Contemporary Art and Other Obstructions

What is the position of art in contemporary culture, where it is threatened by an ever-greater diversity of media, discourses, practices, genres and forms? Contemporary Art and Other Obstructions sets out to answer this through exploring art and social agency, communication, the problem of Biennales and other major events, and the shadow of postcolonialism as it hangs over art and indigeneity.

Produced over the last two decades, the material gathered together here, and previously published only to a largely Australasian and Southeast Asian audience, is the product of a close collaboration between author Adam Geczy and editor Alan Cruickshank. With a new preface by the author and introduction by the editor, they have been adapted for an international audience, and re-edited for a critical engagement in the uneven and elusive notion that is contemporary art.

Adam Geczy is an artist and writer who teaches at the University of Sydney, Australia. His exhibitions have been shown throughout Europe, Asia and Australia where his work is held in several national collections. As a writer he has published over 25 books (on contemporary art, fashion, cultural studies and aesthetics), and is the author of numerous critical articles and book chapters.

Alan Cruickshank is an editor, publisher, writer and artist with an international career of more than three decades. As Director, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, his art and publishing projects especially focused on Australia’s relationship to greater Asia. He was recently publisher/editor of di’van | A Journal of Accounts and Honorary Research Fellow, Centre of Visual Art, University of Melbourne, Australia.