Celebrated landscape architect Gilles Clément may be best known for his public parks in Paris, including the Parc André Citroën and the garden of the Musée du Quai Branly, but he describes himself as a gardener. To care for and cultivate a plot of land, a capable gardener must observe in order to act and work with, rather than against, the natural ecosystem of the garden. In this sense, he suggests, we should think of the entire planet as a garden, and ourselves as its keepers, responsible for the care of its complexity and diversity of life. "The Planetary Garden" is an environmental manifesto that outlines Clément's interpretation of the laws that govern the natural world and the principles that should guide our stewardship of the global garden of Earth. These are among the tenets of a humanist ecology, which posits that the natural world and humankind cannot be understood as separate from one another. This philosophy forms a thread that is woven through the accompanying essays of this volume: "Life, Constantly Inventive: Reflections of a Humanist Ecologist" and "The Wisdom of the Gardener." Brought together and translated into English for the first time, these three texts make a powerful statement about the nature of the world and humanity's place within it.

Laclau: A Critical Reader is the first full-length critical appraisal of Laclau's work and includes contributions from several leading philosophers and theorists. The first section examines Laclau's theory that the contest between universalism and particularism provides much of the philosophical background to political and social struggle, taking up the important place accorded to, amongst others, Hegel and Lacan in Laclau's work. The second section of the book considers what Laclau's 'radical democracy' might look like and reflects on its ethical implications, particularly in relation to Laclau's post-Marxism and thinkers such as Jürgen Habermas. The final section investigates the place of hegemony in Laclau's work, the idea for which he is perhaps best-known. This stimulating collection also includes replies to his critics by Laclau and the important exchange between Laclau and Judith Butler on equality, making it an excellent companion to Laclau's work and essential reading for students of political and social theory.

Each second year, those interested in the fine arts from all over the world feel attracted to the “Biennale di Venezia”. Founded in 1895, it’s the best-known and oldest biennial followed only 50 years later by the Sao Paulo Biennial. In modern times the leading format for internationalization, the number of new foundations has once more rapidly increased in the course of globalization since the eigthies. Biennials are in fact the only exhibition format in which the impact of globalization expresses itself in terms of arts. There is, though, little published information on the biennials of Sao Paulo, Habana, Istanbul, Sidney, or New Delhi, to name but the oldest. To which tradition do biennials belong and what’s the importance of this format today? Which developments do they reflect, which ones do they initiate? Through the portraits of 22 selected biennials, the book seeks answers for these questions. Thanks to numerous illustrations and a list of the most important biennials founded, this book gives the first compact overview of this complex topic.

« The third edition of the Bienal de La Habana, which took place in 1989, extended the global territory of contemporary art and redegined the biennial model. This book examines the project in its historical and international contexts ... Making art global (part 2) will focus on the Paris exhibition 'Magiciens de la Terre' of 1989 » --

X93;Truth is concrete” collects 100 strategies by artists, activists and theorists, mapping the broad field of engaged art and artistic activism today. Additional essays focus on the philosophy, structures and modalities behind the many fights to make this world a better place.

A new political theory of art and artistic praxis. Leaping into current debates about the political efficacy of art, the essays in Conflictual Aesthetics critique the supposition that all art is inherently political. Opposed to the political art defended by art world functionaries that hides behind “simplistic complexity,” Oliver Marchart argues for a straightforwardly political theory of art and artistic praxis. At the intersection of art theory and radical politics, he proposes an aesthetics of agitating, propagating, and organizing, through which he problematizes and evaluates art in relation to activism or political propaganda, and addresses the radical potential of dance, theater, artistic re- and pre-enactments, public art, the curator, and the biennial.

Combines the heated debates between post-structuralist critics and defenders of democracy to create a new theory Are we living in post-democratic times - has democracy turned into an empty institutional shell? The upsurge of democratic revolutions and revolts in the West and the Arab world begs to differ. Does this mean there is a political alternative to existing democracy, or has it become impossible to step out of the 'democratic horizon'? Approaching these unfolding historical developments from the perspective of post-foundational democratic thought, Oliver Marchart creates a new model that reconciles both of these viewpoints.