Iridescent Kuwait : Petro-Modernity and Urban Visual Culture since the Mid-Twentieth Century / Laura Hindelang.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hindelang, Laura, Author.

Contributor:

Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF), Funder.

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berlin ; Boston : De Gruyter, [2021]

Language Note:

In English.

Biography/History:

Laura Hindelang, Universität Bern, Vitrocentre Romont. ORCID 0000-0002-9195-9190

Summary:

Die Erdöl-Moderne ist ein lokales Phänomen der Geschichte Kuwaits, aber auch ein globales Ereignis und massgebliche Ursache des Klimawandels. Die Studie untersucht die Rolle von Erdöl in der visuellen Kultur Kuwaits im Kontext von Ideologien wie Modernisierung und politischer Repräsentation. Der Begriff des Irisierenden, eines in Regenbogenfarben schillernden Farbenspiels, dient als analytisch-ästhetisches Konzept, um den umstrittenen Beitrag von Erdöl in der Moderne zu diskutieren: sowohl Wohlstandsversprechen wie auch destruktive Kraft in soziokultureller und ökologischer Hinsicht. Das Buch versammelt eine Fülle historischen Bildmaterials, darunter Luft- und Farbfotografien, Briefmarken, Stadtpläne und Architekturdarstellungen, um unter Berücksichtigung von zeitgenössischer Kunst aus der Golfregion das visuelle Erbe der Erdöl- Moderne kritisch zu hinterfragen.

Petro-modernity is a local phenomenon essential to the history of Kuwait, while also a global experience and one of the prime sources of climate change. The book investigates petroleum's role in the visual culture of Kuwait to understand the intersecting ideologies of modernization, political representation, and oil. The notion of iridescence, the ambiguous yet mesmerizing effect of a rainbowlike color play, serves as analytical-aesthetic concept to discuss petroleum's ambiguous contribution to modernity: both promise of prosperity and destructive force of socio-cultural and ecological environments. Covering a broad spectrum of historical material from aerial and color photography, visual arts, postage stamps, and master plans to architecture and also contemporary art from the Gulf, it dismantles petro- modernity's visual legacy.

Contents:

Frontmatter

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1. AN IRIDESCENT APPROACH TO PETROLEUM AND MODERNITY

2. A (PRE-)OIL HISTORY OF KUWAIT

3. IMAG(IN)ING KUWAIT FROM ABOVE IN AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY, URBAN PLANNING, AND CARTOGRAPHY

4. THE KUWAIT OIL COMPANY, (COLOR) PHOTOGRAPHY, AND IRIDESCENT IMPRESSIONS

5. THE PETRO-STATE, ITS POSTAGE STAMPS, AND POLITICAL ICONOGRAPHY

6. THE 1990-91 GULF WAR: OIL FIRES, ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE, AND A SECOND RUPTURE

7. THE PETROLEUM PROMISE, NOSTALGIA, AND FUTURISM

BIBLIOGRAPHY

IMAGE CREDITS

Notes:

This eBook is made available Open Access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0 https://www.degruyter.com/dg/page/open-access-policy

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 10. Jan 2022)

ISBN:

9783110714739

3110714736

OCLC:

1334105356