The Aesthetic Animal

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The Aesthetic Animal

Author : Henrik Hogh-Olesen
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190927933
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis The Aesthetic Animal by : Henrik Hogh-Olesen

Download or read book The Aesthetic Animal written by Henrik Hogh-Olesen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2018-08-17 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Aesthetic Animal answers the ultimate questions of why we adorn ourselves, embellish our things and surroundings, and produce art, music, song dance, and fiction. Humans are aesthetic animals that spend vast amounts of time and resources on seemingly useless aesthetic activities. However, nature would not allow a species to waste precious time and effort on activities completely unrelated to survival, reproduction, and the well-being of that species. Consequently, the aesthetic impulse must have some important biological functions. A number of observations indicate that the aesthetic impulse is an inherent part of human nature, and therefore a primary impulse in its own right with several important functions: The aesthetic impulse may guide us toward what is biologically good for us, and help us choose the right fitness enhancing items in our surroundings. It is a valid individual fitness indicator as well as a unifying social group marker, and aesthetically skilled individuals get more mating possibilities, higher status and more collaborative offers. The book is written in a lively and entertaining tone, with beautiful color illustrations. It covers a wide field of aesthetic behaviors from cave art, graffiti, tattoos, and piercings over fashion, design, music, song, and dance. It presents an original and comprehensive synthesis of the empirical field, synthesizing data from archeology, cave art, anthropology, biology, ethology, behavioral- and evolutionary psychology and neuro-aesthetics. It is a must-read for people interested in biology, psychology, anthropology, architecture, design, fashion, body culture, art, and the evolution of aesthetics.

Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal

Author : Caleb J. Basnett
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1487541449
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (875 download)

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Book Synopsis Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal by : Caleb J. Basnett

Download or read book Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal written by Caleb J. Basnett and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconstructing the philosophy of T.W. Adorno, this book offers a critical theory of the human/animal distinction and its relation to politics.

Thinking Animals

Author : Kari Weil
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231148097
Total Pages : 218 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (311 download)

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Book Synopsis Thinking Animals by : Kari Weil

Download or read book Thinking Animals written by Kari Weil and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2012 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kari Weil provides a critical introduction to the field of animal studies as well as an appreciation of its thrilling acts of destabilization. Examining real and imagined confrontations between human and nonhuman animals, she charts the presumed lines of difference between human beings and other species and the personal, ethical, and political implications of those boundaries. Weil's considerations recast the work of such authors as Kafka, Mann, Woolf, and Coetzee, and such philosophers as Nietzsche, Heidegger, Derrida, Deleuze, Agamben, Cixous, and Hearne, while incorporating the aesthetic perspectives of such visual artists as Bill Viola, Frank Noelker, and Sam Taylor-Wood and the "visual thinking" of the autistic animal scientist Temple Grandin. She addresses theories of pet keeping and domestication; the importance of animal agency; the intersection of animal studies, disability studies, and ethics; and the role of gender, shame, love, and grief in shaping our attitudes toward animals. Exposing humanism's conception of the human as a biased illusion, and embracing posthumanism's acceptance of human and animal entanglement, Weil unseats the comfortable assumptions of humanist thought and its species-specific distinctions.

Artist Animal

Author : Steve Baker
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
ISBN 13 : 1452934843
Total Pages : 326 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (529 download)

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Book Synopsis Artist Animal by : Steve Baker

