OCAD U Library 2017 Fall: Collections

"Ye Haiyan (a.k.a Hooligan Sparrow) is labeled a troublemaker by the Chinese government – someone who embarrasses the state with, for example, public protests involving the civil rights of sex workers. In this tense documentary, she travels to Hainan Province to protest a case in which the sexual mistreatment of elementary-age school girls by their principal has gone unprosecuted. As slow as the totalitarian regime may be to punish state officals, it's much quicker to intimidate, harass, and threaten with prison those who question it. Will Sparrow survive her latest battle? And will equally fearless filmmaker Nanfu Wang also disappear into the mouth of the dragon?" -- From the distributor

"Meet the artists who are redefining the tradition of knit and crochet, bringing yarn out of the house and into the world. Reinventing our relationship with this colorful tradition, Yarn weaves together wool graffiti artists, circus performers, and structural designers into a visually-striking look at the women who are making a creative stance while building one of modern art's hottest trends." -- From the distributor

"When their home is sold to real-estate developers, the magicians, acrobats, and puppeteers of Delhi’s Kathputli Colony must find a way to unite – or splinter apart forever. Tomorrow We Disappear follows three of Kathputli’s most talented performers as they wrangle with the reality of their approaching eviction: puppeteer Puran Bhatt, magician Rahman Shah, and acrobat Maya Pawar. The lm chronicles a turning point in the lives of these performers, with the hopes of anticipating what’s to come in India’s future and preserving what is being left behind." -- From the distributor.

"In 2016, the Noordbrabants Museum in the Dutch city of Den Bosch held a special exhibition devoted to the work of Hieronymus Bosch, who died 500 years ago. This late-medieval artist lived his entire life in the city, causing uproar with his fantastical and utterly unique paintings in which hell and the devil always played a prominent role. In preparation for the exhibition, a team of Dutch art historians crisscrosses the globe to unravel the secrets of his art. They use special infrared cameras to examine the sketches beneath the paint, in the hope of discovering more about the artist's intentions. They also attempt to establish which of the paintings can be attributed with certainty to Bosch himself, and which to his pupils or followers. The experts shuttle between Den Bosch, Madrid and Venice, cutting their way through the art world's tangle of red tape, in a battle against the obstacle of countless egos and conflicting interests. Not every museum is prepared to allow access to their precious art works." -- From the distributor.

"Featuring unprecedented access to an influential and multi-faceted institution, The Great Museum reveals the inner-workings of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum, one of the most important art institutions in the world. Widely known as the art palace that houses paintings by Rembrandt, Diego Velasquez, Pieter Brueghel, Peter Paul Rubens and Caravaggio, among many other canonical works, the museum also features a remarkable and magnetic group of dedicated employees. As the camera follows the spacious rooms hosting some of the world's most valuable art works, director Johannes Holzhausen reveals a dynamic, reflective and fast-moving institution that's both adapting to the marketing and funding realities of the 21st-century while remaining faithful to its core mission." -- From the distributor.

"This acclaimed and thought-provoking documentary provides a rare and illuminating exploration of the creative process through incisive portraits of five seminal figures from a significant chapter in contemporary American folk art. Variously described as outsiders, naive, or visionary, the artists profiled, all from the American South, produce remarkable creations that challenge distinctions between "fine" and "folk" art." -- From the distributor.

"How do artists and scholars imagine Africa's futures? What forms and narratives have African artists developed to address these futures? Who generates knowledge about Africa? And, what are the different languages we use to speak about Africa's political, technological and cultural tomorrows? This book gathers the creative speculations of leading African and diasporic artists, writers and thinkers." -- Back cover.

"Is democracy spatial? How are the physical aspects of our cities, houses, streets, and public spaces―the borders, the neighborhoods, the monuments―bearers of our values? In a world of intensifying geo-economic integration, extreme financial and geopolitical volatility, deepening environmental crises, and a dramatic new wave of popular protest against both authoritarian government and capitalist speculation, cities have become leading sites for new claims on state power and new formations of political subjectivity. This volume brings together perspectives from history, sociology, art, political theory, planning, law, and design practice to explore the urban spaces of the political. A selection of contemporary photography from around the world offers a visual reflection of this timely investigation." -- From the publisher.

"Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane, The Thin White Duke: David Bowie had an extraordinary talent for reinvention. But at the beginning of his career, he made the most significant transformation of his life: from “David” to Bowie. In 1969, shortly after the release of his first hit single, David and his girlfriend Angie move into Haddon Hall, a sprawling Victorian villa in the London suburbs. Part commune, part creative hub, the house becomes home to a community of musicians, hippies, and hangers-on. As egos clash and parties get out of hand, David keeps writing: “Changes,” “Kooks,” “Life on Mars”—songs that will propel him to global fame. Charting Bowie’s personal life, the development of his music, and the transformation of his image, Haddon Hall is an evocative portrait of a young artist presiding over a musical revolution." -- From the publisher.

"This book is the first in English to explore the essential role that Henri Matisse's personal collection of objects played in his studio practice. The artist traveled with his collection even to temporary residences, and letters to family members often included requests for objects to be moved to where he was working, revealing them to be critical creative stimulants. Featured frequently in the modern master's bold paintings, drawings and cutouts, and influencing the development of his work in sculpture, Matisse's objects formed a secret history hiding in plain sight." -- From the publisher.

"Renowned as both choreographer and dancer, Merce Cunningham also revolutionized dance through his partnerships with the many artists who created costumes, lighting, films and videos, and décor and sound for his choreographic works. Cunningham, together with partner John Cage, invited those artists to help him rethink what dance could mean, both on the stage and in site-responsive contexts... These collaborations bring to the fore Cunningham's direct impact upon postwar artistic practice. This volume reconsiders the choreographer and his collaborators as an extraordinarily generative interdisciplinary network that preceded and predicted dramatic shifts in performance, including the development of site-specific dance, the use of technology as a choreographic tool, and the radical separation of sound and movement in dance." -- Provided by publisher.

"Renowned media scholar Sherry Turkle investigates how a flight from conversation undermines our relationships, creativity, and productivity—and why reclaiming face-to-face conversation can help us regain lost ground... Based on five years of research and interviews in homes, schools, and the workplace, Turkle argues that we have come to a better understanding of where our technology can and cannot take us and that the time is right to reclaim conversation. The most human—and humanizing—thing that we do. The virtues of person-to-person conversation are timeless, and our most basic technology, talk, responds to our modern challenges. We have everything we need to start, we have each other." -- From the publisher.

"Product design criticism operates at the very brink of the landfill site, salvaging some products with praise but consigning others to its depths through condemnation or indifference. When a designed product's usefulness is past, the public happily discards it to make room for the next new thing. Criticism rarely deals with how a product might be used, or not used, over time; it is more likely to play the enabler, encouraging our addiction to consumption. With Sifting the Trash, Alice Twemlow offers an especially timely reexamination of the history of product design criticism through the metaphors and actualities of the product as imminent junk and the consumer as junkie. Through the years, Twemlow shows, critics either sifted the trash and assigned value or attempted to detect, diagnose, and treat the sickness of a consumer society." -- From the publisher.

"We are on the cusp of a revolution, where the intersection of technology, the human body and everyday objects will become completely seamless. Smart textiles are a key part of this revolution. Smart Textiles for Designers introduces the different qualities and properties that can be embedded in, integrated with, and applied to fabrics and looks at the different contexts in which these smart textiles can be used, from healthcare to haute couture, firefighting to sportswear. A survey of specific fabrics grouped by properties provides a core reference section and a palette for the designer to work from. The book also examines five different design approaches and features interviews with leading designers and design teams, showing their processes and working methods." -- From the publisher.

"World of Malls explores a type of building that was invented in the United States nearly 60 years ago and quickly spread throughout the world. Because of urban planning’s increasing orientation toward the automobile, the mall became a substitute for lost urbanism. But what direction is the development of the shopping mall taking today? On the one hand, there continue to be spectacular new openings in America, Asia, the United Arab Emirates and Europe. At the same time, however, many malls are empty, and some are being converted and repurposed. There is hardly any other building typology that is currently being discussed with such controversy: does the shopping mall mean the death of the city, or does it stimulate its revitalization?" -- From the publisher.

"Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms are filled with a multiplicity of lights that reflect endlessly, projecting the illusion of infinite space. Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors traces these installations over five decades, revealing the ways in which they developed from a strategy of "self-obliteration" and political liberation during the Vietnam War to a means of social harmony in the present. By examining her early unsettling installations alongside her more recent ethereal atmospheres, this volume aims to historicize her pioneering work amidst today's renewed interest in experiential practices" -- Page 4 of cover.