Dialogic Materialism: Bakhtin, Embodiment and Moving Image Art

by Miriam Jordan-Haladyn

Dialogic Bakhtin, Embodiment and Moving Image Art argues for the relevance of Mikhail Bakhtin’s theories of dialogism as a means of examining the interdisciplinary nature of contemporary moving image art forms. The volume comprises six chapters divided into two sections. The first section, Part I, illustrates the key concepts in Bakhtin’s multifaceted dialogism and develops these ideas in relation to moving image art. The main focus of this first part is the proposal of what the author terms dialogic materialism, which builds upon the Marxism inherent in Bakhtin, examining the material processes of cultural exchange with a particular emphasis on multi-perspective subjective relations. Part II consists of case studies that apply dialogic materialism to the moving image artwork of three Stan Douglas, Jamelie Hassan and Chris Marker. Applying Bakhtinian theory to the field of the visual arts provides a means of examining the fundamentally dialogic nature of moving image art making and viewing, a perspective that is not fully developed within the existing literature.

144 pages, Hardcover

First published May 10, 2014

Reviews

[Ayush · Rating 5 out of 5]

J-H writes lucidly, integrating Bakhtin seamlessly with Benjamin, Focault and other theorists on embodiment and materiality. Her analysis of Canadian artists allows a detailed perspective, and allows the reader to sense what she has argued for.

Definitely makes me see Bakhtin somewhat differently.