Download or read book Artist Animal written by Steve Baker and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2013-02-27 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Animals have always been compelling subjects for artists, but the rise of animal advocacy and posthumanist thought has prompted a reconsideration of the relationship between artist and animal. In this book, Steve Baker examines the work of contemporary artists who directly confront questions of animal life, treating animals not for their aesthetic qualities or as symbols of the human condition but rather as beings who actively share the world with humanity. The concerns of the artists presented in this book—Sue Coe, Eduardo Kac, Lucy Kimbell, Catherine Chalmers, Olly and Suzi, Angela Singer, Catherine Bell, and others—range widely, from the ecological to the philosophical and from those engaging with the modification of animal bodies to those seeking to further the cause of animal rights. Drawing on extensive interviews he conducted with the artists under consideration, Baker explores the vital contribution that contemporary art can make to a broader conception of animal life, emphasizing the importance of creativity and trust in both the making and understanding of these artworks. Throughout, Baker is attentive to issues of practice, form, and medium. He asks, for example, whether the animal itself could be said to be the medium in which these artists are working, and he highlights the tensions between creative practice and certain kinds of ethical demands or expectations. Featuring full-color, vivid examples of their work, Artist Animal situates contemporary artists within the wider project of thinking beyond the human, asserting art’s power to open up new ways of thinking about animals.

The Evolution of Beauty

Author : Richard O. Prum
Publisher : Anchor
ISBN 13 : 0385537220
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

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Book Synopsis The Evolution of Beauty by : Richard O. Prum

Download or read book The Evolution of Beauty written by Richard O. Prum and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2017-05-09 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, SMITHSONIAN, AND WALL STREET JOURNAL A major reimagining of how evolutionary forces work, revealing how mating preferences—what Darwin termed "the taste for the beautiful"—create the extraordinary range of ornament in the animal world. In the great halls of science, dogma holds that Darwin's theory of natural selection explains every branch on the tree of life: which species thrive, which wither away to extinction, and what features each evolves. But can adaptation by natural selection really account for everything we see in nature? Yale University ornithologist Richard Prum—reviving Darwin's own views—thinks not. Deep in tropical jungles around the world are birds with a dizzying array of appearances and mating displays: Club-winged Manakins who sing with their wings, Great Argus Pheasants who dazzle prospective mates with a four-foot-wide cone of feathers covered in golden 3D spheres, Red-capped Manakins who moonwalk. In thirty years of fieldwork, Prum has seen numerous display traits that seem disconnected from, if not outright contrary to, selection for individual survival. To explain this, he dusts off Darwin's long-neglected theory of sexual selection in which the act of choosing a mate for purely aesthetic reasons—for the mere pleasure of it—is an independent engine of evolutionary change. Mate choice can drive ornamental traits from the constraints of adaptive evolution, allowing them to grow ever more elaborate. It also sets the stakes for sexual conflict, in which the sexual autonomy of the female evolves in response to male sexual control. Most crucially, this framework provides important insights into the evolution of human sexuality, particularly the ways in which female preferences have changed male bodies, and even maleness itself, through evolutionary time. The Evolution of Beauty presents a unique scientific vision for how nature's splendor contributes to a more complete understanding of evolution and of ourselves.

Behold an Animal

Author : Thangam Ravindranathan
Publisher : Northwestern University Press
ISBN 13 : 081014073X
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (11 download)

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Book Synopsis Behold an Animal by : Thangam Ravindranathan

Download or read book Behold an Animal written by Thangam Ravindranathan and published by Northwestern University Press. This book was released on 2020-01-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As animals recede from our world, what tale is being told by literature’s creatures? Behold an Animal: Four Exorbitant Readings examines incongruous animals in the works of four major contemporary French writers: an airborne horse in a novel by Jean-Philippe Toussaint, extinct orangutans in Éric Chevillard, stray dogs in Marie NDiaye, vanishing (bits of) hedgehogs in Marie Darrieussecq. Resisting naturalist assumptions that an animal in a story is simply—literally or metaphorically—an animal, Thangam Ravindranathan understands it rather as the location of something missing. The animal is a lure: an unfinished figure fleeing the frame, crossing bounds of period, genre, even medium and language. Its flight traces an exorbitant (self-)portrait in which thinking admits to its commerce with life and flesh. It is in its animals, at the same time unbearably real and exquisitely unreal, that literature may today be closest to philosophy. This book’s primary focus is the contemporary French novel and continental philosophy. In addition to Toussaint, Chevillard, NDiaye, and Darrieussecq, it engages the work of Jean de La Fontaine, Eadweard Muybridge, Edgar Allan Poe, Lewis Carroll, Samuel Beckett, and Francis Ponge.

