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Art and Objects

Art and Objects Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2021, vol. 21, no. 1, 152–157 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2021.1934782 BOOK REVIEW Art and Objects, by Graham Harman, Oxford: Polity Press United Kingdom, 2019, 240 pages, AUD$36.95, paperback, AUD$113.95, hardback. The American philosopher Graham Harman is one of the more lucid writers asso- ciated with the ‘material turn’ in humanities scholarship over the last twenty years. Identified with Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and Speculative Realism— distant cousins of the likes of New Materialism, Thing Theory and New Realism—Harman is part of a broader movement of theorists who, in the words of Steven Shaviro, are interested in how ‘things are active and interactive far beyond any measure of their presence to us’. While their common ground is much disputed, if there is such a thing as ‘theorists of the material turn’ the de- privileging of human-world relations is key; they advocate not critical modes of debunking, to discover ‘where subjectivity begins and ends’, but more speculative inquiries into non-human agency and the nature of things independent of thought. Like the French sociologist Bruno Latour (whose 2005 slogan ‘Back to Things!’ anticipated this ontological flattening of subjects and objects, turning all into actors), Harman thinks that art plays http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art Taylor & Francis

Art and Objects

Hill, Wes
Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art , Volume 21 (1): 6 – Jan 2, 2021
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Art and Objects

Abstract

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2021, vol. 21, no. 1, 152–157 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2021.1934782 BOOK REVIEW Art and Objects, by Graham Harman, Oxford: Polity Press United Kingdom, 2019, 240 pages, AUD$36.95, paperback, AUD$113.95, hardback. The American philosopher Graham Harman is one of the more lucid writers asso- ciated with the ‘material turn’ in humanities scholarship over the last twenty years. Identified with Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and...
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Publisher
Taylor & Francis
Copyright
© 2021 Wes Hill
ISSN
2203-1871
eISSN
1443-4318
DOI
10.1080/14434318.2021.1934782
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2021, vol. 21, no. 1, 152–157 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2021.1934782 BOOK REVIEW Art and Objects, by Graham Harman, Oxford: Polity Press United Kingdom, 2019, 240 pages, AUD$36.95, paperback, AUD$113.95, hardback. The American philosopher Graham Harman is one of the more lucid writers asso- ciated with the ‘material turn’ in humanities scholarship over the last twenty years. Identified with Object-Oriented Ontology (OOO) and Speculative Realism— distant cousins of the likes of New Materialism, Thing Theory and New Realism—Harman is part of a broader movement of theorists who, in the words of Steven Shaviro, are interested in how ‘things are active and interactive far beyond any measure of their presence to us’. While their common ground is much disputed, if there is such a thing as ‘theorists of the material turn’ the de- privileging of human-world relations is key; they advocate not critical modes of debunking, to discover ‘where subjectivity begins and ends’, but more speculative inquiries into non-human agency and the nature of things independent of thought. Like the French sociologist Bruno Latour (whose 2005 slogan ‘Back to Things!’ anticipated this ontological flattening of subjects and objects, turning all into actors), Harman thinks that art plays

Journal

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art – Taylor & Francis

Published: Jan 2, 2021

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