Geopolitics and the Event
Rethinking Britain's Iraq War Through Art
RGS-IBG Book Series
1. Edition August 2019
240 Pages, Hardcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Short Description
Geopolitics and the Event: Rethinking Britain's Iraq War Through Art offers a reappraisal of one of the most contentious and consequential events of the early twenty-first century. Drawing on analysis of dozens of art works and exhibitions and on interdisciplinary literatures and debates, the book advances an original perspective on Britain's role in the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq and maps out new ways of thinking about geopolitics through art.
An original exploration of the 2003 Iraq war and geopolitics more broadly through the prism of art.
* Offers a reappraisal of one of the most contentious and consequential events of the early twenty-first century
* Advances an original perspective on Britain's role in the 2003 invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq
* Maps out new ways of thinking about geopolitical events through art
* Examines the work of artists, curators and activists in light of Britain's role as a colonial power in Iraq and the importance of oil
* Reflects on the significance, limits and dilemmas of art as a form of critical intervention
* Questions the implications of art in colonialism and modernity
Series Editor's Preface vii
Acknowledgements viii
1 Introduction 1
2 Thinking Geopolitics Through the Event 16
3 Artworks as Evental Assemblages 35
4 Geopolitics at the Museum 57
5 Iraq Beyond Iraq 89
6 Geopolitical Aesthetics of Oil 117
7 Photomontage as Geopolitical Form 140
8 Geopolitical Bodies 163
9 Conclusions 188
References 196
Index 216
Hassan Abdulrazzak, Iraqi-British playwright
'In this timely and thought-provoking book, Alan Ingram asks us to consider how Britain's war in Iraq has been encountered, appropriated and reworked through art works, by artists and through exhibition practices. Geopolitics and the Event offers us a systematic exploration of how artistic enactments challenge the dominant logics of the Iraq war, and prompts us to rethink this significant geopolitical event.'
Rachel Woodward, Professor of Human Geography, Newcastle University, UK