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contents no. 8
06 Defining & Exploring Community Music Editing an Intellect journal
10 Same old,same old design
Publisher Masoud Yazdani Associate Publisher May Yao Editor Melanie Harrison Designer Holly Rose
By Sharon Poggenpohl
Intellect Ltd. The Mill, Parnall Rd, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG Tel: 0117 9589910 www.intellectbooks.com
12 The Trustus Plays
IQ / Thinking in Colour
The Trustus Plays and Existential Re-Imagination
14 Pride and Panic
Russian Imagination of the West in Post-Soviet Film
15 Holopoetry Explained By Eduardo Kac
18 Film International Interview Liza Palmer answers our questions
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26 Intellect in North America
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28 Intellect Conferences
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Where Intellect set up stand in 2008
ISSN 1478-7350 ©2009 Intellect Ltd. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, transmitted in any form or by any means without permission of the publisher. Intellect accept no responsibility for views expressed by contributors to IQ; or for unsolicted manuscripts, photographs or illustrations; or for errors in articles or advertisements. Intellect publishes books and journals by authors and editors with original thinking they strongly believe in. Our intention is to produce books and journals that have presence, create impact and are affordable for readers. We commission regardless of whether there is an established readership for the ideas: we support our authors comprehensively in articulating their thoughts and then bring them to as wide a readership as possible. We choose authors and editors who in backing their ideas, are willing to be part of our publishing process by investing their energy and resources as needed in cooperation with us. www.intellectbooks.com
Q&A » 04 May Yao | 27 University of Chicago Press | Reviews » 21-25 Book Reviews |
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IQ 2009 | 3
Q&A
May Yao
iQuote » “Joy in looking and comprehending is nature’s most beautiful gift.” - Albert Einstein
iQuote » “Be great in act, as you have been in thought.”– William Shakespeare
intellect People Focus
Intellect aims to provide a vital space for widening critical debate in new and emerging subject areas and campaigns for the author rather than producing a book or journal to fill a gap in the market. more trade-oriented publishers, struggle to capitalize on. In particular, significant energy is channelled into raising visibility via our own print and electronic marketing material, direct mail, e-newsletters, gaining publicity via reviews and endorsements, promotions and advertising, and a strong public profile at national and international conferences.
May Yao
Q & A with Intellect’s Associate Publisher What is Intellect about? Intellect is an independent academic publisher whose focus is creative media and popular culture, publishing scholarly books and journals that exemplify our mission as publishers of original thinking: accepting proposals and commissioning based on the merit of ideas rather than sales. Intellect aims to provide a vital space for widening critical debate in new and emerging subject areas and campaigns for the author rather than producing a book or journal to fill a gap in the market. How does Intellect differ from other publishers? Intellect started in 1986 as a hobby for our founder Masoud Yazdani, while he was a lecturer in Media Computing at Exeter University in England. His idea was to publish
4 | Thinking in Colour
books in emerging subject areas that other publishers wouldn’t take on due to the small size of the market. The original inspiration for setting up the company has become the backbone of the company ethos. We have found that there is a real demand from authors and editors to get their original material published and to get their ideas out there, even if there isn’t already an established readership for them. How do you ensure the academic quality of your publications? Whilst Intellect’s vision is focused on the author rather than the commercial market, we maintain a rigorous vetting procedure at the beginning of production to ensure that the publication is of high academic value. All our titles
must receive a positive peer review, ensuring a high calibre of material and ensuring that the publications are brought to their full potential. Our published material also undergoes careful copy-editing, sophisticated design and layout and comprehensive distribution and marketing strategies. What is Intellect’s position in the current economic climate? Due to our unique approach, we seem to have been able to weather many a financial storm and grow year by year. We place great emphasis on providing a service to our authors and editors, ensuring that they feel fully involved and satisfied with the publishing process. This collaborative practice is very well received, and the company continually receives positive feedback.
Intellect strives to represent the author authentically rather than to appease the reader. We aim to foster close working relationships between editorial and marketing personnel and authors and editors that proves to be mutually beneficial. What is your approach to marketing? Intellect has a dedicated marketing team working within the company – one of Intellect’s greatest strengths is the energy and enthusiasm all employees have towards new ideas for marketing and better promoting our publishing programme. Intellect works hard on trying innovative new strategies to market its titles, and focuses attention on how to benefit from niche angles in the industry that other larger, and
What is your view of electronic publishing? Electronic publishing has become an integral part of Intellect’s strategy. The company has been publishing e-books since 1999 through third party distributors, and these sales have proved
to contribute substantially to company revenue. Although we can’t imagine ever ending our paper-based publishing programme, in academic publishing e-books are an increasingly popular sideline. We have recently decided to price all our new e-books at $15 each, in an effort to make them more accessible. We are not only committed to discovering new methods of making content available to potential readers, but are also keen to use new technologies and explore current trends in social networking & Web 2.0 platforms. How do you manage to publish
so many new journals when other publishers are shying away from new launches? One of Intellect’s strengths is being able to start up new journals swiftly and successfully. Our focus on particular subject areas makes it possible for us to easily tap into our existing contacts within those academic communities. However, the real key to the success of our journals is the work of our dedicated editors. A good editor is also a good leader, who not only has academic vision but also the skills, abilities and attributes to encourage, inspire and empower the wider community that benefits from a journal. Starting from the editorial team, then the boards, subscribers and the wider academic community, a truly successful editor can enthuse and harness the potential of this group, maybe even change its direction. Our partnership with journal editors who are passionate about their journal is essential, and we invest a lot of time and energy in ensuring that we have a positive,
constructive relationship with each editor. Who are your partners and what do they do for you? Our aim is always to support our authors by bringing their ideas to as wide a readership as possible, and we continuously strive to find new and innovative ways of achieving this. Since 2007, our titles have been marketed and distributed by the University of Chicago Press in North America. We also have a similar arrangement with the University of New South Wales Press in Australia and New Zealand. We are also working relentlessly to ensure that our books are made available through the latest electronic distribution methods, as well as through the more conventional routes. We are working closely with several e-book distributors including NetLibrary, Ebrary and MyiLibrary, as well as Google Book Search and Amazon.
Testimonials
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‘As an editor, what I like best about Intellect is the combination of genuine concern, constructive advice, and unequivocal respect for the editors’ ultimate choices. The people at Intellect are pros at what they do, which allows us as editors to focus on our job – finding the best texts.’ – Daniel Lindvall, Editor of Film International
‘It was great to work with a company that has a love of the subject and was ready to consider a previously unpublished author. From the outset the staff at Intellect were supportive through the whole process from proofing to marketing.’ – Roger Wooster, Author of Contemporary Theatre in Education
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‘Working with Intellect is a real partnership. Their editorial staff is open, creative, and responsive. This is the first academic journal I have edited, and I found their advice and guidance invaluable.’ – Tim Wall, Editor, The Radio Journal
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Theater & Music
Theater & Music
iQuote » “Real success is finding your lifework in the work that you love.” – David McCullough
iQuote » “Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.” – Henry David Thoreau
intellect Journal Focus
Defining and Exploring Community Music Andy Lagrimas, IJCM Journal Administrator, New York University.
