Counter-Texts
Language in Contemporary Art
Kim DhillonA much-needed critical re-assessment of language in contemporary art.
In Counter-Texts, Kim Dhillon provides a much-needed critical reassessment of written language in contemporary art. Considering the politics, aesthetics and ethics of language, Dhillon explores artworks that use inscribed language, with a particular focus on works that challenge dominant narratives or which reveal, in visual form, the varied systems of oppression contained within words. Featuring many artists from diverse backgrounds, ranging from artists such as Serena Lee, Abbas Akhavan and Joi T. Arcand to Glenn Ligon, Brian Jungen and Susan Hiller, Dhillon rewrites the understanding of text in contemporary visual art. Counter-Texts explores how and why visual artists use written language, and interrogates the power held in words.
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Counter-Texts is a necessary and compelling examination of how words and language can disrupt the status-quo and challenge power through dynamic artistic media. It’s a thorough look at altering public space and discourse through crucial diverse perspectives, particularly revolutionary anti-colonial artistic practices that educate and empower to create space for the voices that need to be heard.
'Waubgeshig Rice, author of Moon of the Crusted Snow
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Friedrich Nietzsche stated, 'What therefore is truth? A mobile army of metaphors, metonymies, anthropomorphisms . . .' Revisiting the taxonomy of language in its written form in the context of visual art, Counter-Texts challenges the existing authorial dominant power structures through which subjectivity, interpretation and meaning have been defined historically – namely through a lens embedded in an imperialist past. An important resource for scholars and artists, Kim Dhillon’s book asks questions that are timely about whose voice is given power to speak, and what can be collectively learned from histories that are spoken from below.
'Sutapa Biswas, artist
Kim Dhillon is an essayist, poet and art theorist who teaches critical theory and curating at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She lives on the unceded territory of the W̱SÁNEĆ people on Vancouver Island, Canada.