Martina Weinhart – författare

THE ART OF PLASTIC Plastic is everywhere. It permeates our everyday lives, is inexpensive and available worldwide. Thanks to their literally astonishing plasticity, plastics soon began to fascinate artists as well - both as a symptom and a symbol of mass culture. In the brief history of the "Plastic Age" the versatile substance transformed though: from the epitome of progress, utopian spirit, and democratization of consumerism into a threat. Plastic World offers a broad panorama of the artistic use of plastic and a position towards a matter that matters to us all. Through more than 100 objects, assemblages, installations, environments and films by some 50 international artists, this catalogue explores a spectrum ranging from the euphoria of pop culture in the 1960s and the futuristic influence of the space age, to the "trash" works of Nouveau Realisme and the ecocritical positions of today. FEATURED ARTISTS: Monira Al Qadiri, Archigram, Arman, Lynda Benglis, Cesar, Christo, Oyvind Fahlstrom, Eva Hesse, Hans Hollein, Craig Kauffman, Kiki Kogelnik, Gino Marotta, James Rosenquist, Pascale Marthine Tayou and Pinar Yolda.

The early decades of the 20th century were marked by artistic, economic, and social transformation in Canada and around the world. Starting in Toronto, a group of young modern artists, including Tom Thomson, Lawren S. Harris, or Emily Carr in British Columbia, desired to create a new painting vocabulary for the young nation coming into its own cultural identity. They turned away from city life and explored Canada’s landscape, painting sublime vistas, monumental rivers, ancient forests around the great lakes, the mighty Rocky Mountains, and the arctic tundra, determined to break away from European stylistic traditions Together, their paintings imagined a mythical Canada, expansive and rugged, that added to their country’s growing sense of national pride. Featuring paintings, sketches, photographs, film stills, and documentary material, this catalogue examines the language of Canadian modernism. It also includes essays and interviews that offer contemporary indigenous perspectives on the impact of industry on nature, issues surrounding national identity, and modern Canadian landscape painting. This generously illustrated book critically reviews Canada’s modernism in art history.