Martha Rosler: The Bowery in Two Inadequate Descriptive Systems

In “The Bowery in two inadequate descriptive systems” (1974–1975) Martha Rosler bridged the concerns of conceptual art with those of political documentary. The work, a series of twenty‑one black‑and‑white photographs, twenty‑four text panels and three blank panels, embraces the codes of the photo‑text experiments of the late 1960s and applies them to the social reality of New York’s Lower East Side. The prevailing critical view of “The Bowery” focuses on its implicit rejection, or critique, of established modes of documentary. In this illustrated, extended essay on the work by Rosler, Steve Edwards argues that although the critical attitude towards documentary is an important dimension of the piece, it does not exhaust the meaning of the project.

Details

Personalities

Rosler Martha

Type

Book

Series

One Work

Place of publication

London

Publisher

Afterall

Year

2012

Number of pages

148 pages

Language

English

ISBN

9781846380846

Open stacks or available on request

Available on request

Illustrations

Yes

Bibliography

No

UDC code and author sign

709.203 Ros

Volumes

1

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