Displaying Death and Animating Life

Author : Jane C. Desmond
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 022637551X
Total Pages : 344 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (263 download)

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Book Synopsis Displaying Death and Animating Life by : Jane C. Desmond

Download or read book Displaying Death and Animating Life written by Jane C. Desmond and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-08-18 with total page 344 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The number of ways in which humans interact with animals is almost incalculable. From beloved household pets to the steak on our dinner tables, the fur in our closets to the Babar books on our shelves, taxidermy exhibits to local zoos, humans have complex, deep, and dependent relationships with the animals in our ecosystems. In Displaying Death and Animating Life, Jane C. Desmond puts those human-animal relationships under a multidisciplinary lens, focusing on the less obvious, and revealing the individualities and subjectivities of the real animals in our everyday lives. Desmond, a pioneer in the field of animal studies, builds the book on a number of case studies. She conducts research on-site at major museums, taxidermy conventions, pet cemeteries, and even at a professional conference for writers of obituaries. She goes behind the scenes at zoos, wildlife clinics, and meetings of pet cemetery professionals. We journey with her as she meets Kanzi, the bonobo artist, and a host of other animal-artists—all of whom are preparing their artwork for auction. Throughout, Desmond moves from a consideration of the visual display of unindividuated animals, to mourning for known animals, and finally to the marketing of artwork by individual animals. The first book in the new Animal Lives series, Displaying Death and Animating Life is a landmark study, bridging disciplines and reaching across divisions from the humanities and social sciences to chart new territories of investigation.

Speculative Taxidermy

Author : Giovanni Aloi
Publisher : Columbia University Press
ISBN 13 : 0231543212
Total Pages : 358 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (315 download)

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Book Synopsis Speculative Taxidermy by : Giovanni Aloi

Download or read book Speculative Taxidermy written by Giovanni Aloi and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2018-01-23 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Taxidermy, once the province of natural history and dedicated to the pursuit of lifelike realism, has recently resurfaced in the world of contemporary art, culture, and interior design. In Speculative Taxidermy, Giovanni Aloi offers a comprehensive mapping of the discourses and practices that have enabled the emergence of taxidermy in contemporary art. Drawing on the speculative turn in philosophy and recovering past alternative histories of art and materiality from a biopolitical perspective, Aloi theorizes speculative taxidermy: a powerful interface that unlocks new ethical and political opportunities in human-animal relationships and speaks to how animal representation conveys the urgency of addressing climate change, capitalist exploitation, and mass extinction. A resolutely nonanthropocentric take on the materiality of one of the most controversial mediums in art, this approach relentlessly questions past and present ideas of human separation from the animal kingdom. It situates taxidermy as a powerful interface between humans and animals, rooted in a shared ontological and physical vulnerability. Carefully considering a select number of key examples including the work of Nandipha Mntambo, Maria Papadimitriou, Mark Dion, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Roni Horn, Oleg Kulik, Steve Bishop, Snæbjörnsdóttir/Wilson, and Cole Swanson, Speculative Taxidermy contextualizes the resilient presence of animal skin in the gallery space as a productive opportunity to rethink ethical and political stances in human-animal relationships.

Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal

Author : Caleb J. Basnett
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
ISBN 13 : 1487541465
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (875 download)

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Book Synopsis Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal by : Caleb J. Basnett

