Books by Amanda du Preez
Chapter title: Approaching Aby Warburg and Digital Art History Thinking Through Images, 2020
The Routledge Companion to Digital Humanities and Art History offers a broad survey of cutting-ed... more The Routledge Companion to Digital Humanities and Art History offers a broad survey of cutting-edge intersections between digital technologies and the study of art history, museum practices, and cultural heritage. The volume focuses not only on new computational tools that have been developed for the study of artworks and their histories but also debates the disciplinary opportunities and challenges that have emerged in response to the use of digital resources and methodologies. Chapters cover a wide range of technical and conceptual themes that define the current state of the field and outline strategies for future development. This book offers a timely perspective on transdisciplinary developments that are reshaping art historical research, conservation, and teaching. This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, historical theory, method and historiography, and research methods in education. Kathryn Brown is a lecturer in art history and visual culture at Loughborough University, UK.
Voices from the South: Digital Arts and Humanities, 2018
This volume captures the status of digital humanities within the Arts in South Africa. The primar... more This volume captures the status of digital humanities within the Arts in South Africa. The primary research methodology falls within the broader tradition of phenomenological hermeneutics, with a specific emphasis on visual hermeneutics. Some of the tools utilised as part of the visual hermeneutic methods are geographic information system (GIS) mapping, sensory ethnography and narrative pathways. Digital humanities is positioned here as the necessary engagement of the humanities with the pervasive digital culture of the 21st century. It is posited that the humanities and arts, in particular, have an essential role to play in unlocking meaning from scientific, technological and data-driven research. The critical engagement with digital humanities is foregrounded throughout the volume, as this crucial engagement works through images. Images (as understood within image studies) are not merely another text but always more than a text. As such, this book is the first of its kind in the South African scholarly landscape, and notably also a first on the African continent. Its targeted audience include both scholars within the humanities, particularly in the arts and social sciences. Researchers pursuing the new field of digital humanities may also find the ideas presented in this book significant. Several of the chapters analyse the question of dealing with digital humanities through representations of the self as viewed from the Global South. However, it should be noted that self-representation is not the only area covered in this volume. The latter chapters of the book discuss innovative ways of implementing digital humanities strategies and methodologies for teaching and researching in South Africa.
Prof. Amanda du Preez, Visual Culture Studies, Department of Visual Arts, University of Pretoria
Selfies have become more dangerous than sharks, if the 15 reported selfie deaths in 2015 are comp... more Selfies have become more dangerous than sharks, if the 15 reported selfie deaths in 2015 are compared to the eight shark attacks in the same year. Determining the exact parameters for a selfie death or death by selfie is difficult; in some cases, one may argue that the selfie is not the cause of death but in fact only occurs tragically before the event. The focus of this article falls on those selfies that were taken in pursuit of experiencing a sublime encounter with mortality and that in the end succeeded in evoking that looming encounter. It is argued that the obsession to experience the inexplicable is, however, not a recent endeavour, and the sublime is a useful aesthetic category to unpack the phenomenon of selfie deaths. In the analysis, three categories are identified to interpret the subject, namely, selfies unknowingly taken before death, selfies of death where the taker's death is almost witnessed and selfies with death where the taker stands by while someone else dies. The emphasis falls on the analysis of selfies of death that overlaps with the sublime experience almost entirely, and it becomes nearly impossible to distinguish between selfie and sublimity. According to the popular press, in 2015 it was more likely that you would die while taking a selfie than being attacked and killed by a shark. 1 The deadly 'monster' from the Jaws franchise has officially become less frightening than capturing one's image via a smartphone, that is, if the 15 reported selfie deaths are compared to the eight shark attacks of 2015. Determining the exact parameters for death by selfie or selfiecide is difficult , and in some cases, one may argue that the selfie is not the cause of death but in fact
Amanda du Preez the contemporary sublime and the culture of extremes: parkour and finding the fre... more Amanda du Preez the contemporary sublime and the culture of extremes: parkour and finding the freedom of the city biography Amanda du Preez completed her Doctoral studies at the University of South Africa in 2002 with the title Gendered Bodies and New Technologies. The thesis has one founding premise, namely that embodiment constitutes a non-negotiable prerequisite for human life. Over the past 15 years she has lectured at the University of Pretoria, University of South Africa, the Pretoria Technikon, and the Open Window Art Academy, on subjects ranging from Art History, Visual Communication, and Art Therapy to Open and Distance Learning. She is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of Pretoria, in the Department of Visual Arts, and teaches Visual Culture and Art History. In 2005 she co-authored South African Visual Culture with J. van Eeden (Van Schaik: Pretoria). The following publications are forthcoming: Gendered Bodies and New Technologies: Rethinking Embodiment in a Cyber Era (Unisa Press) and Taking a Hard Look: Gender and Visual Culture (Cambridge Scholars Press). Her field of expertise includes gender and feminist theories, virtual and cyber culture, bio-politics, new technologies, and film and visual culture.
