{"product_id":"speculative-taxidermy-natural-history-animal-surfaces-and-art-in-the-anthropocene-9780231180719","title":"Speculative Taxidermy: Natural History, Animal Surfaces, and Art in the Anthropocene","description":"\u003cp\u003eTaxidermy, once the province of natural history and dedicated to the pursuit of lifelike realism, has recently resurfaced in the world of contemporary art, culture, and interior design. In \u003ci\u003eSpeculative Taxidermy, \u003c\/i\u003eGiovanni Aloi offers a comprehensive mapping of the discourses and practices that have enabled the emergence of taxidermy in contemporary art. Drawing on the speculative turn in philosophy and recovering past alternative histories of art and materiality from a biopolitical perspective, Aloi theorizes \u003ci\u003especulative taxidermy\u003c\/i\u003e: a powerful interface that unlocks new ethical and political opportunities in human-animal relationships and speaks to how animal representation conveys the urgency of addressing climate change, capitalist exploitation, and mass extinction. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eA resolutely nonanthropocentric take on the materiality of one of the most controversial mediums in art, this approach relentlessly questions past and present ideas of human separation from the animal kingdom. It situates taxidermy as a powerful interface between humans and animals, rooted in a shared ontological and physical vulnerability. Carefully considering a select number of key examples including the work of Nandipha Mntambo, Maria Papadimitriou, Mark Dion, Berlinde De Bruyckere, Roni Horn, Oleg Kulik, Steve Bishop, Sn björnsdóttir\/Wilson, and Cole Swanson, \u003ci\u003eSpeculative Taxidermy \u003c\/i\u003econtextualizes the resilient presence of animal skin in the gallery space as a productive opportunity to rethink ethical and political stances in human-animal relationships.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eGiovanni Aloi is a lecturer in art history, theory, and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Sotheby's Institute of Art New York and London, and Tate Galleries. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eArt and Animals\u003c\/i\u003e (2011) and the founder and editor-in-chief of \u003ci\u003eAntennae: The Journal of Nature in Visual Culture\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Columbia University Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50872492294418,"sku":"9780231180719","price":43.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_08d3e676-1a18-4271-a1da-7702dd34718d.jpg?v=1737899750","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/speculative-taxidermy-natural-history-animal-surfaces-and-art-in-the-anthropocene-9780231180719","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}