Transformative Avant-Garde and Other Writings

"A comprehensive collection of the written work by the artist Krzysztof Wodiczko. Exploring the development of Wodiczko's political, theoretical and social motivations, these essays provide a vital commentary on contemporary issues, such as immigration, war, memory and trauma, voiced coherently and powerfully by the artist, as well as by those marginalized groups of society with whom he collaborates. -- Coupled with his own personal insight as an immigrant, these texts showcase Wodiczko's understanding of the ongoing cultural impact of trauma and social alienation, bringing together investigations into the politics of the urban environment with psychological theory as part of a powerful argument for the role of artists as the transformative avant-garde. Alongside his often controversial projections onto the facades of official buildings and critical reanimation of national monuments, Wodiczko has developed the field of "Cultural Prosthetics" at his Interrogative Design Group at MIT and later at the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, producing cultural prostheses to be used by the vanquished, the silenced, the aliens, the 'others' and strangers to engage in crucial acts of "fearless speaking" or parrhésia.