Author: Jolan Bogdan File Type: pdf The Romanian Revolution of 1989 ended 42 years of Communist rule. It was the bloodiest revolution in a Warsaw Pact country, culminating in the overthrow and execution of Nicolae Ceausescu. However, there was no major democratic reform and power remained in the hands of key figures from the old regime. This has led many theorists to question the authenticity of the entire revolution. Performative Contradiction and the Romanian Revolution focuses-in on the circumstances which led to these accusations. It argues that the notion of an authentic revolution, as a conceptual paradigm, is neither a sufficient, appropriate, nor useful tool for an analysis of the events in Romania. Engaging with the work of theorists including Stieglar, Agamben, Baudrillard, Badiou, Spinoza and Derrida it argues that performative contradiction is a more useful theoretical model for exploring this event. Applying the concept to specific cases within the revolution, the book demonstrates the power of performative contradiction as an analytic tool.

Author: Peter Buse File Type: pdf In a world where nearly everyone has a cellphone camera capable of zapping countless instant photos, it can be a challenge to remember just how special and transformative Polaroid photography was in its day. And yet, theres still something magical for those of us who recall waiting for a Polaroid picture to develop. Writing in the context of two Polaroid Corporation bankruptcies, not to mention the obsolescence of its film, Peter Buse argues that Polaroid was, and is, distinguished by its processby the fact that, as the New York Times put it in 1947, the camera does the rest. Polaroid was often dismissed as a toy, but Buse takes it seriously, showing how it encouraged photographic play as well as new forms of artistic practice. Drawing on unprecedented access to the archives of the Polaroid Corporation, Buse reveals Polaroid as photography at its most intimate, where the photographer, photograph, and subject sit in close proximity in both time and spacemaking Polaroid not only the perfect party camera but also the tool for frankly salacious pictures taking. Along the way, Buse tells the story of the Polaroid Corporation and its ultimately doomed hard-copy wager against the rising tide of digital imaging technology. He explores the continuities and the differences between Polaroid and digital, reflecting on what Polaroid can tell us about how we snap photos today. Richly illustrated, The Camera Does the Rest will delight historians, art critics, analog fanatics, photographers, and all those who miss the thrill of waiting to see what develops. **Review As Buse argues in his smart and engaging The Camera Does the Rest How Polaroid Changed Photography, amateur picture taking was originally conceived of as a form of play....Looking at a Polaroid is unlike looking at any other picture because a Polaroid has that which a photograph is supposed to lack an aura. Each shot is singular, unrepeatable each life, a story each image, a measure of hungry, sucking time. (Harpers) Mining the Polaroid archives in the Baker Library Historical Collections, Harvard Business School, Buse researches how Polaroid cameras were marketed, the aesthetics of the Polaroid print, and the social rituals associated with owning and taking instant images. Other books detail the life of Polaroids founder Edwin H. Land and examine the companys distinctive milieu this scholarly cultural history is distinguished by Buses background in performance studies. The author is less interested in studying pictures than he is in thinking about the performative moment of taking and sharing instant photos, an aspect unique to Polaroiduntil digital photography came into existencean innovation that led to Polaroids demise but was also facilitated by instant film. For readers interested in photography history, the cultural history of technology, innovation, and business history. (Library Journal) Scholarly yet joyful. (Wall Street Journal) ?Polaroid is a technology whose sun has set. It casts long shadows nevertheless, and in this afterglow Buse pursues two lines of inquiry, both fascinating....One may debate the relative powers of the photograph when treated as a memento, or as a tangible object, or as a social actand the history of the company reads like a precis of popular image technology in the 20th century. But,as Buse demonstrates, in being so different from so many other kinds of photographs, the Polaroid helps to reveal what photography has been, and what it does. (The Nation) The Camera Does the Rest is a well-researched and thorough history of Polaroid photography, covering both the technical aspects of the cameras and their film, and the influence of this technology on society. Its generously illustrated but is by no means a coffee-table book. Instead, its a serious history and analysis of the Polaroid phenomenon, and each illustration is included to make some point. (PopMatters) The Camera Does the Rest takes a deep dive intoPolaroids corporate archives to reveal the companys transformative influenceon the photographic process. This book covers all of the cultural perceptions and scientific discoveries that made Polaroid something very special and leaves us with a clear sense ofits lost pleasures, too. For Buse, Polaroid is not just an object of nostalgia,it is a catalyst undeniably linked to the massive changes weve seen in socialrituals and imaging technology in our lifetime. (American Photo) Buse gives us an account of the experience of the Polaroid camera and an extended analysis of its distinctive photos. Most striking is how he traces its presence in novels, advertisements, and films, proving its iconic status in our culture despite its recent demise.The Camera Does the Restwill be of interest to anyone involved in photography, from students to visual and cultural study scholars to members of camera clubs. (Geoffrey Batchen, author of Forget Me Not Photography and Remembrance) In this engaging and wide-ranging account, Buse gets at what made Polaroid special as a technological triumph, an array of popular products, a generator of social rituals, and harbinger of a digital era in which everyone is a maker and consumer of instant photographs. Buses approach obeys the guideline he cites from a 1981 Polaroid newsletterstay close to your subjectswith exemplary results. His survey of the practices, materials, and legacy of Polaroid photography will serve as a model for cultural histories of imaging technologies. (Britt Salvesen, Los Angeles County Museum of Art) In The Camera Does the Rest, Buse brings his gift for in-depth reporting and insightful commentary to this convincing argument on the cultural and social impact of the Polaroid brand.Buse helps us answer the questions on the minds of many ever since 2008 when the company ceased production on instant cameras and film. What was Polaroid? Wasit the magnum opus of a brilliant inventor? The results of decades of hard work by a team of experts? A mere toy? A party camera? A covert device for making home pornography? An invitation to artists to experiment? A sophisticated tool for professional photographers? A gateway to the world of digital imaging? A camera for the masses to produce trillions of snapshots? As Buse shows, the answer to each of these questions is a resounding YES. (Mary-Kay Lombino, Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center) In a series of brilliantly executed snapshots, Buse carefully but quickly reveals (in much the same manner as the actual photographs he writes about) a remarkable new history of Polaroid photography. Accessible, engaging, and often eloquent, Buse offers new insights and challenges conventional notions from what makes a Polaroid a Polaroid to the cause of the companys demise. It is a book that will make you see anew the story of a beloved American company and its influence on modern culture. (Deborah G. Douglas, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Museum) About the Author Peter Buse is professor and head of performance and screen studies at Kingston University, London. He is the author of Drama + Theory and coauthor of The Cinema of Alex de la Iglesia and Benjamins Arcades An unGuided Tour, as well as editor of Ghosts Deconstruction, Psychoanalysis, History. He lives in London.