Theatre Of The Natural World

Accompanying his first major UK exhibition in a decade, this unique publication focuses on five works by the American conceptual artist Mark Dion. Since the late 1980s Dion (b. 1961, Massachusetts) has been delving into the tropes and research methods of scientists, explorers, museum curators and archaeologists. He has created a body of work that playfully presents art as scientific enquiry or field work, questioning how knowledge is gathered, classified and displayed. Five installations will be displayed at Whitechapel Gallery: a scholar's study invites us to unravel intricate drawings and models; the Bureau for the Centre of the Study for Surrealism and its Legacy displays the strange magic of obsolete things; the muddy banks of the Thames have also yielded their treasures for poetic display in a gigantic cabinet; while a Dickensian Curiosity Shop tempts us with the bizarre aura of American bric-a-brac. Each immersive environment is also a habitat, evoking the characters that observe, conserve or exploit the natural world. The catalogue features new short essays on each of the exhibited works, an interview between the artist and Iwona Blazwick and a reprint of a short story by National Book Award for Fiction winner Andrea Barrett.

The Theater of Nature is histoire totale of the last work of the political philosopher Jean Bodin, his Universae naturae theatrum (1596). Through Bodin's work, Ann Blair explores the fascinating and previously little known world of late Renaissance natural philosophy. A study of the text, of its context (through comparisons with different genres of natural philosophy and works entitled "Theater"), and of its reception in the seventeenth century highlights above all the religious motivations, encyclopedic ambitions, and bookish methods characterizing much of late Renaissance science. Amid the religious crisis and the explosion of knowledge in the late sixteenth century, natural philosophy offered grounds for consensus across religious divides and a vast collection of useful and pleasant information, admired for both its order and its variety. The commonplace book provided a versatile tool for gathering and sorting bits of natural knowledge garnered from a wide array of bookish sources and "experience,'' fueling a vigorous cycle of text-based science at least through the mid-seventeenth century. The miscellaneous genre of the problemata into which Bodin's text was adapted attracted more popular audiences until even later. To place the Theatrum in its cultural context is also to reveal more clearly the peculiarities of Bodin's philosophical project in this, its final expression. He combined arguments from reason, experience, and authority to undermine traditional Aristotelian conclusions and proposed instead a natural philosophy based on pious, often biblical, solutions. Originally published in 1997. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Twenty years of experimental art from a globalized China Published on the occasion of the largest exhibition of contemporary art from China ever mounted in North America, organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Art and China after 1989: Theater of the World explores recent experimental art from 1989 to 2008, arguably the most transformative period of modern Chinese and recent world history. Featuring over 150 iconic and lesser-known artworks by more than 70 artists and collectives, this catalog offers an interpretative survey of Chinese experimental art framed by the geopolitical dynamics attending the end of the Cold War, the spread of globalization and the rise of China. Critical essays explore how Chinese artists have been both agents and skeptics of China's arrival as a global presence, while an extensive entry section offers detailed analysis on works made in a broad range of experimental mediums, including film and video, ink, installation, land art and performance, as well as painting and photography. Featured artists include Ai Weiwei, Big Tail Elephant Group, Cai Guo-Qiang, Cao Fei, Chen Zhen, Chen Chieh-jen, Ding Yi, Geng Jianyi, Huang Yong Ping, Kan Xuan, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Libreria Borges, Liu Wei, Liu Xiaodong, New Measurement Group, Ou Ning, Ellen Pau, Qiu Zhijie, Shen Yuan, Song Dong, Wang Guangyi, Wang Jianwei, Yan Lei, Yang Jiechang, Yu Hong, Xijing Men, Xu Bing, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Peili, Zhang Hongtu, Zhang Xiaogang and Zhou Tiehai. An appendix includes a selected history of contemporary art exhibitions in China, artist biographies and a bibliography.

This book proposes a new way of thinking about Irish theatre, one that challenges established boundaries between nature and culture. Broadening the scope of theatrical environments to encompass radiophonic and digital landscapes, amongst others, Re-Place is a timely and innovative interrogation of how we understand the theatrical space.

"From the University of Florida College of Fine Arts, Charlie Mitchell and distinguished colleagues form across America present an introductory text for theatre and theoretical production. This book seeks to give insight into the people and processes that create theater. It does not strip away the feeling of magic but to add wonder for the artistry that make a production work well." -- Open Textbook Library.

A new text on immersive theater.

This ground-breaking collection focuses on how theatre, dance, and other forms of performance are helping to transform our ecological values. Top scholars explore how familiar and new works of performance can help us recognize our reciprocal relationship with the natural world and how it helps us understand the way we are connected to the land.

Mindfulness & the Natural World explores what it means to connect with nature and how we can learn from nature to be more mindful in everyday life. Claire Thompson takes us on an engaging journey into the natural world and encourages us to experience its beauty and intrinsic value through the art of mindfulness. Through personal anecdotes and proven insights, she reveals how a deeper awareness of the natural world is key to inspiring us to care about and protect nature, and developing a more sustainable world.

Earth Matters on Stage: Ecology and Environment in American Theater tells the story of how American theater has shaped popular understandings of the environment throughout the twentieth century as it argues for theater’s potential power in the age of climate change. Using cultural and environmental history, seven chapters interrogate key moments in American theater and American environmentalism over the course of the twentieth century in the United States. It focuses, in particular, on how drama has represented environmental injustice and how inequality has become part of the American environmental landscape. As the first book-length ecocritical study of American theater, Earth Matters examines both familiar dramas and lesser-known grassroots plays in an effort to show that theater can be a powerful force for social change from frontier drama of the late nineteenth century to the eco-theater movement. This book argues that theater has always and already been part of the history of environmental ideas and action in the United States. Earth Matters also maps the rise of an ecocritical thought and eco-theater practice – what the author calls ecodramaturgy – showing how theater has informed environmental perceptions and policies. Through key plays and productions, it identifies strategies for artists who want their work to contribute to cultural transformation in the face of climate change.

The Invisible Actor presents the captivating and unique methods of the distinguished Japanese actor and director, Yoshi Oida. While a member of Peter Brook's theatre company in Paris, Yoshi Oida developed a masterful approach to acting that combined the oriental tradition of supreme and studied control with the Western performer's need to characterise and expose depths of emotion. Written with Lorna Marshall, Yoshi Oida explains that once the audience becomes openly aware of the actor's method and becomes too conscious of the actor's artistry, the wonder of performance dies. The audience must never see the actor but only his or her performance. Throughout Lorna Marshall provides contextual commentary on Yoshi Oida's work and methods. In a new foreword to accompany the Bloomsbury Revelations edition, Yoshi Oida revisits the questions that have informed his career as an actor and explores how his skilful approach to acting has shaped the wider contours of his life.