W. J. T. Mitchell Books

This is a book about the things people say about images. It is not primarily concerned with specific pictures and the things people say about them, but rather with the way we talk about the idea of imagery, and all its related notions of picturing, imagining, perceiving, likening, and imitating. It is a book about images, therefore, that has no illustrations except for a few schematic diagrams, a book about vision written as if by a blind author for a blind reader. If it contains any insight into real, material pictures, it is the sort that might come to a blind listener, overhearing the conversation the sighted speakers talking about images. My hypothesis is that such a listener might see patterns in these conversations that would be invisible to the sighted participant.

"W. J. T. Mitchell's son Gabriel was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of nineteen and died by suicide at the age of 38, leaping from his apartment high in Chicago's Marina City towers. Gabe left behind a remarkable archive of creative work and a father determined to learn from, and bear witness to, Gabe's journey. What is a father to do when caught between his skepticism about psychiatry and the reality of a son suffering from mental illness? How to see madness clearly from within the daily challenges of loving his gifted but delusional child? Gabe's story holds many lessons-for parents and caregivers of the mentally ill, for those interested in mental illness as a social and political identity, for those interested in the question of the outsider artist. Gabe himself had a larger, "macrocosmic" ambition beyond the story of his own condition. He wanted to make a film that would show madness from inside and out, as media stereotype and spectacle, as minority status and stigma, as a form of disability that is an extreme form of a subjective experience we all endure at some point. He would explore all possible images of madness, from the monster to the magician, the clown to the kook and crank, the mad scientist to the mad sovereign. His ambition was to "transform schizophrenia from a death sentence to a learning experience." This book challenges us to learn from Gabe's attempt to find redemption inside his madness. It is also a moving story of a father's love and a family's resilience"-- Provided by publisher

"Expand your aural and sensory experiences with Extreme Music. An exploration of tomorrow's sounds (and silences) today. Michael Tau had spent years obsessed by the extremes of musical expression. Extreme Music: Silence to Noise and Everything In Between is the culmination of decades of research into the sounds (and silences) that comprise the outer limits and conceptual expressions that stretch the definition of music. Tau defines and categorizes these recorded sounds into sections that allow fans and newcomers to explore the fascinating world of musicians who defy convention. He explores a wide range of extremes including volume, speed, and vulgarity to packaging, recording methods, unplayable media, outdated technologies, and digital pioneers. He asks and answers the questions: Are all sounds music? Is silence music? Is a plate of rotting food once cataloged, packaged and sold by a distributor qualify as music? Extreme Music includes over 100 interviews with makers and musicians as Tau uses his background in psychiatry to help readers understand what motivates people to create and listen to non-mainstream music. As a fan of multiple avant-garde musical genres, Tau uncovers the pleasures (and sometimes pain and frustration) found at the outré fringes of music. Extreme Music is the ideal guide for curious seekers, die-hard fans, and cultural investigators. Features images and curated links to samples of music"-- Publisher's description

Was sind Bilder und wie unterscheiden sie sich von Worten? In einer Zeit, in der die Macht des Sichtbaren größer ist als je zuvor, stellt W. J. T. Mitchell, ein Pionier der „Visual Culture Studies“, diese Fragen in bahnbrechenden Aufsätzen, die als Klassiker der bildwissenschaftlichen Forschung gelten. Er untersucht das Zusammenspiel von Sichtbarem und Sagbarem in verschiedenen kulturellen Bereichen, von Literatur über bildende Kunst bis zu Massenmedien. Dabei analysiert er grundlegende theoretische Texte von Plinius bis Foucault sowie zahlreiche Produkte der Hoch- und Alltagskultur. Die Frage „Was sind Bilder?“ wandelt sich in die Frage nach ihrer Faszination und der Macht, die sie über uns ausüben. Warum verhalten wir uns, als ob Bilder lebten und uns beeinflussen könnten? Trotz ihrer Bedeutung für die internationale Bildforschung sind Mitchells Arbeiten in Deutschland wenig bekannt, da keines seiner Bücher bislang in deutscher Sprache vorliegt. Der vorliegende Band schließt diese Lücke und bietet neue Impulse für die Debatten um Gottfried Boehms „Iconic Turn“, Hans Beltings Bildanthropologie und Horst Bredekamps reformierte Kunstgeschichte. Die Auswahl dokumentiert Mitchells wichtigste Beiträge der letzten 20 Jahre, beginnend mit „Iconology“ von 1986 bis zu „What do pictures want?“ aus 2005.

Suhrkamp, Berlin, (2011). 288 S., 21 cm, Pappband mit Schutzumschlag - neuwertig / original verlagsfrisch verschweit -

Publikace je souborem esejí, které se postupně věnují jednotlivým aspektům vztahu textu a obrazu. Mitchell rozebírá reprezentace obrazové i verbální, souvislosti obrazu a jazyka, a to vše dokládá na velmi široké škále praktických ukázek z každodenního života. Základem Mitchellova přístupu k obrazům (a nejen k nim) je interdisciplinarita: jeho hlavní argument pro multidisciplinární náhled vychází z obavy, že důkladná lingvistická interpretace obrazů fakticky brání jejich hlubšímu porozumění. Kouzlem textů je, že se v nich nenásilně potkávají William Blake, dinosauři z Jurského parku, Nelson Goodman, přímý přenos CNN, Spike Lee, Erwin Panofsky, ale také film Olivera Stonea. Zjednodušeně můžeme konstatovat, že Teorie obrazu propaguje vizuální gramotnost, a Mitchell v tomto svém textu dospívá k závěru, že obrazům, které nás obklopují, se sice nemůžeme bránit, ale můžeme jim lépe rozumět, a tak činit svět lepším. Kniha je vhodnou vstupní branou do světa obrazů, nástrojem a pomůckou pro lepší pochopení vizuální složky světa, ve kterém žijeme.