Download or read book Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal written by Caleb J. Basnett and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2021-07-30 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Built upon the principle that divides and elevates humans above other animals, humanism is the cornerstone of a worldview that sanctifies inequality and threatens all animal life. Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal analyses this state of affairs and suggests an alternative – a way for humanity to make itself into a new kind of animal. Theodor W. Adorno has been accused of leading critical theory into a blind alley, divorced from practical social and political concerns. In Adorno, Politics, and the Aesthetic Animal, Caleb J. Basnett argues that by placing the problem of the human/animal distinction at the centre of Adorno’s thought, we discover a new Adorno, one whose critique of domination is in dialogue with classic concerns of political thought forged by Aristotle, including questions of humanist political education and the role of art. Through a close reading of primary sources, Basnett identifies the principal conceptual structure entwined with the understanding of human life as antagonistic to other animals, and outlines how forms of aesthetic experience disrupt this problematic concept in favour of a reconceptualization of what we call human. His analysis displaces the centrality of the human and attempts to open up a space for its transformation, both in terms of how humans relate to each other and in how humans relate to other animals.

Animal Anatomy for Artists

Author : Eliot Goldfinger
Publisher : OUP USA
ISBN 13 : 0195142144
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (951 download)

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Book Synopsis Animal Anatomy for Artists by : Eliot Goldfinger

Download or read book Animal Anatomy for Artists written by Eliot Goldfinger and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2004-03-11 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From horses and cats to elephants and giraffes, this is the definitive reference on animal anatomy for painters, sculptors, and illustrators. 104 halftones, 281 line drawings, 100 photos.

Animal Architecture

Author : Ingo Arndt
Publisher : Harry N. Abrams
ISBN 13 : 9781419711657
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (116 download)

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Book Synopsis Animal Architecture by : Ingo Arndt

Download or read book Animal Architecture written by Ingo Arndt and published by Harry N. Abrams. This book was released on 2014-04-22 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Collects photographs of structures created by animals, from the six-foot-high hills of tiny red ants to the colorfully decorated courtship arenas of the bowerbird, showcasing the connections between human and animal architecture.

Animal Musicalities

Author : Rachel Mundy
Publisher : Wesleyan University Press
ISBN 13 : 0819578088
Total Pages : 281 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (195 download)

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Book Synopsis Animal Musicalities by : Rachel Mundy

Download or read book Animal Musicalities written by Rachel Mundy and published by Wesleyan University Press. This book was released on 2018-06-05 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Over the past century and a half, the voices and bodies of animals have been used by scientists and music experts as a benchmark for measures of natural difference. Animal Musicalities traces music's taxonomies from Darwin to digital bird guides to show how animal song has become the starting point for enduring evaluations of species, races, and cultures. By examining the influential efforts made by a small group of men and women to define human diversity in relation to animal voices, this book raises profound questions about the creation of modern human identity, and the foundations of modern humanism.

The Biology of Art

Author : Richard A. Richards
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1108575188
Total Pages : 137 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (85 download)

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Book Synopsis The Biology of Art by : Richard A. Richards

Download or read book The Biology of Art written by Richard A. Richards and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-23 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biological accounts of art typically start with evolutionary, psychological or neurobiological theories. These approaches might be able to explain many of the similarities we see in art behaviors within and across human populations, but they don't obviously explain the differences we also see. Nor do they give us guidance on how we should engage with art, or the conceptual basis for art. A more comprehensive framework, based also on the ecology of art and how art behaviors get expressed in engineered niches, can help us better understand the full range of art behaviors, their normativity and conceptual basis.

Animal Power

Author : Alyson Charles
Publisher : Chronicle Books
ISBN 13 : 179720954X
Total Pages : 307 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (972 download)

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Book Synopsis Animal Power by : Alyson Charles

