Bending Concepts: The Held Essays on Visual Art

A new compilation of essays from the Brooklyn Rail by 26 established artists, authors, and critics that investigate the changes in visual culture and society during the turbulent mid-2010s, between the heady days of Occupy Wall Street and the vicious rise of Donald Trump to the White House.

Edited by Jonathan T.D. Neil and Alexander Nagel, it includes over two dozen texts by seminal writers across disciplines from art history, critical theory, fiction, and criticism such as Claire Bishop, David Levi Strauss, T.J. Demos, Ariella Azoulay, and Sheila Heti. 

As a chronological collection, it is a slice of shifting and evolving thoughts on art and politics, a topic that becomes more urgent every day. In light of current debates over arts funding, this topic remains more relevant than ever.

These essays originally appeared in the pages of the Brooklyn Rail and are now available in this powerful, and timely compilation.

Featuring — Walter Benn Michaels, Claire Bishop, Talib Agape Fuegoverde, David Levi Strauss, Simon Critchley, T.J. Demos, Ariella Azoulay, Judith Rodenbeck, Katy Siegel, Martha Schwendener, Alva Noë, Blake Gopnik, David Geers, Alexander Nagel, David Robbins, Siona Wilson, Luis Camnitzer, Michael O'Hare, Alexander Dumbadze, Terry Smith, Alexi Worth, Gaby Collins-Fernandez, Katie Anania, Marika Takanishi Knowles, Sheila Heti, and Karen Archey.

Rail Editions is the press imprint of the Brooklyn Rail, publishes books of art, and literary criticism, poetry, experimental fiction, prose meditation, artists’ writings, and works in translation.