Publisher's Synopsis
The Power of Wonder - New Materialisms in Contemporary Art For the longest time, physical matter was seen as no more than a passive and lifeless object. Since the early years of the twenty-first century, however, visual artists and scientists alike have initiated a change of thinking, conceiving matter as active, unruly, and autonomous. The ethnologist Hans Peter Hahn has called it the " willfulness of things," while the Belgian philosopher Isabelle Stengers has underscored the " power of wonder" - the bracing sense of marvel and surprise instilled by a material world that sometimes defies the attempt to put it into words. This pioneering publication features six selected artistic positions that highlight the New Materialism' s significance for contemporary art. The artists employ materials that are millions of years old such as rocks from an open-pit mine as well as classic inorganic staples like ceramics and cutting-edge materials like digital products transformed in high-tech procedures into hitherto unseen hybrid objects. Their work lends art a powerful voice in contemporary debates around man' s position vis-à -vis his environment, around sustainability, participation, and justice.
