Contemporary Art and Other Obstructions

A series of provocative and thought-provoking essays on the tribulations and contradiction besetting contemporary art.

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.