This bookoffers a major reappraisal of Jean Baudrillard's thoughts on the image, radical illusion and media culture. Here for the first time, through a number of highly accessible interviews and recent essays, Baudrillard introduces what he calls the stunning clarity' of the photographic, and fascinatingly outlines his present thoughts on urban reality, aesthetics, virtual reality and new media technologies, in the light of his practice as a photographer. The book is illustrated with eight colour plates of Baudrillard's photographs and includes a number of provocative and illuminating responses to his recent writings from noted Baudrillard scholars. It also includes a definitive bibliography of critical responses to Baudrillard's writings on media culture, art and photography.

This book offers a major reappraisal of Jean Baudrillard's thoughts on the image, radical illusion and media culture. Here for the first time, through a number of highly accessible interviews and recent essays, Baudrillard introduces what he calls the `stunning clarity' of the photographic, and fascinatingly outlines his present thoughts on urban reality, aesthetics, virtual reality and new media technologies, in the light of his practice as a photographer. The book is illustrated with eight colour plates of Baudrillard's photographs and includes a number of provocative and illuminating responses to his recent writings from noted Baudrillard scholars. It also includes a definitive bibliography of c

A reappraisal of Jean Baudrillard's thoughts on the image, radical illusion and media culture. Through interviews and recent essays, Baudrillard introduces what he calls the stunning clarity of the photographic image, and outlines his present thoughts on urban reality and new media technologies.

This book of Nicholas Zurbrugg's challenging and provocative essays charts the most exciting developments in late 20th-century multimedia art. Zurbrugg challenges Jean Baudrillard's, Fredric Jameson's, and Achille Bonito-Oliva's unfavorable accounts of postmodern techno-culture. Interweaving literary and cultural theory, and visual studies, Zurbrugg demonstrates how multimedia visionaries such as Bill Viola and Robert Wilson are notable exceptions to the neutering of mass-media culture, bringing together the modernist and postmodern avant-garde.

"In 1996 Jean Baudrillard scandalized the art world by denouncing a "conspiracy" of art. But most missed the point. He wasn't attacking art, because art has ceased to exist - only its claim to privilege. Spiraling from aesthetic nullity to commercial frenzy, art has entered a "transaesthetic" state. The Conspiracy of Art examines its complicitous dance with politics, economics, and media, including Abu Ghraib's reality show. Baudrillard reveals the premises of his "radical thought" in the absurdist logic of pataphysics (his first unpublished text on Alfred Jarry), and in the Theater of Cruelty (a talk on Antonin Artaud with life-long collaborator Sylvere Lotringer)."--BOOK JACKET.

Jean Baudrillard is generally recognized as one of the most important and provocative contemporary social theorists. But in the English speaking world, his reputation is largely based on books published after the 1960s, as he moved towards becoming the premier commentator on postmodernism. This wide ranging and expertly edited book examines the work of the young Baudrillard, it deepens our understanding of his seminal work on consumer culture by presenting his early essays on McLuhan, Lefebvre and Marcuse. The influence of German traditions of thought are clearly revealed, and Baudrillard′s neglected and out of print writing on aesthetics is rediscovered and reprinted. Extracts from his political diaries and commentaries on European terrorism and the rise of the new Right, provide crucial insights into his later claims regarding the implosion of the masses and the rise of gesturial politics. Baudrillard emerges as a more nuanced and penetrating figure. His aesthetic and political interests are shown to be more deep-rooted and reflexive. In general, the book supplies the missing link for English speaking readers interested in understanding this prismatic and essential thinker.