The oral eye is a metaphor for the dominance of global designer capitalism. It refers to the consumerism of a designer aesthetic by the 'I' of the neoliberalist subject, as well as the aural soundscapes that accompany the hegemony of the capturing attention through screen cultures. An attempt is made to articulate the historical emergence of such a synoptic machinic regime drawing on Badiou, Bellmer, Deleuze, Guattari, Lacan, Rancière, Virilio, Ziarek, and Zizek to explore contemporary art (post-Situationism) and visual cultural education. jagodzinski develops the concept of an 'avant-garde without authority,' 'self-refleXion' and 'in(design)' to further the questions surrounding the posthuman as advanced by theorists such as Hansen, Stiegler and Ziarek's 'force' of art. Reviews: "A novel and persuasive analysis. Bringing together a range of theoretical positions with discussions of visual arts and culture, this book juxtaposes art and design in order to argue the importance of the idea of 'avant-garde without authority' in contemporary art education. Brilliant discussions of art - from post-Situationism to Viola, Jaar, and Wodiczko - highlight the ways in which such avant-garde without authority expands freedom and nonpower by 'ruining representation.''' - Krzysztof Ziarek, Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of Graduate Studies, University at Buffalo, SUNY "This book is an important intervention and exploration of art and its education in our current socio-cultural, political, and economic contexts. It is an insightful and valuable resource for students, teachers, and researchers in the field. jagodzinski draws extensively upon an impressive breadth and depth of theory and art practice in order to make and consolidate his thesis concerning art and education in an era of designer capitalism." - Dennis Atkinson, Director of the Research Center for the Arts and Learning, Goldsmiths, University of London About the Author: jan jagodzinski is a professor of Visual and Media Education in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta, where he teaches visual art and media education and curricular issues as they relate to postmodern concerns of gender politics, cultural studies, and media (film and television). He is a founding member of the Caucus on Social Theory in Art Education (NAEA); past editor of The Journal of Social Theory in Art Education (JSTE); past president of SIG Media, Culture, and Curriculum; and co-series editor with Mark Bracher of the book series, Pedagogy, Psychoanalysis, Transformation . Other works include Television and Youth Culture: Televised Paranoia , (Palgrave, 2008) and Arts Based Research: A Critique and Proposal (forthcoming). |