Meeting the Doppelg nger (double) is described in literature as a premonition of one's imminent d... more Meeting the Doppelg nger (double) is described in literature as a premonition of one's imminent demise it is the kiss of death. The ominous figure of the Doppelg
Papers by Amanda du Preez
Theory, Culture & Society, 2012
Ross Abbinnett Kiyoshi Abe Raja Adal Peter Adey Niels Albertsen Lori Allen Anne Allison Ash Amin ... more Ross Abbinnett Kiyoshi Abe Raja Adal Peter Adey Niels Albertsen Lori Allen Anne Allison Ash Amin Louise Amoore Jens Andermann Ben Anderson Ien Ang Gil Anidjar Floya Anthias Antonio Arantes John Armitage Karel Arnaut Rowland Atkinson Jonathan Bach Dirk Baecker Peter Baehr Patrick Baert Jennifer Bajorek William Balee Anne Barron Andrew Barry Zohreh Bayatrizi David Beer Fernanda Beigel Peter Beilharz Vikki Bell Debra Benita Shaw David Bennett Shaun Best Gurminder Bhambra Gregory Bird Ole Bjerg Claire Blencowe Anders Blok Thomas Boland Dave Boothroyd Christian Borch Georgina Born Rosi Braidotti Benjamin Bratton Andrea Brighenti Julian Brigstocke Vanessa Brown Antony Bryant Robin Bunton Peter Burke James Burton Robert Button David Byrne Matthew Calarco Kirsten Campbell Michael Campbell Elizabeth Carnegie Michael Carolan Ellis Cashmore Antonio Casilli Stephen Casper Genaro Castro-Vazquez David Cecchetto Iain Chambers Sébastien Chauvin John Cheney-Lippold Daniel Chernilo
New York boasts the Statue of Liberty, Rio de Janeiro takes cover in the shadow of the giant Cris... more New York boasts the Statue of Liberty, Rio de Janeiro takes cover in the shadow of the giant Cristo Rendentor atop the Corcovado, and nowthe city of Johannesburg is graced with its own 'street hero' (p. 82), namely Fire Walker the figure of a female vendor in motion although stationed at the foot of the Queen Elizabeth Bridge in downtown Johannesburg's lively bustle. Even if Fire Walker does not share thesame utopian spirit (or perhaps she does?) as the colossal antecedents in New York or Rio de Janeiro - for she deals more with 'bare life' (p. 2) - the sculptural collaboration between artists William Kentridge and Gerhard Marx, commissioned for the World Soccer Cup event of 2010, did culminate in an impressive 'eleven-metre-high assemblage of laser-cutsteel plates' (p. 15).
... unworkable. By focusing on a local body, namely that of the Quena woman Saartjie Baartman - a... more ... unworkable. By focusing on a local body, namely that of the Quena woman Saartjie Baartman - also known as the "Hottentot Venus" - the problematic separation between local bodies and global information is explored. It is ...
