Collage Culture - Examining the 21st century's identity crisis

96 pages
Edited by Mandy Kahn & Aaron Rose
23 x 16 cm 
Language: English
Softcover
Publisher: JRP Ringier
2011

The first decade of the 21st century seems to end under the sign of the collagist, for whom the creative act resides more in the operations of collection, copying and collage of the existing, than in the creation sui generis. Collage is no longer confined to the flat surface but is widely practiced in the fields of music, design, literature, architecture, blogging...

Collage Culture contains two essays on this trend, illustrated with artworks and enhanced by Brian Roettinger's typography. Mandy Kahn's text recounts the incursions of collage techniques into various fields, including music, via sampling and mash-up techniques, based on the idea that collage is emerging as an essential paradigm of the early 21st century. Aaron Rose's essay examines how the current "subcultural" aesthetic is the result of an amalgamation of various twentieth-century movements, incorporating visual elements from punk, new wave, beat and hippie movements, while maintaining each in a relationship of exteriority that neutralizes any political dimension. A sixteen-page full-color booklet features original artwork by Brian Roettinger, specially designed for the book.