Infrastructural Brutalism

How “drowned town” literature, road movies, energy landscape photography, and “death train” narratives represent the brutality of industrial infrastructures. In this book, Michael Truscello looks at the industrial infrastructure not as an invisible system of connectivity and mobility that keeps capi...

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Hovedforfatter: Truscello, Michael
Format: Online
Sprog:engelsk
Udgivet: The MIT Press 2022
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Online adgang:ONIX_20220221_9780262358736_108
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author Truscello, Michael
author_browse Truscello, Michael
author_facet Truscello, Michael
author_sort Truscello, Michael
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description How “drowned town” literature, road movies, energy landscape photography, and “death train” narratives represent the brutality of industrial infrastructures. In this book, Michael Truscello looks at the industrial infrastructure not as an invisible system of connectivity and mobility that keeps capitalism humming in the background but as a manufactured miasma of despair, toxicity, and death. Truscello terms this “infrastructural brutalism”—a formulation that not only alludes to the historical nexus of infrastructure and the concrete aesthetic of Brutalist architecture but also describes the ecological, political, and psychological brutality of industrial infrastructures. Truscello explores the necropolitics of infrastructure—how infrastructure determines who may live and who must die—through the lens of artistic media. He examines the white settler nostalgia of “drowned town” fiction written after the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded rural areas for hydroelectric projects; argues that the road movie represents a struggle with liberal governmentality; considers the ruins of oil capitalism, as seen in photographic landscapes of postindustrial waste; and offers an account of “death train narratives” ranging from the history of the Holocaust to postapocalyptic fiction. Finally, he calls for “brisantic politics,” a culture of unmaking that is capable of slowing the advance of capitalist suicide. “Brisance” refers to the shattering effect of an explosive, but Truscello uses the term to signal a variety of practices for defeating infrastructural power. Brisantic politics, he warns, would require a reorientation of radical politics toward infrastructure, sabotage, and cascading destruction in an interconnected world.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-785882024-03-23T14:58:01Z Infrastructural Brutalism Truscello, Michael infrastructure brutalism necropolitics brisantic politics concrete drowned town narratives Snowpiercer The Road Cormac McCarthy modernism megastructures thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics::ABA Theory of art thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AG The Arts: treatments and subjects::AGA History of art thema EDItEUR::6 Style qualifiers::6S Styles (S)::6SA Surrealism How “drowned town” literature, road movies, energy landscape photography, and “death train” narratives represent the brutality of industrial infrastructures. In this book, Michael Truscello looks at the industrial infrastructure not as an invisible system of connectivity and mobility that keeps capitalism humming in the background but as a manufactured miasma of despair, toxicity, and death. Truscello terms this “infrastructural brutalism”—a formulation that not only alludes to the historical nexus of infrastructure and the concrete aesthetic of Brutalist architecture but also describes the ecological, political, and psychological brutality of industrial infrastructures. Truscello explores the necropolitics of infrastructure—how infrastructure determines who may live and who must die—through the lens of artistic media. He examines the white settler nostalgia of “drowned town” fiction written after the Tennessee Valley Authority flooded rural areas for hydroelectric projects; argues that the road movie represents a struggle with liberal governmentality; considers the ruins of oil capitalism, as seen in photographic landscapes of postindustrial waste; and offers an account of “death train narratives” ranging from the history of the Holocaust to postapocalyptic fiction. Finally, he calls for “brisantic politics,” a culture of unmaking that is capable of slowing the advance of capitalist suicide. “Brisance” refers to the shattering effect of an explosive, but Truscello uses the term to signal a variety of practices for defeating infrastructural power. Brisantic politics, he warns, would require a reorientation of radical politics toward infrastructure, sabotage, and cascading destruction in an interconnected world. 2022-02-21T15:12:43Z 2022-02-21T15:12:43Z 2020 book ONIX_20220221_9780262358736_108 9780262358736 9780262539043 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/78588 eng Infrastructures image/jpeg n/a https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/10905.001.0001 The MIT Press The MIT Press ae0cf962-f685-4933-93d1-916defa5123d 9780262358736 9780262539043 The MIT Press 376 Cambridge open access
spellingShingle infrastructure
brutalism
necropolitics
brisantic politics
concrete
drowned town narratives
Snowpiercer
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
modernism
megastructures
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics::ABA Theory of art
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AG The Arts: treatments and subjects::AGA History of art
thema EDItEUR::6 Style qualifiers::6S Styles (S)::6SA Surrealism
Truscello, Michael
Infrastructural Brutalism
title Infrastructural Brutalism
title_full Infrastructural Brutalism
title_fullStr Infrastructural Brutalism
title_full_unstemmed Infrastructural Brutalism
title_short Infrastructural Brutalism
title_sort infrastructural brutalism
topic infrastructure
brutalism
necropolitics
brisantic politics
concrete
drowned town narratives
Snowpiercer
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
modernism
megastructures
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics::ABA Theory of art
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AG The Arts: treatments and subjects::AGA History of art
thema EDItEUR::6 Style qualifiers::6S Styles (S)::6SA Surrealism
topic_facet infrastructure
brutalism
necropolitics
brisantic politics
concrete
drowned town narratives
Snowpiercer
The Road
Cormac McCarthy
modernism
megastructures
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AB The arts: general topics::ABA Theory of art
thema EDItEUR::A The Arts::AG The Arts: treatments and subjects::AGA History of art
thema EDItEUR::6 Style qualifiers::6S Styles (S)::6SA Surrealism
url ONIX_20220221_9780262358736_108
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