{"product_id":"the-infinite-image-zainab-bahrani-9781780232775","title":"The Infinite Image: Art, Time and the Aesthetic Dimension in Antiquity","description":"In the ancient civilizations of the Near East and Mediterranean, images were used as a way to create reality and reach out to the infinite. Reviving the fascination that gripped the avant-garde and the surrealists when confronted with the arts of the ancient Near East, \u003ci\u003e The Infinite Image\u003c\/i\u003e presents a radical new reading of Mesopotamian art as an aesthetic realm defined by objects that transcend time in order to carry traces of the past into the present. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Zainab Bahrani's book opens in the early twentieth century, when artists and intellectuals like Alberto Giacometti, Henry Moore, and Georges Bataille were captivated by the ancient sculptures they encountered in European museums--before the question of the aesthetic in ancient art was rejected by rationalist scientific archaeology later in the century. She then travels back through the writings of Derrida, Hegel, Kant, and Plato to Mesopotamia, using these thinkers to argue that ancient images formed an aesthetic dimension that was both historical and evolving. She also addresses issues of the politics of cultural heritage important to Near Eastern art in the context of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and current instabilities in the Middle East. With over one hundred illustrations, \u003ci\u003eThe Infinite Image\u003c\/i\u003e will be necessary reading for anyone interested in the questions at the center of contemporary history and the anthropology of art.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Zainab Bahrani\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1780232772\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781780232775\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Reaktion Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 08\/15\/2014\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 240\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 2.30lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.90h x 7.60w x 1.00d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e 02\/01\/2015 pg. 961","brand":"Zainab Bahrani","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48447976243455,"sku":"9781780232775","price":55.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ab5d32f9-0527-4792-bf03-21d0f381ffbe.jpg?v=1777236073","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-infinite-image-zainab-bahrani-9781780232775","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}