Politik der Form

Not since the surrealists and high moderns have artists engaged writing as an art form, until now. Noted contemporary writer, poet and professor John Douglas Millars timely and significant examination of contemporary artist-produced literature proposes a framework for understanding current conceptual writing. Divided into two parts, Millar first focuses on conceptual writing as a critique of literary institutions, disembodied labor and high-capitalist digital production; and second, on the work of contemporary artists experimenting with writing. Engaging current debate on the place of artist-produced writings in the context of contemporary art, Millar covers a variety of subjects including conceptualism and romanticism, allegory, appropriation, dialectical images, conceptual writing and the digital in the work of Paul B. Preciado, Chris Kraus and Pierre Guyotat, among others. Charting the highs and lows of the conceptual turn in poetics and tracing avant-garde literary genealogies, Brutalist Readings explores radical histories of writing and its current potential.