21st century
A01=Ralph Rugoff
aesthetics
archaeology
architecture
architecture books
art
art book
art books
art history
artists
arts
artwork
Author_Ralph Rugoff
beauty
biography
books about books
british history
Category=AGA
Category=JBCC
Category=JHM
Category=WTHM
cinema
creativity
crime
critical theory
culture
design
education
england
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
eq_travel
essays
european history
film
geography
german
historical
how to
language
linguistics
literary criticism
maps
music
mystery
noir
philosophy
pop culture
psychology
reference
serial killer
sociology
theatre
vampires
wanderlust
work
world history
writing
Product details
- ISBN 9781859840030
- Weight: 579g
- Dimensions: 201 x 221mm
- Publication Date: 17 Nov 1995
- Publisher: Verso Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Paperback
Secure
checkout
Fast Shipping
Easy returns
Circus Americanus is a riotous excursion through America's changing visual landscape. Exploring its remote corners and bizarre byways, Ralph Rugoff takes us on a tour of theme park slums and mystical police cars, futurist war and the "aesthetics of safe chaos." With an idiosyncratic eye for detail, he maps a culture in which "reality" has become just another theme, revealing an America much stranger than the glamorous kitsch of its surfaces. Whether he is writing about Las Vegas casinos, forensic cartoons, the enigma of Napoleon's preserved penis or the aesthetics of sewage treatment, Rugoff considers everyday marvels with a concern for how we live together in a world beyond belief.
Ralph Rugoff is Director of the Hayward Gallery and was previously a Los Angeles art critic covering visual culture for LA Weekly.