In its first year of publication, the International Journal of Community Music has already claimed a unique place in the field of music research. Founded by David Elliott, Lee Higgins and Kari Veblen, the journal features articles, reports, book reviews, editorials and stories concerning all aspects of community music. Although still in its infancy as a published journal, the IJCM traces its origins back to 1982, when the International Society for Music Education (ISME) launched its
commission for Community Music Activity (CMA). Since then, the ISME community music association has met biannually in different locations around the world. Both the online version of the journal (www.intljcm. com) that appeared in 2004, and the first print edition in 2008, fulfilled a long-held desire of the ISME CMA to report their work, and that of like-minded practitioners, and educators to a global community. Inevitably, a question readers and contributors ask when
approaching the journal is “what exactly is community music?” Both editors are equally broad in their definitions. David Elliott defines community music as “incredibly open, fluid and changing.” Using Jackson Pollock’s paintings as an analogy, he suggests that community music is kaleidoscopic through its celebration of diversity. Meanwhile, Lee Higgins suggests that community music can be understood through five different dimensions: people, participating, places, context and
diversity. In other words, both editors agree that settling on a single definition or conception of the field is antithetical to both the IJCM and to community music itself. This constantly shifting nature of community music is a reflection of the ongoing transformation and evolution of cultures and human musical practices worldwide. Even those who claim familiarity with the complex and difficultto-define nature of community music often break it down into two basic themes: a) Music-
making that occurs outside the formalized institutions such as conservatories, public schools, or universities, and b) Partnerships or outreach programs between schools and professional music organizations, such as guest artists from the local symphony working with music classrooms in a school. While both views are representative, they only hint at the full depth to community music in all its dimensions and complexities—a phenomenon the IJCM seeks to reflect in its pages. Even though the IJCM encourages an open approach to defining community music, its overall mission is clear: as a cuttingedge academic research journal, the IJCM attempts to stress community music’s potential to “inform, inspire, and transform lives and communities” focusing on music as both theory and practice. For Higgins, this means community music can take on sociological roles. He states that music is “not just music in the community, otherwise it could be anything—it’s all about music as advocacy” and even in some cases “a form of intervention.” For example, recent articles include a report on the DIME (Diversion into Music Education) program in South Africa that provided music instruction for juvenile offenders, as well as a discussion of the rise of the Gay/ Lesbian/Bi-Sexual/Transgender (GLBT) Chorus movement. As befitting the broad conception of community music that it promotes, the IJCM seeks a similar depth of variety in its published content. According to Higgins, the journal falls roughly into three distinct
sections: research articles, project reviews and field research reports on new initiatives such as conference reports. Similarly, the current editorial board represents a diverse span of musical backgrounds in teaching, performance, sociology, philosophy, history, and research. Even with a proliferation of other music research journals, the coeditors clearly see a need for the IJCM. Elliott contends, “there has been very little research” on the subject, and that through the journal, community music can raise its status and value as a scholarly discipline. Higgins agrees, stating that, the IJCM provides a “container to develop both scholarship and practice in community music.” According to both editors, the journal marks a departure from existing music scholarship in that it is based equally on academic research as much as the actual engagement in practicing music—whether it is performance, listening, composing, or other performance arts such as dance and drama. Hopefully this will attract a broader segment of the population not just in terms of readership, but also in potential contributors and scholars. As Elliott says, “I think the journal is doing well in the academic [field], but we also want to draw from people less inclined to write academically. I think we need more reports from people who are practitioners in music at the grassroots level. We don’t want to separate theory and practice.” As for the journal’s future, the possibilities for research are as wide open as community music
itself. In the future, Higgins describes issues that will take a more in-depth focus on specific aspects of community music, such as a planned issue on ritual, spirituality and faith, and community music within the criminal justice system. As well as an emphasis on music outside of schools, the IJCM seeks also to provide inspiration and ideas for school teachers looking to provide innovative teaching methods and address a wider variety of musical cultures and practices in the classroom. Despite the possibility of specialized issues, however, Elliott believes that the IJCM should also continue expanding the scope and dimension of community music and warns, “it will be absolutely counterproductive for our journal and for community music itself to limit things.” Higgins agrees, stating that the journal must include as diverse a group of voices as possible and emphasizes that “the journal cannot become another instance of the same old people talking amongst themselves.” For the IJCM to remain true to its mission, it will need to continue evolving and transforming, folding in a diversity of voices. For more information contact the editors of IJCM: David Elliott New York University
[email protected] Lee Higgins Westminster Choir College of Rider University
[email protected]
Further Reading
International Journal of Community Music ISSN: 17526299
Editors David Elliott New York University
[email protected] Lee Higgins Westminster Choir College of Rider University, USA,
[email protected]
The International Journal of Community Music publishes research articles, practical discussions, timely reviews, readers’ notes and special issues concerning all aspects of Community Music. The editorial board is composed of leading international scholars and practitioners spanning diverse disciplines that reflect the scope of Community Music practice and theory.
6 | Thinking in Colour IQ 2009 | 7
intellect publishers of original thinking
intellect publishers of original thinking
Media & Culture Film Studies Books & Journals
Books & Journals
Media & Values: Intimate Transgressions in a Changing Moral and Cultural Landscape
Journal of Gaming & Virtual Worlds
By Matthew Kieran, David E Morrison, Michael Svennevig, Sarah Ventress
Principal Editor: Astrid Ensslin Associate Editor: Eben Muse ISSN: 1757191X | Vol 1 2009: 2 issues
By Rosanna Maule
Principal Editor: Keyan G. Tomaselli. Associate Editor: Martin Mhando
$60 | ISBN 9781841502045 | hb
ISSN 17549221 | Vol 1 2009: 2 issues
Alternative Worlds in Hollywood Cinema
Journal of Japanese & Korean Cinema
$60 | ISBN 9781841501833 | pb
Switching to Digital Television: UK Public Policy and the Market
Journal of African Media Studies
Principal Editor:Winston Mano Associate Editors: Monica Chibita & Wendy Willems
By Michael Starks $40 | ISBN 9781841501727 |pb
ISSN: 17517974 | Vol 1 2009: 3 issues
Television and Criticism
Interactions: Studies in Communication & Culture
Edited by Solange Davin, Rhona Jackson
Principal Editor: Anthony McNicholas. Associate Editor: Tarik Sabry
$40 | ISBN 9781841501475
| pb
ISSN: 17572681 | Vol 1 2009: 3 issues
-
New for 2009
Beyond Auteurism: New Directions in Authorial Film Practices
Inspire more Have an original idea the world simply needs to know about? We are here to support your ideas and get them published. To send us your new book or journal proposals, please download a questionnaire from: www.intellectbooks.com/publish.html
intellect | www.intellectbooks.com | Book Orders: 1-800-621-2736 | Journal Orders: 1-860-350-0041
By James Walters $ 30 | ISBN 9781841502021 | pb
Australian Post-War Documentary Film: An Arc of Mirrors By Deane Williams $60 | ISBN 9781841502106 | hb
Journal of African Cinemas
Editors: David Desser & Frances Gateward
ISSN 17564905 | Vol 1 2009: 2 issues
Studies in South Asian Film & Media
Principal Editor: Alka Kurian, Associate Editors: Jyotsna Kapur & Aarti Wani ISSN 17564921 | Vol 1 2009: 2 issues
read more ‘If there are any publishers out there with a more impressive catalogue of high quality, cutting edge and outspoken film and media journals and publications I’d love to know about them!’ Daniel Lindvall, Editor Film International
intellect | www.intellectbooks.com | Book Orders: 1-800-621-2736 | Journal Orders: 1-860-350-0041
Art & Design
Art & Design
iQuote » “To accomplish great things, we must dream as well as act.” – Anatole France
iQuote » “We need men who can dream of things that never were.” –John F. Kennedy
intellect Book Focus
more books of interest n
Same old, same old design?
By Rosemary Sassoon $30 | ISBN 9781841501956 | pb In The Designer, Rosemary Sassoon surveys fifty years of change in the world of design, evaluating the skills that have been lost, how new techniques affect everyday work, and how training methods prepare students for employment. This indispensable volume reveals how design is both an art and a skill – one with a rich past and momentous relevance for the future. Along the way, Sassoon traces the fascinating trajectory of her career, from its beginning at art school and an early apprenticeship to her work as an established professional, with advice for designers at every stage of their own development. Weaving together biography and career advice, theory and practice, The Designer provides a unique history of the art form and looks ahead to an age of ever-changing attitudes to drawing, aesthetics, and artistic practice.
