More When I Know You Better: The Life of Albert Sanguinetti, 1923–2009
Title | More When I Know You Better: The Life of Albert Sanguinetti, 1923–2009 PDF eBook |
Author | Stuart Wolfendale |
Publisher | City University of HK Press |
Pages | 266 |
Release | 2022-10-03 |
Genre | Biography & Autobiography |
ISBN | 9629376369 |
Focusing on Albert Sanguinetti from his early life to his retirement from the legal sector, including his tenures in Gibraltar, Kenya, and Hong Kong, this biography provides an in-depth view of the life of a prominent figure in the legal field in the late twentieth century. It is written from an objective, external viewpoint and paints a colourful and lively picture of Sanguinetti in a voice that could almost be his own. Using Sanguinetti’s life experiences, the biographer touches on various historical events, including the Mau Mau revolution in Kenya and the 1957 riots in Hong Kong, and details the social and political problems of the times, such as lingering colonialism, class structure issues, and human rights violations, among others. These glimpses of history through Sanguinetti’s eyes are accessible, thought-provoking, and truly representative of the man himself. Offering a well-rounded image of the eccentric subject, this book fulfils Sanguinetti’s common response to questions about both his personal and professional life — “more when I know you better”. It will undoubtedly be of interest to those who knew Sanguinetti as well as legal professionals, young barristers, and readers with an interest in post-war history in Gibraltar, Kenya, and especially Hong Kong.
Cybernetic Revolutionaries
Title | Cybernetic Revolutionaries PDF eBook |
Author | Eden Medina |
Publisher | MIT Press |
Pages | 343 |
Release | 2014-01-10 |
Genre | Computers |
ISBN | 0262525968 |
A historical study of Chile's twin experiments with cybernetics and socialism, and what they tell us about the relationship of technology and politics. In Cybernetic Revolutionaries, Eden Medina tells the history of two intersecting utopian visions, one political and one technological. The first was Chile's experiment with peaceful socialist change under Salvador Allende; the second was the simultaneous attempt to build a computer system that would manage Chile's economy. Neither vision was fully realized—Allende's government ended with a violent military coup; the system, known as Project Cybersyn, was never completely implemented—but they hold lessons for today about the relationship between technology and politics. Drawing on extensive archival material and interviews, Medina examines the cybernetic system envisioned by the Chilean government—which was to feature holistic system design, decentralized management, human-computer interaction, a national telex network, near real-time control of the growing industrial sector, and modeling the behavior of dynamic systems. She also describes, and documents with photographs, the network's Star Trek-like operations room, which featured swivel chairs with armrest control panels, a wall of screens displaying data, and flashing red lights to indicate economic emergencies. Studying project Cybersyn today helps us understand not only the technological ambitions of a government in the midst of political change but also the limitations of the Chilean revolution. This history further shows how human attempts to combine the political and the technological with the goal of creating a more just society can open new technological, intellectual, and political possibilities. Technologies, Medina writes, are historical texts; when we read them we are reading history.
Essential Terms of Chinese Painting
Title | Essential Terms of Chinese Painting PDF eBook |
Author | Maria CHENG, TANG Wai Hung, Eric CHOY |
Publisher | City University of HK Press |
Pages | 448 |
Release | 2018-05-02 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 962937188X |
Essential Terms of Chinese Painting provides a comprehensive coverage of the broad spectrum of Chinese painting. Through an array of some 900 terms, it exhibits the history of Chinese culture, as interpreted by artists and portrayed in their work. In masterful detail, it describes not only the artistic implements and drawing styles, but also how these are influenced by changing cultural considerations over time such as religion, philosophy, intellectual ideas, and political developments. From the broad view of how the change of dynasties affected painting trends in both format and subject, to the smallest detail of the methods used to paint different styles of tree branches, this is a full compendium of the scope and depth of artwork from China. This volume features twelve chapters which • explore all major areas of art including techniques, implements and materials, inscriptions and seals, painting and mounting formats for all categories including landscape, bird-and-flower, figure and auspicious paintings; • provide a helpful resource for readers to enjoy Chinese art with over 500 full-colour illustrations and pictures to further elaborate the terms discussed; • serve as an introduction to begin a true understanding of traditional Chinese painting.
