The Visual Culture Reader - Softcover

Visual culture is concerned with visual events in which information, meaning or pleasure is sought by the consumer in the encounter with visual artefacts, from oil paintings to the internet. The diverse essays collected here constitute a comprehensive exploration of the emerging interdisciplinary field of visual culture, and examine why modern and postmodern culture place such a premium on rendering experience in visual form.

The Visual Cultural Reader has arisen out of the recognition of the wealth of visual experience in contemporary culture and the need to analyse these experiences. The diverse essays collected here constitute a comprehensive exploration of the emerging interdisciplinary field of visual culture, and examine why modern and postmodern culture place such a premium on rendering experience in visual form. Covering a wealth of different visual forms including photography, painting, sculpture, advertising, virtual reality and other electronic imaging systems, the contributors here are grouped into sections addressing specific themes, each with an introduction by the editor. The opening section traces the pioneering work in visual culture of the last 15 years. Other sections deal with visual culture in relation to everyday life -its intersection with commerce, law, education, technology and war in shaping our uneasy sense of a rapidly-changing culture -the development of virtual reality and its effect on the relationship between the human body and space -the representation of race in the postcolonial age -and the recent re-evaluation of the gaze in relation to gender and sexuality. Contributors: Malek Alloula, Oriana Baddeley, Ann Balsamo, Roland Barthes, Geoffrey Batchen, Suzanne Preston Blier, Susan Bordo, Sandra Buckley, Judith Butler, Anthea Callen, Nestor Garcia Canclin