Jan, 26

posted by Joe Hannan

The Winter 2009 issue of Art Journal, CAAs quarterly of cutting-edge art and ideas, has just been published. It has been mailed to those CAA members who elect to receive it and to all institutional members.

In a Forum called The Shape of Time, Then and Now, five authors explore the contemporary relevance of George Kublers 1962 book, The Shape of Time. As Judith Rodenbeck, the editor-in-chief of Art Journal, writes, the book took up set theory to help think about traditional art-historical devices of temporal framing: style, influence, reference, oeuvre, and so on. An outline of key concepts in Kublers book and important bibliographic references appear in Reva Wolfs introduction. Next, Mary Miller gives a fibrous (to use Kublers words) account of Kublers project, and Shelley Rice details the importance of his ideas for critics in the 1960s, in particular Lawrence Alloway, her mentor. Two artists also contribute: Ellen K. Levy reviews Kublerian entwining of scientific and artistic discourses, while Suzanne Anker considers contemporary possibilities for his concept of the prime object.

The Winter issue also includes Time Drills, a related artists project by the collective Spurse, and features two essays on quite contemporary artQadri Ismails Bound Together: On a Book of Antiwar Sri Lankan Drawing and Nissim Gals Bare Life: The Refugee in Contemporary Israeli Art and Critical Discourse.

Photography is the focus of the Reviews section. Stephanie Schwartz evaluates Words without Pictures, a recent collection of essays by artists and theorists, published in book form and online, and Jason Weems reviews a trio of books: On Alexander Garndners Photographic Sketch Book of the Civil War, Lynching Photographs, and Weegee and Naked City.

The Winter 2009 issues sees the end of Rodenbeck three-year term as editor-in-chief. She handed the journals reigns the new editor, Katy Siegel, in July 2009. Siegels first issue, a combined SpringSummer issue, will appear in early May.