Product Description

Art and Fear is compulsory reading for anyone still wondering where art has gone and where science is taking us. Paul Virilio traces the twin development of art and science over the 20th Century, a development that emerges as a nightmare dance of death. In Virilio's scorching vision, art and science vie with each other for the destruction of the human form as we know it. At the start of the 21st Century science has finally left art behind as genetic engineers prepare to turn themselves into the worst of expressionists, the Human Genome Project their godless manifesto, the human being, the raw material for new and monstrous forms of life. A brutal logic rules this shattering of representation: our ways of seeing are now fatally shaped by unprecedented 'scientific' modes of destruction.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1061484 in Books
• Published on: 2004-03-25
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 113 pages

Review
'In Art and Fear, he makes his brutal logic shockingly clear.' Blueprint; 'Is Virilio a strident critic out of touch with contemporary culture or is Art and Fear a deft excoriation of excess? Either way, this is a short, sharp and gripping book.' Modern Painters

About the Author
Paul Virilio is Director of the Ecole speciale d'Architecture in Paris and author of over 15 books including Desert Screen. Julie Rose is a freelance translator and has translated The Vision Machine, The Art of the Motor, Open Sky, and A Landscape of Events

Customer Reviews

Brief, powerfull and timely
"Art and Fear" is probably the most-read philosophical piece in my book collection. (Admittedly that may have to do with its brevity). Virilio is at the top of his form, pondering what he believes to be the future of art, science and the human form - not just in representation but in biological actuality.

It has made me think long and hard. It has given me sleepless nights. But above all, it has entertained. While not the most lucid writing style, particularly for those readers not well versed in his areas of discourse, it is none-the less written in an expressive, almost poetic style.

Its not very long (so you can read it in a day and then brag you've done an entire philosophy book). Its not at all boring. I can't think of a better reason for anyone to pick up this book and read it - other than the sheer enormity and presence of his arguments.