By Sharon Poggenpohl Is the practice of design changing? Do clients, colleagues and the increasingly technological culture in which we live require more than a standard translation of concept into execution for dissemination along with some aesthetic refinement? Design Integrations argues that design practice is changing—clients are looking for value-added ideas from design and innovation that fits technological possibilities into human need and habit. The translation is not so radical that only a few techno-savvy individuals can use it; it needs to be sympathetic to people’s current understanding and use. Consequently, sensitive form making and technical translation are not enough, designers need to understand the human context and situation of use, and this goes for many varieties of design practice—architectural, communication, interaction, product, etc. Colleagues are looking for intelligent and creative collaborators, and technological culture, with its pace of change,
10 | Thinking in Color
makes collaboration and life-long learning essential. The important problems that design is asked to address, require a variety of participants from different disciplines who can contribute ideas and information from various perspectives and effectively work together. Their collaboration often involves research and understanding of how research results can be transformed into design action and subsequently evaluated based on criterion that goes beyond beauty to such notions, for example, as fitting into a lifestyle, benefiting ecology, fostering understanding and use. Is design education addressing these new demands that can be defined by a need to integrate research and collaborative skills into design education? There are some design programs, dispersed internationally, that have a new vision for design and its education, but unfortunately many, if not most design schools, are caught in the traditional design paradigm of aesthetic and technical skill train-
The Designer: Half a Century of Change in Image, Training, and Techniques
ing, often underpinned by well accepted and respected Bauhaus principles, whether at the undergraduate or graduate level. Much design education is stuck in the early twentieth century and life has changed substantially since then. Teachers of design might carefully examine the best of contemporary practice to see how design is changing; they need to overcome their aversion to notions of research, theory, or teamwork. Research sets the stage for meaningful design development that uses the best information available in a fast changing world, and research takes many useful forms depending on the question to be answered. It could be quick and dirty observation of people in a context of using something. Or it could be technologically assisted eye tracking to see where people’s attention is drawn. Theory is an abstrac-
tion useful for spotting recurring patterns, as they serve as an aid to memory and attention. Theory can help designers focus on what is important as they synthesize the various aspects under consideration. Finally, teamwork creates a larger landscape for design development as more knowledge and ideas can be entertained as team members share perspectives and learn from each other. Design education, and teachers in particular, are challenged to develop a twenty-first century approach to learning that goes beyond art or technique, that can mediate between technology and people, bridge disciplinary cultures, contribute to human wellbeing, and inspire students to be reflective and creative participants in life—through design. { Sharon Poggenpohl is the Editor/Publisher of Visible Language.
Further Reading
Design Integrations: Research and Collaboration Edited by Sharon Poggenpohl and Keiichi Sato $40 | ISBN 9781841502403| pb Due to be published May 2009 Design is changing, and to educate the next generation of designers, these changes need to be addressed. In light of the growing role research and interdisciplinary collaboration play in contemporary design performance, Design Integrations calls for an innovative shake up in design education. Poggenpohl asserts that design research is developed through a typology within academic and business contexts, and follows different research theories and strategies. Such issues in design collaboration are explored in-depth, with essays on an interinstitutional academic project, cross-cultural learning experiences, and a multi-national healthcare project, demonstrating the importance of shared values, interdisciplinary negotiated process and clear communication for tomorrow’s designers.
Digital Experience Design: Ideas, Industries, Interaction Edited by Linda Leung $60 | ISBN 9781841502090 | hb Digital Experience Design chronicles the diverse histories and perspectives of people working in the dot.com world, alongside an account of the current issues facing the industry. From the perspective of disciplines such as education, fine art and cinema, this volume investigates how dot.com practitioners balance the science of usability with abstract factors such as the emotional response design can provoke. With in-depth discussion of a variety of disciplines and topics, including screen-based design and e-learning, this edited volume is a valuable resource for industry practitioners and students and teachers of interactive media.
IQ 2009 | 11
Theater & Music
Theater & Music
iQuote » “Education is the best provision for old age.” – Aristotle
iQuote » “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.”– Herbert Spencer
intellect Book Focus Screen from Holy Ghost Holy Ghost
The Trustus Plays and Existential Re-Imagination
Lovefuries offers a double bill of performance pieces that explode national and personal pressures to keep silent, and explore the surprising and shocking resurgences of life that break through grief. In The Contracting Sea, the fiancée of a just-shipwrecked sailor is challenged by a feminine elemental force of catastrophe to throw off the shackles of her common humanity. The second play, The Hanging Judge, explores from the inside an occurrence of sexual abuse in a contemporary Welsh context, and examines how one survivor finds the courage to discover defiance. This second volume of dramatist-director Rabey’s plays for his own Lurking Truth/Gwir sy’n Llechu theatre company also includes the short twohander Bite or Suck, completing a collection of innovative drama that restlessly explores what is possible at the extreme boundaries of human language and physicality.
The Trustus Playhouse
12 | Thinking in Color
each August, which launched my now decade-long affiliation with Trustus as Playwright-in-Residence and then Literary Manager. Having a theatrical home that I knew would produce it inspired me to write Holy Ghost, a play which had been gnawing at me for years. In 1991, I read a newspaper article about German prisoners of war being warehoused in South Carolina camps during World War II. They were made to pick cotton and, when they tried to escape to freedom in the north, were tracked down by the black GI’s who guarded them. On this topic I was no expert, but I knew a near-perfect inversion of the Fugitive Slave Act could make a good play, so I dug into the research and watched for my story. What emerged was a parade of ironies too delicious to ignore. One was the Pentagon’s secret re-education program meant to intellectually rewire the prisoners and belie Nazi charges of American decadence and hypocrisy. Except for the Jane Russell movies, it looked a lot like Goebbel’s pro-
Lovefuries: The Contracting Sea; The Hanging Judge; Bite or Suck By David Ian Rabey $25 | ISBN 9781841501840 | pb Part of the Playtext series
By Jon Tuttle
To mutilate Kierkegaard: one may write his plays forward, but he can understand them only backward. Before writing my introduction to the three texts collected in The Trustus Plays, I was visited by the apprehension that they had only two things in common. One was me, because I wrote them, and the other was Trustus, the theater in South Carolina that produced them. Certainly their creation, either individually or as whole, proceeded from no particular principle. Each began as a single image or fact or sensation which nagged at me until I could people and plot it, which itself was a long, frustrating process akin to staggering blindfolded through a maze. And that’s all. The Hammerstone is an academic comedy about futility, because I’m an academic, which makes me an expert. Drift is a dark comedy about marriage, because I’ve been divorced twice, which makes me an expert. Each won the Trustus Playwrights’ Festival, an annual competition culminating in a mainstage production
more books of interest n
paganda machine. The play kept mushrooming into a vast, unwieldy socio-political, docu-epic until finally I forced into it the one simple thing that would make it a play: a character who wanted something and who made difficult choices in order to get it. That character is Henry, upon whom Holy Ghost plays an elaborate joke. He is a black private who hunts down, then befriends, then betrays an escaped “Nazi”. Along the way, he is asked again and again to choose between allegiances conditioned by his race, nationality and personal affections, but every choice he makes turns out to be wrong, and he ends up behind bars and destined to perform a holy ghost—prison camp shorthand for forced suicide. All of his actions, to mangle Sartre, are the same in that they are doomed to failure. But I didn’t realize that until after I’d written the play. Any artist who claims not to subscribe to any particular theory or philosophy is probably in the grip of one of which he’s unaware. So it was with me. Looking back
through these plays, I saw other protagonists who, like Henry, were forced into enormous choices they were unprepared or reluctant to make, and thereby concluded I must always have been sort of existentialist. In The Hammerstone, that character is Murray, an unassuming English professor who must confront on a daily basis the question of what gives life value and keep living it, even as his answers turn out to be wrong. In Drift, middle-aged housewife Barbara assembles a mountain of evidence against the sanctity of her thirtyyear marriage and yet gratefully accepts the lie that will sustain it. I am now writing my fourth Trustus play, The Sweet Abyss, about a woman plunged into paralyzing grief by the death of her cat. You’d think that retroactively discovering the recipe for my plays would help me write it. So far, it hasn’t. The thrill and challenge of playwriting is not knowing where you’re going until you’ve got there – and then taking off the blindfold. {
Further Reading
The Trustus Plays By Jon Tuttle $30 | ISBN 9781841502243 | pb Part of the Playtext series Published February 2009 The Trustus Plays is an intriguing collection of three full-length plays by US playwright Jon Tuttle. The Hammerstone (1994) is an academic comedy about two professors aging gracelessly; Drift (1998) is a dark comedy about marriage and divorce, and, Holy Ghost (2005) portrays the plight of German POWs kept in camps in the American South. Each is a winner of the national Trustus Playwrights Festival contest, and each has been produced by the Trustus Theatre, in Columbia, South Carolina. Trustus founder and Artistic Director Jim Thigpen provides a preface describing the theatre’s dedication to experimental, “edgy” social drama, and Tuttle’s striking work has served that mission.
