The Aesthetics of Image and Cultural Form
The Formal Method
Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies Series

Offering an alternative mode of visual cultural analysis to the prevalent discursive model, this book proposes to situate analysis of Image within ?formal? analyses of culture experience.

Specifically, the discussion draws on theories of affective aesthetics with the view of addressing the sensual form of culture (i.e. ?cultural form?). Therefore, the volume puts forward a mode of formalist analysis in visual cultural research which takes purchase on the idea of ?cultural form?. A continuum of formalist attention between Image analysis (visual media, industrial design) and probing of ?cultural forms? establishes the theoretical underpinning of the book. These concepts are expounded through a case study which looks at formal experimentations and debates arising from 1960s avant-garde artistic practices in London.

Introduction The Lively Form of ‘Image’

Chapter 1 Towards a Theory of ‘Image’ and ‘Cultural Form’

Chapter 2 An Environmental Definition of Image

Chapter 3 ‘Image’ as The Sensual Form of Mass Media

Chapter 4 ‘The Prolific Image Makers of Our Times’

Conclusion: The ‘Aesthetic Regime’ of Visual Cultural Analysis

Bibliography

Index

Yi Chen is a Senior Lecturer in Contextual and Theoretical Studies at University of the Arts London.