Download or read book Animal Power written by Alyson Charles and published by Chronicle Books. This book was released on 2021-03-01 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Brimming with vibrant illustrations, transformative practices, and captivating stories from around the world, Animal Power is an enlightening guide to the power of the animal realm. In this luxe compendium, get ready to discover rituals, meditations, and visualizations to connect with 100 remarkable animals. Learn how to connect with the animal power of the bear for comfort and protection, the leopard for confidence, the seal for healthy relationships, and the peacock for creative inspiration, and many others. The practices are paired with illuminating stories from spiritual teachers around the world, plus sidebars with fascinating details on ancient traditions, global mythology, and scientific trivia. Delivered in an enchanting package overflowing with insight and magic, Animal Power is a celebration of the natural world and an inspiring companion for modern mystics, nature and animal lovers, and the spiritually curious. BEAUTIFUL TO GIFT AND DISPLAY: Luxe and eye-catching, this statement package features 100 full-page illustrations and shimmery accents on the case, making it a gorgeous décor object and a beautiful gift for modern mystics, meditators, animal and nature lovers, and the spiritually curious. FUN ACTIVITY: Animal Power offers endless opportunities for interaction and discovery. Users can pick an animal that is resonating with them each day, flip to a random page for inspiration in the morning, or engage with the fun-to-read content during a gathering with a group of friends. ACCESSIBLE TECHQNIUES FOR EVERYDAY LIFE: This book presents spiritual guidance, meditation techniques, and transformative practices in accessible, easy-to-follow entries. People interested in self-care, mindfulness, and personal transformation will enjoy the short practices that can easily be incorporated into everyday life. AUTHORITATIVE AUTHOR: Alyson Charles is a shaman and mystic who has studied with spiritual leaders throughout the world. In this book, she shares her deep knowledge and respect for mystical traditions, providing essential context, scientific facts, and global information on humans' relationship with sacred animals, along with illuminating testimonials from shamanic teachers and practitioners around the world. Perfect for: Modern mystics, Tarot and crystal enthusiasts, Meditators, Yogis, Animal lovers, Nature enthusiasts

Poetic Animals and Animal Souls

Author : R. Malamud
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 1137063491
Total Pages : 207 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (37 download)

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Book Synopsis Poetic Animals and Animal Souls by : R. Malamud

Download or read book Poetic Animals and Animal Souls written by R. Malamud and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-30 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a new paradigm for reading and appreciating animals in literature and addresses how human culture views animals in poetry. Part one sets up a theoretical overview and posits some aesthetic and ethical ideals for transposing animals into art, while part two presents a more focused practical application of these ideals in one strain of animal poetry (as seen in the works of Marianne Moore, José Emilio Pacheco, Gary Snyder, Pattiann Rogers and others). The poetry analyzed in the book is respectfully and non-invasively insightful into animals; it is tinged with a distancing, and a kind of spiritual awe, regarding their existence.

The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness

Author : Joshua Paul Dale
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317331303
Total Pages : 486 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness by : Joshua Paul Dale

Download or read book The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness written by Joshua Paul Dale and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-08 with total page 486 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cuteness is one of the most culturally pervasive aesthetics of the new millennium and its rapid social proliferation suggests that the affective responses it provokes find particular purchase in a contemporary era marked by intensive media saturation and spreading economic precarity. Rejecting superficial assessments that would deem the ever-expanding plethora of cute texts trivial, The Aesthetics and Affects of Cuteness directs serious scholarly attention from a variety of academic disciplines to this ubiquitous phenomenon. The sheer plasticity of this minor aesthetic is vividly on display in this collection which draws together analyses from around the world examining cuteness’s fundamental role in cultural expressions stemming from such diverse sources as military cultures, high-end contemporary art worlds, and animal shelters. Pushing beyond prevailing understandings that associate cuteness solely with childhood or which posit an interpolated parental bond as its primary affective attachment, the essays in this collection variously draw connections between cuteness and the social, political, economic, and technological conditions of the early twenty-first century and in doing so generate fresh understandings of the central role cuteness plays in the recalibration of contemporary subjectivities.

Moonlight Animals

Author : Elizabeth Golding
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781906726843
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis Moonlight Animals by : Elizabeth Golding

Download or read book Moonlight Animals written by Elizabeth Golding and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Do you know what happens in the forest after dark? Now, you can with a touch of the magic flashlight that reveals hidden creatures! Each spread appears to be dark, but once the flashlight is pointed, brilliant wildlife illustrations magically illuminate.