Towards a Genealogy of Spectacle: Understanding Contemporary Spectacular Experiences

Towards a Genealogy of Spectacle is an exploration of contemporary experience of spectacle in its multiple layers, as it attempts to expose the forces that are at work in the making of spectacular events. It sets before itself two goals: to understand the language of spectacle, and to dissect the pathos of spectacle of contemporary society. In an age that is saturated with technology and the products of mass media, it aims to show how and why grand artistic spectacles are needed for the life and health of a culture. The book engages with the ideas of various thinkers from Kant and Schopenhauer to Foucault and Debord on the subject and aims to open up new spaces for thinking and is an invitation to spectacle-makers towards a fusion of art and philosophy. --- "In Towards a Genealogy of Spectacle Yunus Tuncel shows what it means to reflect, once again, Nietzsche's claim of aesthetic justification of life in the height of our time. He does not just accept this claim, but rather renews it by thoughtfully bringing before our eyes how spectacle could be thought of as a place for the gathering of creative forces." (Arno Böhler, Wien)