Russia, Freaks and Foreigners: Three Performance Texts By James MacDonald $30 | ISBN 9781841501864 | pb Part of the Playtext series Russia, Freaks and Foreigners is a collection of three thematically linked plays set against the backdrop of a fractured, post-Soviet Russian society. Written by acclaimed playwright MacDonald, who is cerebral palsied, these performance texts critique accepted notions of normality, offering various models of difference – physical, cultural and moral. Their themes, contextualized here by companion essays, expand the boundaries of British drama. MacDonald is one of the few severely disabled playwrights to have his work staged. Consequently, Russia, Freaks and Foreigners is a daring portrayal of disability from the inside. IQ 2009 | 13
Film Studies iQuote » “Art is born of the observation and investigation of nature.” – Cicero
intellect Book Focus
Pride and Panic
Russian Imagination of the West in Post-Soviet Film By Yana Hashamova Pride and Panic: Russian Imagination of the West in Post-Soviet Film examines films, characters and themes in order to investigate how Russia has reacted and adjusted to the expansion of western capital and culture in Russia itself. My analysis focuses on Russian films produced after the collapse of the Soviet Union, paying special attention to those made during the last decade – a period in which the Russian film industry began to revive and became more marketoriented, reflecting social angst. This book studies Russia’s imagination of the West, an imagination which in its shifting fantasies, fears and anxieties resembles changes similar to those the adolescent undergoes in search of a more stable and permanent identity. Russian national identity adjusts to political, social, economic and cultural transformations occurring in Russia and in the global world. In this adjustment, the Russian collective imagination reacts to the western presence in Russian society as it exhibits disparate attitudes that take the form of superfluous and impatient relations with the (western) other, aggressive and paranoid urges, complete rejection of external (western) models, search for positive internal sources (past and culture) for identification, 14 | Thinking in Color
and a more mature and reflective perception of self (Russia) and other (West) with their constructive and destructive aspects. Attempting to establish links between political ideology, psychoanalysis and cinema, I have also traced the shifting dynamics of Russia’s fantasy of the West as it appears in post-Soviet cinema. Thus, my critique of early 90s films reveals the illusionary nature of this fantasy as manifested in clichéd images and patriotic messages. The collapse of the Berlin Wall tempted Russian viewers with unimagined opportunities, but, as it becomes clear in the films, these opportunities were deceptive and the fantasy of the West remained potent. In the mid-1990s, when the West became a part of Russian life, new fantasies emerged, namely aggressive anti-western sentiments as well as admiration for Russia’s moral superiority (evident in Balabanov’s films). Russia’s search for a new national identity finds expression in films that glorify Russia’s uniqueness in history, art and religion. Mikhalkov’s The Barber of Siberia and Sokurov’s Russian Ark turn the viewers’ attention to Russia’s rich history of honor, dignity and loyalty to one’s country, as well as world-class culture, and, thus, its
Storozheva’s The Frenchman
potential for a glorious future. There are films that allow a more diverse discourse that not only produce aggression but also deflate it. Peculiarities of the National Hunt in Fall and Cuckoo encourage understanding and acceptance of difference. Rogozhkin advocates agreement and friendship and resists hatred and violence. Of Freaks and Men even suggests Russia’s destructive attitudes and the way it is capable of victimizing ethnic others. Russia’s entanglement with the West also becomes apparent in films that portray romantic relationships between Russian and western characters. Russian viewers’ desire to find happiness in a union that transgresses national borders is inscribed in films such as On Deribasovskaia, Window to Paris, The Barber of Siberia and The Frenchman. These films, however, deny the possibility of such happiness, which in turn speaks of political, social and historical conditions hostile to international relationships. The desire to
identify with one’s country and its problems reigns over the desire to be cosmopolitan. Over the last two centuries, Russia has continually shocked the world. It implemented Marxist theories, much to Marx’s own disbelief, in that country’s readiness for revolution. The October Revolution shook the world with its attempt to liberate people from their idols (money, property and religion) and prepared the postmodern rearrangement of knowledge by questioning all traditions. This book uncovers Russia’s latent desires and fantasies in her relations with the West, but in spite (or because) of them, Russia has always been a fascinating place, with its mixture of globe-shaking politics and world-class culture. The future – whatever it holds – promises nothing less. {
Afghanistan Guinea Papua New Guinea Bangladesh Guinea-Bissau Rwanda Benin Honduras São Tomé Bhutan Iraq Senegal Burkina Faso Kazakhstan Sierra Leone Burundi Republic of Kenya Solomon Islands Cambodia Kyrgyz Republic Somalia Central African Republic Lao PDR Sudan Chad Liberia Tajikistan Comoros Madagascar Tanzania Congo Dem Rep Malawi Timor-Leste Côte d’Ivoire Mali Mauritania Togo Eritrea Mongolia Uganda El Salvador Mozambique Uruguay Ethiopia Myanmar Uzbekistan Gambia Nepal Yemen Rep Ghana Niger Zambia Guatemala Palestine Zimbabwe
Yana Hashamova is Assistant Professor in the Department of Slavic and East European Languages at Ohio State University. Further Reading
Pride and Panic: Russian Imagination of the West in PostSoviet Film By Yana Hashamova $55 ISBN 9781841501567
FREE online access Intellect warmly invites universities and institutions from less economically developed countries to FREE online access to our journals portfolio. We hope that this scheme will prove beneficial for scholars in Art, Theater & Music, Media, Culture and Film. For full details please visit www.intellectbooks.co.uk/online-access/online-access3.php
[email protected] / +44(0)117 958 9910 / Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
intellect by numbers Law of Averages for our staff
Law of Averages for our staff
Law of Averages Intellect authors, editors and contributors come from 61 countries around the globe:
30.1 3.1
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Y
Average number of cups of tea/coffee consumed per day
46 4.3
26%
20%
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Average time spent stuffing envelopes, photocopying and other essential but dull tasks
26%
28%
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Average time spent sharing ideas with colleagues
Average time spent listening to music per day (in minutes)
o
X
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Average visits to the Intellect website: 109,107 Per year Average time spent on the website per visit: 00:02:57 minutes Google Analytics 11 Oct 2007 – 6 Jun 2008
The first issue of Artificial Intelligence Review, Intellect’s first journal, was co-published with Blackwell Scientific Publications.
