History in Contemporary Art and Culture

This unique book offers guidance for contemporary art practices in dialogue with history, story, memory, and tradition.

Artist and lecturer Paul O’Kane uses innovative and creative means, informed by a storytelling tradition as well as academic research, to make connections between contemporary art, history, and the past. The aim of this book is to give readers a sense of the profundity of historical questions, while making the challenge inviting, welcoming and manageable. It is designed to set out an expansive, inclusive and diverse range of potential directions, and speculations from which students can develop personal paths of enquiry. This is achieved by writing and designing the text in an accessible way and providing a range of ‘ways-in’. A series of carefully chosen references, examples, key texts, and possible essay questions are chosen and pitched at various levels and can be close-read, discussed, digested, and responded to either verbally or in the form of a presentation or essay.

Written primarily for a broad range of fine arts students, this book encourages readers to reconsider their studies and art practices in light of a historical perspective, enhanced by creative contributions from artists, imaginative philosophers, and influential cultural commentators.

Single Author Monograph. Student friendly, illustrated book transcribing my BAFAF and MAFA seminars (on the title's theme) to book form. 258 Pages 44 B/W Illustrations.

Book Launch Event for 'History in Contemporary Art & Culture', Jan 19th 2023

This launch event welcomed 72 guests to the UAL's Lethaby Gallery space at CSM, between 5pm and 7 pm. CSM Research partly funded refreshments and paid for a guest speaker. The guest speaker was the artist Hew Locke, who, at that time, had just completed the run of 'The Procession', his historical installation at Tate Britain. AICA (Association of International Critics of Art) funded the remainder of the refreshments bill. The launch event began with discussion, prompted by chair Jon Cairns, head of Critical Studies, CSM, Fine Art, between myself and Hew Locke. We then fielded questions from the audience before breaking into drinks, book sales and chat. We sold 20 books at the cost price for which we bought them in from Routledge. The audience featured many UAL staff, colleagues and students, as well as external friends and colleagues, including distinguished critics and curators.