-known names from countries such as Australia, China, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Mozambique, Romania and Venezuela: women who took up the ideas and methodologies of the movement but endowed them with specific cultural and subjective dimensions. The catalaogue will include essays by Christian Levett, Joan Marter, Agustin Perez Rubio and Elizabeth Smith, as well as full colour illustrations of all the works.