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Intellect was formed as a Limited company in England and Wales by Masoud Yazdani and two other university academics, initially offering advice and running seminars.
Intellect published its first three books in a copublishing deal with the US publishers, Ablex.
Google Analytics 11 Oct 2007 – 6 Jun 2008
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Intellect granted trade mark for newspapers periodicals; books and leaflets; all relating to the acquisition of knowledge. Publishing seven books and two journals without any full time employees!
Numbers in dates
Visitors to the Intellect website came from 190 countries/territories
Google Analytics 11 Oct 2007 – 6 Jun 2008
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78.11% of visitors to the Intellect website are first-timers.... (welcome!)
1991
Intellect moved to a former paper mill in the Fishponds area of Bristol, redeveloped especially for its needs. Publishing twelve books and eight journals, employing three full time staff.
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1993 Intellect rented a small office on the Exeter campus of Plymouth University and employed its first full time staff member. Publishing ten books and three journals. Website launched.
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Publishing 35 books and 37 journals, employing eight full time staff.
The launch of our new interactive website. Publishing directories of world cinema.
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Intellect relocated its office to Bristol and employed its second full time staff member. Published eighteen books and five journals.
Intellect granted Investors in People recognition for its human resources management. Publishing 25 books and 21 journals, employing five full time staff.
2009 Expanding into North America From January 1st 2009, Intellect has a base in North America as well as our main offices in Bristol, England. 35 books and 46 journals employing twelve staff.
Q&A
Liza Palmer
iQuote » “If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it.” – Margaret Fuller
iQuote » “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” – Cecil B. DeMille
intellect People Focus It’s also interesting to note that the editors of FI used to need to be a lot more proactive in finding publishable content, whereas now more and more contributors are coming to us, which is a great feeling. Indexing is an added bonus, too – being referenced in such databases as EBSCOhost’s Film and Television Literature Index with Full Text greatly improves our visibility. The future for journals is definitely electronic access and that future is already here. So it’s hard not to credit our partnership with Intellect with our strengthened position within the film studies community.
Liza Palmer
Q & A with Review Section Editor, Film International How did you form a partnership with Intellect? Since 2004, I have had the singular pleasure to be Review Section Editor for the journal, Film International. Just after I started work on FI, we began to search for publishing partners not only to help sustain FI but also to broaden the project overall. Responding to our call for partners, Intellect approached us and, as a result of this partnership, FI has blossomed into a resource in a way that none of us expected. I’ll always have affection for the grassroots days, before Intellect came on the scene – but, honestly, I haven’t missed those days all that much. What do you feel are the qualities that Intellect has
18 | Thinking in Color
brought to the publication of Film International? Film International always produced thought-provoking issues, thanks to the efforts of our strong and incisive scholars and contributors. That hasn’t changed a bit. But Intellect has given us a style to match the content – there’s a clarity to our purpose and impact now, I feel. Every issue is a pleasure to read, on both an intellectual and visual level, which is increasingly important in this day and age – if you don’t have a dynamic and aesthetic product, it’s hard to be taken seriously and to compete. Plus, Intellect has helped us from an organizational standpoint – we’re much more structured throughout the publishing process.
How do you find working with a publisher that is not based in the US? I love that we work with a non-USpublisher – it adds to our global pedigree. Film International is based in Sweden, published in the UK, supported by partners in Sweden
and out of touch with international practices. What does Film International bring to the debate on cinema? Film International is a delightful hybrid – and, as in all things, our hybridity ultimately makes us stronger. We offer authors a safe haven in which to engage in scholarly dialogue and discourse. There are very few limits we place on our contributors, which, in turn, translates into provocative content for us – a win-win situation. However, while we are scholarly in nature, it is very important to us that we still achieve a very readable format and appeal (i.e. color images, pull quotes, dynamic layout), which a lot of scholarly journals aren’t able to sustain. We have high standards but don’t take ourselves too seriously, which results in a compelling and unique product for our readers. Finally,
Film International is a delightful hybrid – and, as in all things, our hybridity ultimately makes us stronger. We offer authors a safe haven in which to engage in scholarly dialogue and discourse. and the US and filled with pieces from contributors worldwide. It doesn’t get more international and exciting than that. Working with a non-US publisher, like Intellect, helps expose us to more scholars, more opportunities, more methodologies and more readers. I would almost argue that journals should publish with companies in other countries – otherwise, you run the risk of being too insular
as a nonprofit publication, I feel we have a strong service ethic – our aim is to stay on the cutting edge, covering topics and issues that are on the fringe. We reach out to films and film-makers that don’t typically get access to this type of scholarly attention. So, for instance, our Nollywood issue (5.4, 2007) was a real labor of love for us; and our regular columns like “Film Scratches”
(reviews of experimental and/ or truly independent films) and “Film Happenings” (profiles of the achievements of our scholars and readers) are vital to furthering our mission. What do you consider to be the most important current debates and discussions to focus on cinema? I’ll be the first to admit that I am a film snob. Coming from a background at Bard College, where you develop an appreciation for avant-garde cinema and practice, I have an interest in (and possible blind spot for) medium specificity. I think that the field of film studies continues to struggle with this issue, particularly given the prevalence of new media and the digital format. So as the study of film continues to evolve, how we define cinema will change accordingly. I try to keep my mind open while still recognizing that my feet are very firmly rooted in the 20th and not the 21st century! I foresee that the notion of copyright will more greatly impact how film is created, encountered and experienced – and, related to this, I wonder, too, whether film theaters are on their way out. Is there room for new publications to cover topics not covered in existing media? Oh, definitely. I think that the publishing world has become much more democratic in the last ten years or so – probably as a result of the influence of the Internet and such Web 2.0 technologies as blogs and wikis. There is a lot more opportunity for authors to get published on a wider variety of topics. I hope this
means, too, that, in turn, more people are reading, full stop, and not just Film International. What is the relationship between Film International / Intellect and UNCW? About two years ago, the Film Studies Department at the University of North Carolina Wilmington became a major partner of Film International (in addition to the Swedish Arts Council), supporting the review section – which is no small contribution when you consider how many books and DVDs I send out to reviewers throughout the world each month – and our annual undergraduate essay contest for excellence in film criticism, the Frank Capra Award. The UNCW partnership has certainly made my work for FI that much more easy and enjoyable, freeing my time up to explore new prospects for the journal. It’s become a mutually beneficial relationship – UNCW is able to offer competitive applied-learning opportunities to its Film Studies students, via internships at the Intellect office in Bristol, UK and with me here in Wilmington. It’s stimulating and a good reminder that an organization is made stronger and more relevant by new partnerships. What are the latest developments within the film studies program at UNCW? Film Studies – and, indeed, UNCW in general – is an exciting place to be right now. The department has grown a tremendous amount in the last five years, reflected, for example, by the two new assistant professor positions that
