Dissolve into Comprehension - Writings and Interviews, 1964-2004

Dissolve into Comprehension - Writings and Interviews, 1964-2004 by Jack Burnham, edited by Melissa Ragain / ISBN 9780262029278 / 320-page hardback with 32 illustrations, from MIT Press / discounted copies with remainder dot and very light wear *** Influential writings by the legendary art critic and theorist Jack Burnham—a pioneer in new media systems aesthetics and an early advocate of conceptualism. Jack Burnham is one of the few critics and theorists alive today who can claim to have radically altered the way we think about works of art. Burnham's use of the term “system” (borrowed from theoretical biology) in his 1968 essay “System Aesthetics” announced the relational character of conceptual art and newer research-based projects. Trained as an art historian, Burnham was also a sculptor. His first book, Beyond Modern Sculpture (1968), established him as a leading commentator on art and technology. A postformalist pioneer, an influential figure in new media art history, an early cha