The Beach Beneath the Street
Title | The Beach Beneath the Street PDF eBook |
Author | McKenzie Wark |
Publisher | Verso Books |
Pages | 207 |
Release | 2015-05-05 |
Genre | Philosophy |
ISBN | 1781689407 |
Over fifty years after the Situationist International appeared, its legacy continues to inspire activists, artists and theorists around the world. Such a legend has accrued to this movement that the story of the SI now demands to be told in a contemporary voice capable of putting it into the context of twenty-first-century struggles. McKenzie Wark delves into the Situationists’ unacknowledged diversity, revealing a world as rich in practice as it is in theory. Tracing the group’s development from the bohemian Paris of the ’50s to the explosive days of May ’68, Wark’s take on the Situationists is biographically and historically rich, presenting the group as an ensemble creation, rather than the brainchild and dominion of its most famous member, Guy Debord. Roaming through Europe and the lives of those who made up the movement – including Constant, Asger Jorn, Michèle Bernstein, Alex Trocchi and Jacqueline De Jong – Wark uncovers an international movement riven with conflicting passions. Accessible to those who have only just discovered the Situationists and filled with new insights, The Beach Beneath the Street rereads the group’s history in the light of our contemporary experience of communications, architecture, and everyday life. The Situationists tried to escape the world of twentieth-century spectacle and failed in the attempt. Wark argues that they may still help us to escape the twenty-first century, while we still can.
Artificial Hells
Title | Artificial Hells PDF eBook |
Author | Claire Bishop |
Publisher | Verso Books |
Pages | 483 |
Release | 2012-07-24 |
Genre | Art |
ISBN | 1781683972 |
Since the 1990s, critics and curators have broadly accepted the notion that participatory art is the ultimate political art: that by encouraging an audience to take part an artist can promote new emancipatory social relations. Around the world, the champions of this form of expression are numerous, ranging from art historians such as Grant Kester, curators such as Nicolas Bourriaud and Nato Thompson, to performance theorists such as Shannon Jackson. Artificial Hells is the first historical and theoretical overview of socially engaged participatory art, known in the US as "social practice." Claire Bishop follows the trajectory of twentieth-century art and examines key moments in the development of a participatory aesthetic. This itinerary takes in Futurism and Dada; the Situationist International; Happenings in Eastern Europe, Argentina and Paris; the 1970s Community Arts Movement; and the Artists Placement Group. It concludes with a discussion of long-term educational projects by contemporary artists such as Thomas Hirschhorn, Tania Bruguera, Pawe? Althamer and Paul Chan. Since her controversial essay in Artforum in 2006, Claire Bishop has been one of the few to challenge the political and aesthetic ambitions of participatory art. In Artificial Hells, she not only scrutinizes the emancipatory claims made for these projects, but also provides an alternative to the ethical (rather than artistic) criteria invited by such artworks. Artificial Hells calls for a less prescriptive approach to art and politics, and for more compelling, troubling and bolder forms of participatory art and criticism.
History of Modern Latin America
Title | History of Modern Latin America PDF eBook |
Author | Teresa A. Meade |
Publisher | John Wiley & Sons |
Pages | 408 |
Release | 2016-01-19 |
Genre | History |
ISBN | 1118772482 |
Now available in a fully-revised and updated second edition, A History of Modern Latin America offers a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the rich cultural and political history of this vibrant region from the onset of independence to the present day. Includes coverage of the recent opening of diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Cuba as well as a new chapter exploring economic growth and environmental sustainability Balances accounts of the lives of prominent figures with those of ordinary people from a diverse array of social, racial, and ethnic backgrounds Features first-hand accounts, documents, and excerpts from fiction interspersed throughout the narrative to provide tangible examples of historical ideas Examines gender and its influence on political and economic change and the important role of popular culture, including music, art, sports, and movies, in the formation of Latin American cultural identity Includes all-new study questions and topics for discussion at the end of each chapter, plus comprehensive updates to the suggested readings
Tango Lessons
Title | Tango Lessons PDF eBook |
Author | Marilyn G. Miller |
Publisher | Duke University Press |
Pages | 293 |
Release | 2014-02-07 |
Genre | Performing Arts |
ISBN | 0822377233 |
From its earliest manifestations on the street corners of nineteenth-century Buenos Aires to its ascendancy as a global cultural form, tango has continually exceeded the confines of the dance floor or the music hall. In Tango Lessons, scholars from Latin America and the United States explore tango's enduring vitality. The interdisciplinary group of contributors—including specialists in dance, music, anthropology, linguistics, literature, film, and fine art—take up a broad range of topics. Among these are the productive tensions between tradition and experimentation in tango nuevo, representations of tango in film and contemporary art, and the role of tango in the imagination of Jorge Luis Borges. Taken together, the essays show that tango provides a kaleidoscopic perspective on Argentina's social, cultural, and intellectual history from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries. Contributors. Esteban Buch, Oscar Conde, Antonio Gómez, Morgan James Luker, Carolyn Merritt, Marilyn G. Miller, Fernando Rosenberg, Alejandro Susti