Crisis Style: The Aesthetics of Repair

In his book "Crisis Style," Michael Dango argues that aesthetic style manages crisis and that taking aesthetics seriously means taking crisis seriously. He employs promiscuous archives to traverse media and re-shuffle literary and art historical genealogies, discussing social media filters, minimalism, television shows, modernist cuisine, fashion design, and writing by various authors. The book offers a compelling argument for why aesthetic theory is necessary to understand our world today.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 336 pages
Publication date: 16 November 2021
Publisher: Stanford University Press

In this groundbreaking and thought-provoking new work, Michael Dango delves into the intricate relationship between aesthetic style and crisis management, arguing that taking both aesthetics and crisis seriously is essential for understanding our contemporary world. The four actions of detoxing, filtering, bingeing, and ghosting have become prevalent in our response to the stress of living in a world that appears perpetually in crisis. Dango contends that these actions can also be applied to describe contemporary art and literature.

Through the use of promiscuous archives, Dango traverses various media and re-shuffles literary and art historical genealogies to support his argument. The book explores social media filters alongside the minimalist works of Donald Judd and La Monte Young, as well as the television shows The West Wing and True Detective. It also reflects on the modernist cuisine of Ferran Adrià and the fashion design of Issey Miyake. Furthermore, it dissects the writing of renowned authors such as Barbara Browning, William S. Burroughs, Raymond Carver, Mark Danielewski, Jennifer Egan, Tao Lin, David Mitchell, Joyce Carol Oates, Mary Robison, and Zadie Smith. Crisis Style serves as both a taxonomy of contemporary cultural production and a theorization of action in a world that continually requires repair.

By unpacking the stylistic choices of these works, Dango reveals how they detox, filter, binge, or ghost their respective worlds. Through this analysis, he presents a compelling argument for why aesthetic theory is crucial in understanding our actions and interactions in the world today. Crisis Style offers a valuable perspective on the role of aesthetics in navigating the challenges of our time, urging us to take both aesthetics and crisis seriously as we seek to make sense of our complex and rapidly changing world.

Weight: 512g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781503629554