have just been advertised. The department benefits from the range of film and TV productions that shoot in Wilmington, offering us many internship positions for our students. There’s also our partnership with the Cucalorus Film Festival, which is simply one of the best film-related events around, mixing regional premieres with local screenings and even panels of Film Studies faculty and students. Above all, though, we aim to mix the disciplines of film production with film history/ analysis/theory. Our students program in the 35mm campus movie theater; they host film events for the campus and community; they publish essays, reviews and research, both online and in print journals. Altogether, they’re helping build a really diverse and cineliterate film culture in Wilmington. The icing on the cake will be graduate programs, which we’ll be creating very soon. Tell us about the best film you’ve seen in the last 6 months. Since I had my son two years ago, film watching as I used to know it has become a much more rare experience for me. And, in many ways, that’s not such a bad thing – seeing films should be an event not taken for granted. Of course, the downside is that with less opportunity to get out to the theaters, I have a less successful hit rate than I used to – and I am not sure if that is because films are decreasing in overall quality, or I am aging out of the target demographic for Hollywood products, or simply my expectations are too high for my special nights out! Probably
a combination of all three. But the recent films that made an impact on me, for similar reasons, would have to be Atonement (2007) and Lust, Caution (2007). I am a sucker for period films – always have been. But I also appreciate films that don’t wholly cater to the audience and that are open-ended in nature – that allow me to puzzle the narrative out. It’s refreshing to see films that are adult in themes and that don’t fall into the typical cliché of reveling in violence but shying away from sexual content.{ Liza Palmer is Review Section Editor of Film International and Fine Arts Librarian at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
news features reports books essays profiles dvds
www.filmint.nu
filmint IQ Spring 2009 | 19
Book Reviews iQuote » “Humanity can be quite cold to those whose eyes see the world differently.” – Eric A. Burns
Ebooks All new titles $15 Intellect books are also available in ebook format for both libraries and individuals to purchase. All new and forthcoming Intellect ebooks are just $15 each. Individuals Providers: EBL, Ebooks.com and Ellibs. Search for a particular Intellect ebook by title, ISBN or author and then buy and download a whole book or part of a book. Libraries Providers: EBL, Ebrary, Netlibrary, Myilibrary, Ellibs and dawsonera. Libraries can purchase individual ebooks from the above providers or discounted subject-focused ebook bundles can be purchased from EBL and Dawsonera. Each of the four collections – film, media, theatre and art – includes the unlimited purchase of twenty Intellect ebooks. Visit the ebooks area of our website for further information: www.intellectbooks.com/ebooks.html
intellect publishers of original thinking intellect | www.intellectbooks.com
Alternative Worlds In Hollywood Cinema: Resonance Between Realms By James Walters $30 | ISBN 9781841502021 | pb Reviewed By Ryan McKnight
In Alternative Worlds In Hollywood Cinema: Resonance Between Realms, author James Walters begins his scholarly investigation of cinematic worlds by laying out his groundwork for discerning the differences between the various types of realities found in cinema. Within the opening chapter, Walters establishes his criteria for what he refers to as three categories of cinematic worlds, namely, “Imagined Worlds, Potential Worlds, and Other Worlds.” Throughout the remainder of the book, Walters presents his analysis of each of these alternate worlds using an elaborate web of case studies as illustrations. In addition to discussing the structural deviations found between cinematic worlds, Walters also delves into detailed accounts of the “resonance” which he posits links the real and illusory worlds within his case studies. In his critique of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, for instance, Walters examines, in depth, certain verbal and visual cues within the film’s ‘real’ world and the world of character Joel Barish’s mind. According to Walters, these cues point to a recurring desire of the two main characters to return
to a state of childhood, hence the subtitle “Return to Innocence” of chapter four. Although rather loquacious in his descriptions and analyses, James Walters excels in bringing to light minute and yet revealing details in character movement and vernacular. With a critical eye for even the subtlest of acting cues, Walters illuminates aspects of various actors’ performances in case studies that would generally go unnoticed by all but the most attentive of cinematic scholars. In his critique of the alternative world of Donnie Darko, Walters observes, “Cutting back to the image of Gretchen, we notice her expression develop minimally from perplexity to incorporate an element of sorrowful remorse, as though she actually shared Rose’s pain, rather than just appreciating it” (109). Such nuanced analysis of performance is found in all of Walters’ case studies. Within the concluding pages of his work, Walters provides the reader with brief and eloquent summaries of the overarching themes of his study, again emphasizing the importance of
distinguishing between the various types of cinematic worlds, which, Walters asserts, “is crucial if we are to appreciate fully the statements each film wishes to make about the experiences, emotions and actions of its protagonists” (214). Given the profundity of Walters’ investigations, this book should
prove an invaluable resource for anyone interested in scholarly study and thought regarding reality as created by Hollywood film-makers.
Ryan McKnight is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA.
Screenshot from Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind
IQ 2009| 21
intellect publishers of original thinking
Art & Design
Book Reviews iQuote » “To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.” – Joseph Chilton Pearce
Hong Kong New Wave Cinema (1978 – 2000) By Pak Tong Cheuk
Books & Journals The Designer: Half a Century of Change in Image, Training, and Techniques
Journal of Arts and Communities
$30 | ISBN 9781841501956 | pb
ISSN: 17571936 | Vol 1 2009: 3 issues
Drawing - The Purpose
International Journal of Education Through Art
ISSN: 17435234 Edited by Leo Duff & Phil Sawdon
Editor: Rachel Mason
$30 | ISBN 9781841502014 | pb
ISSN: 17435234 | Vol 1 2005: 3 issues
Art, Community and Environment: Educational Perspectives
Journal of Writing in Creative Practice
Editors: John Wood & Julia Lockheart
Edited by Glen Coutts & Timo Jokela
ISSN: 17535190 | Vol 1 2008: 3 issues
$50 | ISBN 9781841501895 | hb
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‘Intellect has rapidly become the first port of call for art educators seeking an outlet for original thinking in the field. Its books and journals offer an excellent forum for high quality debate and dissemination of ideas.’ Richard Hickman, University of Cambridge / Intellect Author
intellect | www.intellectbooks.com | Book Orders: 1-800-621-2736 | Journal Orders: 1-860-350-0041
Beyond Auteurism: New Directions in Authorial Film Practices in France, Italy and Spain since the 1980s
$40 | ISBN 9781841501482
By Rosanna Maule $60 / ISBN 9781841502045 / hb
Reviewed By Ian Touchstone-Griffin
Beyond Auteurism is a comprehensive study of nine film authors from France, Italy and Spain who have blurred the boundaries between art-house and mainstream, and national and transnational film production. Maule examines how the individuals have maintained a dialectical relationship with the authorial tradition of the national cinema to which each belongs. The book studies the work, practices and styles of European filmmakers including Luc Besson, Claire Denis and Alejandro Amenábar. Beyond Auteurism offers an important contribution to a historicized and contextualized view of film authorship from a theoretical framework that rejects Western-centred and essentialist views of cinematic practices and contexts.
Principal Editor: Hamish Fyfe Associate Editors:Huw Champion & Stephanie Knight
By Rosemary Sassoon
more books of interest n
Pak Tong Cheuk’s Hong Kong New Wave Cinema (1978-2000) is an extensive guide to one of Hong Kong’s most important film movements. Cheuk, an Associate Professor in the Film and Television department at Hong Kong Baptist University, illuminates a movement beloved by film scholars, students and fans the world over. The New Wave’s influences and style were integral in paving the way for the modern international sensations of Hong Kong cinema. Cheuk presents a close up view of the movement, its context and its important figures and films. Cheuk expertly analyzes the movement and discusses it with passion and respect. He provides a scholarly audience with fully developed theories about the arrival of the New Wave, with thorough social and historical contexts to satisfy the casual reader. He also manages to keep the weighty subject matter grounded through the use of familiar films and figures in both Chinese and Hong Kong cinema. This use of historical context makes the reader feel an intimate understanding of the evolution of the film industry in Hong Kong, and The author is clearly invested the lasting influence of New in this topic and a follow-up Wave films. His discussion of the book would be more than New Wave directors aims to shed light on the role welcome as there is plenty of western film education left to discuss. in shaping the future of Hong Kong cinema, as well as how the New Wave added many new stylistic techniques to the industry’s repertoire, which its directors refined during their work in television. Their mastery of cinematic language, coupled with their uniquely local perspective, brought Hong Kong cinema into the international spotlight giving the New Wave directors an international stage. Cheuk writes with a simple elegance that involves and engages the reader. Hong Kong New Wave Cinema is great for any scholar, student, or kung fu lover, because it provides a comprehensive timeline of the events that became the New Wave movement, and created its lasting cinematic footprint. Ian Touchstone-Griffin is an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, USA.