Tydskrif Vir Letterkunde, 2004
Op 30 Junie 1952 is Woman's World vir die eerste maal uitgesaai vanuit die Kaapstadse ateljee... more Op 30 Junie 1952 is Woman's World vir die eerste maal uitgesaai vanuit die Kaapstadse ateljees van die destydse SAUK. Geskoei op die resep van die BBC program Woman's Hour wat vanaf 1946 uitgesaai is en gepoog het om vroue weer tuis te bring in die huis na die afloop van die wereldoorlog, het die Suid-Afrikaanse weergawe Woman's World ook elke moontlike onderwerp wat vroue mag raak op die lug aangepak. Vanaf 1995 is die program herdoop tot Woman Today en dit is dan ook die titel van die bundel saamgestel deur Hilary Reynolds en Nancy Richards. Die boek is soos die samestellers dit stel, "'n boek van die radioprogram" wat die eerste vyftig bestaansjare van die program dek vanaf 1952 tot 2002.
Image & Text : a Journal for Design, 2004
Image & Text : a Journal for Design, 2011
Traditionally considered to be the breeding ground of the monstrous, the limen is the non-place w... more Traditionally considered to be the breeding ground of the monstrous, the limen is the non-place where hybrids congeal and mutate into extraordinary amalgamations. The latest cultural phenomenon of zef as embodied in the rap rave band Die Antwoord reveals precisely such a monstrous hybridity. Zef - a term describing white (predominantly Afrikaans) trash - automatically situates Die Antwoord as liminal outsiders and interlopers. In many ways, Die Antwoord resembles a circus troupe of freaks: front man Ninja is golem-like with his tattooed torso, Yo-landi Vi$$er resembles an acidic nymph and DJ High Tek plods along in the flanks. My analysis builds and expands on recognised correspondences between the monstrous, the liminal and the carnival. I show how liminal aspects (both monstrous and carnivalesque) are cleverly co-opted by Die Antwoord into a monstrous carnivalesque extravaganza, whereby the liminal is converted into a suspended moment of consumption. The extent to which liminality...
Peffer's collection of essays is shrewdly entitled 'Art and the end of apartheid' rat... more Peffer's collection of essays is shrewdly entitled 'Art and the end of apartheid' rather than, as one might expect, 'Art from the end of apartheid'. The choice to add 'and' was a wise one, as it helped Peffer to keep the two concepts apart and not to conflate them into the same historical moment. Peffer informs the reader that it is particularly the period from 1976 to 1994 that forms the scope of his analysis.
This volume captures the status of digital humanities within the Arts in South Africa. The primar... more This volume captures the status of digital humanities within the Arts in South Africa. The primary research methodology falls within the broader tradition of phenomenological hermeneutics, with a specific emphasis on visual hermeneutics. Some of the tools utilised as part of the visual hermeneutic methods are geographic information system (GIS) mapping, sensory ethnography and narrative pathways. Digital humanities is positioned here as the necessary engagement of the humanities with the pervasive digital culture of the 21st century. It is posited that the humanities and arts, in particular, have an essential role to play in unlocking meaning from scientific, technological and data-driven research. The critical engagement with digital humanities is foregrounded throughout the volume, as this crucial engagement works through images. Images (as understood within image studies) are not merely another form of text but always more than text. As such, this book is the first of its kind in...
© Universit y of South Africa Press ISSN 0004-3389 pp 6–18 In the wake of Juliet’s untimely death... more © Universit y of South Africa Press ISSN 0004-3389 pp 6–18 In the wake of Juliet’s untimely death, these short engagements with her work are perhaps not so untimely. It is always difficult to speak or write in the face of death, and therefore I am incredibly thankful to the authors who were prepared to contribute to this remembering of Juliet’s legacy at such short notice. In his contribution Terry King, former colleague and Head of the Department of Art History and Fine Art at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, provides some insights into recurring themes and materials in Juliet’s oeuvre. Jenny Stretton, curator at the Durban Art Gallery, reflects on the time spent with Juliet during the recent sculpture exhibition ‘All Fired Up’ at the gallery. Remembering Juliet Armstrong
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Books by Amanda du Preez
Prof. Amanda du Preez, Visual Culture Studies, Department of Visual Arts, University of Pretoria
Papers by Amanda du Preez
Prof. Amanda du Preez, Visual Culture Studies, Department of Visual Arts, University of Pretoria