Australian Post-War Documentary Film An Arc of Mirrors By Deane Williams $60 / ISBN 9781841502106 / hb The post-war period in Australian cultural history sparked critical debate over notions of nation-building, multiculturalism and internationalization. Australian Post-War Documentary Film tackles these issues in a wideranging analysis of government, institutional and also radical documentaries. Williams critiques the key films of the era, including the seminal The Back of Beyond, often cited as the greatest Australian film of all time. Australian Post-War Documentary Film will appeal to anyone interested in international cinema, the way that it theorizes the period and offers a host of international comparisons, widening its ideas to the fabric of cultural production that surrounds all art works. IQ 2009| 23
intellect publishers of original thinking
Theater & Music
Book Reviews iQuote » “Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” – Scott Adams
Declarations of Independence: American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production
Books & Journals Russia, Freaks and Foreigners: Three Performance Texts
Performing Ethos
Principal Editor: Carole-Anne Upton. Associate Editors: Mark Taylor-Batty & Daniel Watt
By James MacDonald $30 | ISBN 9781841501864 | pb
By John Berra $40 | ISBN 9781841501857 | pb Reviewed by Christine Carr York
ISSN: 17571979 | Vol 1 2009: 2 issues
Sex on Stage: Gender and Sexuality ISSN: 17435234 in Post-War British Theatre
Journal of Dance & Somatic Practices
Principal Editor: Sarah Whatley Associate Editors: Kirsty Alexander & Natalie Garrett
By Andrew Wyllie $30 | ISBN 9781841502038 | hb
ISSN: 17571871 | Vol 1 2009: 2 issues
Bringing Down the House: The Crisis in Britain’s Regional Theatres
International Journal of Community Music
Editors: David Elliott & Lee Higgins Associate Editor: Kari Veblen
By Olivia Turnbull $40 | ISBN 9781841502083 | pb
ISSN: 17526299 | Vol 1 2008: 3 issues
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‘Many ideas grow when transported into another mind than in the one where they sprang up.’ Oliver Wendell Holmes Share your ideas with us and watch them grow. Go to: www.intellectbooks.com/publish.html
intellect | www.intellectbooks.com | Book Orders: 1-800-621-2736 | Journal Orders: 1-860-350-0041
John Berra’s academic discussion of American independent cinema has the best of intentions. Independent cinema’s relationship with mainstream films and the studio system is complicated and merits intense scrutiny. From the beginning, Berra is optimistic, but does not always seem able to decide which aspect of study deserves the most focus. He states his objective is “to disprove the popular assumption amongst commercial journalists and consumers of popular culture, that cinematic works that have been declared as, or critically assigned the status of, ‘independent,’ are autonomous of corporate sponsorship, or influence from other forms of popular media,” but has much more in store for the reader (10). Berra would also like to “redefine what can be meant by the term ‘modern American independent cinema’” and to “establish whether creative autonomy can actually exist within the system of mass production” (10-11). The author addresses these objectives by examining how specific independent films and film-makers relate to the studio
system. In doing so the author sets himself quite a tricky task as there is so much to include in such a short book. Berra assumes his audience knows little about Hollywood’s system of mass production so the bulk of his initial discussion focuses on the studio system and its relationship to and acceptance of independent film. He raises some interesting, fleeting points, such as suggesting that independent cinema has taken the place of foreign film in America. The fact that the studios’ stranglehold on marketing and distribution prevents a true independent cinema from ever existing is discussed at great length, however. Even in his analyses, Hollywood encroaches upon the discussion. While no
overlooking independent films. For once, Hollywood could take a backseat to the independents, but the book seems to keep it very much the centre of attention. Perhaps in its inclusion, the author is commenting on its power and omnipresence in the industry. Berra also includes other theorists and academics in his study. The negative side of this technique is that he admits in the introduction that critical discussion of independent cinema is severely lacking. Therefore, his attempts at finding other theorists’ views to support his own are perhaps not always helpful. However, he very wisely includes references to the cultural changes and societal upheavals that allowed the most important independent films such as Easy Rider to have such
The author is clearly invested in this topic and a follow-up book would be more than welcome as there is plenty left to discuss. study of American cinema can ever completely avoid mentioning the Hollywood machine, it has been analyzed many times before,
impact. Berra is at his best in these instances and when discussing specific directors and films. Rather than simply working from the
exterior to the interior, as stated in the introduction, the study actually benefits from jumping into the in-depth analyses that are its heart and soul. In his acknowledgements, Berra welcomes any discussion that arises from his book’s publication. Since generating discussion is one of independent cinema’s aims, it feels particularly appropriate and appreciated. The author is clearly invested in this topic and a follow-up book would be more than welcome as there is plenty left to discuss. A close study of American independent cinema is long overdue, and this painstaking inquiry gets the ball rolling. Christine Carr York is a recent graduate of the Film Studies Department, University of North Carolina Wilmington.
8
Send us your letters and feedback as we’d love to hear from you.
[email protected]
IQ 2009 | 25
North America
University of Chicago Press
iQuote » “How much easier it is to be critical than to be correct.” –Benjamin Disraeli
iQuote » “Concentration comes out of a combination of confidence and hunger.” – Arnold Palmer
Since 2006, Intellect has been working with the University of Chicago Press to make our books available in North America. But what does this mean for Intellect’s authors? Well, your book will not only get the attention of our own excellent marketing team in the UK, but also the professional services of the marketing team at the University of Chicago Press. At the press, Intellect books are treated in very much the same way as their own books. Our books are included in their catalogues, advertised in relevant publications, sent out as review and inspection copies, displayed and sold at conferences, and presented to bookstores by their dedicated sales force – all with the added benefit of their expertise in the North American market. It also means that Intellect titles are stocked at the University of Chicago Press’s distribution center – one of the largest in North America, so it is easy for students, colleagues and bookstores based in the US to get hold of Intellect books. At Intellect, we work closely with the marketing team at the Press, sending them any information which might be helpful for them to successfully promote our titles, informing them of author events or visits in North America, and presenting our new titles at their sales conference in Chicago twice a year. This year, we are opening an editorial office in North America, so that we can increase awareness of Intellect in the region, and encourage submissions from North American authors – both to our books and journals programs. This will not affect the way that we work with the Press, who will still be active in marketing and distributing our books. If you are an Intellect author, this new development means that Intellect will have a greater international presence, which is good news for you and your book! If you are thinking about submitting a proposal, please contact us: www.intellectbooks.com
University of Chicago Press
Chicago
26 | Thinking in Color
Since its founding in 1891 as one of the three original divisions of the University of Chicago, the Press has embraced as its mission the obligation to disseminate scholarship of the highest standard and to publish serious works that promote education, foster public understanding, and enrich cultural life. Through their books and journals programs, they seek not only to advance scholarly conversation within and across traditional disciplines but, in keeping with the University of Chicago’s experimental tradition, to help define new areas of knowledge and intellectual endeavor.
Teresa Fagan An interview with the University of Chicago Press’s Marketing Distribution Manager
What is your role at the University of Chicago Press? I am responsible for coordinating the University of Chicago Press’s Marketing Distribution program. The Press markets, promotes and distributes books for over 40 publishers, both in the US and abroad. What is the relationship between University of Chicago Press and Intellect? Intellect is one of our Marketing Distribution publishers. In your opinion, what does Intellect bring to the academic book market in North America? Intellect brings a new, edgier, European perspective to issues of interest to the academy. Intellect’s publishing is an invigorating blend of the theoretical with the practical, especially in the area of art where they address not only scholars and critics but also artists and their teachers.
ABOVE: University of Chicago Press’s Catalogue featuring Intellect’s titles.
University of Chicago Press Building
Intellect in North America
How do you promote Intellect’s titles in North America? We include Intellect’s titles in our bi-annual seasonal catalogs; we compile a list of potential reviewers and send out review copies of new books; we place Intellect’s books in adverts in print and electronic media; our sales representatives call on retail outlets and promote Intellect’s books in person.
What do you consider to be the key current issues in academic publishing? The influence of electronic publishing and of the Internet in selling books. I believe that for academic works e-books will be the wave of the future. As electronic reading devices become more common and more refined and people become more accustomed to reading texts electronically, the ability to purchase and download academic texts quickly and relatively inexpensively will no doubt become the norm. I also think web-based catalogs will become even more important than they currently are in promoting and selling academic texts. What motivated you to get into publishing? A love of books! Tell us about the last book you read. I’ve just finished the novel by the Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Le Clézio, Le Chercheur d’or, a beautiful, almost mystical coming-of-age tale. I love Le Clézio’s work because his books create sensual, spiritual, completely engaging other worlds. And the Chercheur exudes an almost Proustian sensitivity as the young protagonist’s adventures are told. It is wonderful to lose yourself in such a work. And I am proud to have been the translator of Le Clézio’s Le Rêve Mexicain - The Mexican Dream - published by The University of Chicago Press in 1993. It is truly a unique and wonderful book. IQ 2009 | 27
Conferences
Conferences
iQuote » “One cannot review a bad book without showing off.” – W. H. Auden
iQuote » “If I have lost confidence in myself, I have the universe against me.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
Conferences 2008 LAST year saw Intellect set up stand at many interesting and varied academic conferences across our subject areas of film studies, media and culture, art and design and theater and music. This included several high profile US conferences. In March we attended the Society for Cinema and Media Studies (SCMS) conference in Philadelphia. This long-standing event is probably the most well attended international
conference in the area of film studies. SCMS 2008 was hosted by the Loews Hotel in the Millennium Hall, Philadelphia and we set up stand (pictured overleaf ) alongside our US distributor, the University of Chicago Press. Our journal Film International attracted lots of attention at the conference, as did one of our key film titles of the year, Declarations of Independence: American Cinema and the Partiality of Independent Production by John Berra.
A couple of months later, Intellect also headed to the 58th International Communication Association (ICA) conference, held in Montréal, Canada over 22-26th May. The conference was one of the major events of the media studies calendar, with over 2000 international attendees. This event was based around the theme of ‘communicating for social impact’, and proved a great opportunity for Intellect to exhibit our ever-growing list of media and culture books and journals. We also met with several authors and editors at the event. See pictured (below right) the very distinctive Intellect booth in the exhibit hall at the conference centre, Le Centre Sheraton – look out for our stand at future events. Throughout 2008 we were also present at several European conferences, and many in the UK, for example Screen conference at the University of Glasgow and the MECCSA Postgraduate confer-
Intellect’s stand at SCMS conference
ence at the University of Sussex in Brighton. Academic conferences provide us with a wonderful opportunity to meet and converse with our authors and editors and to exchange ideas and information. Much time and effort is spent, very productively, with the written word and the computer screen and it would be easy to forget the human interaction and ideas that go into every one of our publications. Attending conferences allows us to meet face-toface with our community. Our mission is to be a publisher of original thinking: accepting proposals and commissioning based on the merit of ideas rather than sales. We campaign for the author rather than producing a book or journal to fill a gap in the market, and aim to provide a vital space for widening critical debate in emerging subject areas, supporting authors and editors by bringing their ideas to as wide a readership as possible.
So, conference attendance is a fantastic way of promoting and exhibiting the work of our authors and editors to its target audience and also to encourage new submissions – in the form of journal articles, book proposals and new journal ideas. We take new author and editor packs along to every conference, bursting with information about Intellect – a copy of IQ magazine, business cards and a questionnaire in which we ask prospective authors and editors to propose their ideas. We are also regularly complimented on our cover designs, publicity material such as postcards and pens at conferences, and above all the originality and innovation of ideas and subjects throughout our publications (sometimes by competing publishers!). In 2008 we attended a significant number of both national and international conferences. We have also concentrated on having a presence at smaller conferences
and events by sending inserts for delegate packs, display materials and advertising in conference programs. For us, it’s essential to maintain this level of attendance and publicity at conferences. In 2009, we plan to attend many more. Our Associate Publisher, May Yao, will be the primary attendee of US/Canadian conferences in 2009, as she will now be based in North America. Come and say hello at the Intellect stand! Just a few of the upcoming 2009 conferences we plan to attend are: •
College Art Association 97th Annual Conference held in Los Angeles 25th – 28th February 2009
•
ICA, Chicago, 21st – 25th May 2009
• SCMS (held in Tokyo in 2009, but SCMS is a US association) 21st – 24th May 2009
(left to right) May Yao, Associate Publisher and Sam King, Book Publishing Manager.
Above The Montréal Skyline
28 | Thinking in Color
IQ 2009 | 29
Art & Design
intellect books &Journals
inspiration
iQuote » ‘To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge.” –Benjamin Disraeli
education
culture
art&design theatre
IQ Spring 2009 | 30
in the constitution of our experiential world. To question the structure of language is to investigate how realities are constructed. My holograms define a linguistic experience that takes place outside syntax and conceptualize instability as a key signifying agent. I use digital holography to blur the frontier between words and images and to create an animated syntax that stretches words beyond their meaning in ordinary discourse. I employ computer animation techniques to create a new kind of visual-poetic composition, which undermines fixed states (i.e., words charged visually or images enriched verbally) and which could be defined as a constant oscillation between them. Holopoems are both an investigation of the processes of language and of holographic meaning. The use of digital holography as a writing medium re-
flects my desire to create experimental texts that move language, and more specifically, written language, beyond the linearity and rigidity that characterize its printed form. I never adapt existing texts to holography. I try to investigate the possibility of creating works that emerge from a genuine holographic syntax. Media Poetry is an international anthology of radically new poetry which takes language beyond the confines of the printed page into a non-linear world of digital interactivity and hyperlinkage. { Eduardo Kac is Professor of Art and Technology Studies at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Image above: “HOLO/OLHO” (HOLO/EYE), 25X30cm, Reflective Holograms mounted on wood and plexiglass, 1983. Collection UECLAA, University of Essex, UK.
Further Reading
Media Poetry By Eduardo Kac $35 ISBN 9781841500300 ‘Kac’s anthology displays a range of approaches toward literacy dynamism in Europe and the Americas across four decades.’ - Chris Funkhouser, Electronic Book Review
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imagination
Holopoetry investigates the nature of language and its relationship to visuality, issues relevant both to literature and art. Holopoems are holograms that address language as material and subject matter. I create visual texts which can only signify upon the active perceptual and cognitive engagement on the part of the reader or viewer. This ultimately means that each reader “writes” his or her own texts as he or she looks at the piece. My holopoems don’t rest quietly on the surface. When the viewer starts to look for words and their links, the texts will transform themselves, move in three-dimensional space, change in color and meaning, coalesce and disappear. This viewer-activated choreography is as much a part of the signifying process as the transforming verbal and visual elements themselves. Language plays a fundamental role
By Eduardo Kac
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