Victor Burgin’s Parzival in Leuven

Reflections on the "Uncinematic"

Stéphane Symons (Editor), Hilde Van Gelder (Editor),

Paperback

Series: Lieven Gevaert Series 23

Category: Media and Visual Culture, Photography

Language: English

ISBN: 9789462700994

Publication date: March 27, 2017

€34.50 (including 6% VAT)

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Number of pages: 158

Size: 230 x 170 x mm

Number of illustrations: 44

Illustrations and other content description:
15 color illustrations, 29 halftones

Stock item: 116177

Standard delivery time for print books:

For Belgium: 5 to 8 working days

For EU: 2 to 3 weeks

For other countries: 4 to 5 weeks

Summary
Contents
About the Editors

In-depth analysis of Victor Burgin’s video installation Parzival (2013).

In commemoration of the destruction of the University Library of Leuven (Belgium) in August 1914, the projection work Parzival, created by Victor Burgin (°UK, 1941) in 2013, was installed within the rebuilt Library. The installation uniquely marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of World War I, which left its profound traces on both the consciousness and physiognomy of the city of Leuven. Parzival is a montage piece combining digital images of ruins and bombed out cities with audio-visual and literary material that references, amongst other works, Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal (premiere in 1882), Roberto Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1948) and Milan Kundera’s novel Identity (1998). This publication provides an in-depth analysis of Parzival, a work that is inspired by the period of seven months that Wagner spent in Venice (1858-1859). Burgin’s Parzival raises questions about some of the most fundamental elements in Wagner’s operatic work: the longing for a savior, the complex connection between violence and catharsis, and the presentiment that destruction awaits humanity in the future (Götterdämmerung). In an associative manner, Parzival brings together various artistic and political features to confront the romantic ideal of the ruin with the horrors that might result from such a myth. In addition, this book contains a reprint of Michel Foucault’s essay “The Imagination of the Nineteenth Century” (1980).

This publication is GPRC-labeled (Guaranteed Peer-Reviewed Content).

Contributors: Geert Bouckaert (KU Leuven), Victor Burgin (University of California, University of London, University of Southampton), Alexander Streitberger (Université catholique de Louvain), Stéphane Symons (KU Leuven), Hilde Van Gelder (KU Leuven)

Preface Geert Bouckaert
Part ICollaborative Reflections on Parzival
Victor Burgin’s Parzival in Leuven Stéphane Symons and Hilde Van Gelder
Victor Burgin’s Parzival: A Monument of Melancholia Alexander Streitberger
Roundtable Victor Burgin in Conversation with Alexander Streitberger, Stéphane Symons, and Hilde Van Gelder on the Occasion of a Symposium on Parzival
Part IIContextualizing Parzival Uncinematic Time Victor Burgin
The Imagination of the Nineteenth Century Michel Foucault
A Note on Parzival Victor Burgin
Parzival Wall Texts Victor Burgin
Part IIIParzival in Leuven
Notes Contributors

Stéphane Symons

Stéphane Symons is Full Professor of Aesthetics and Philosophy of Culture at the Institute of Philosophy of KU Leuven.

Hilde Van Gelder

Hilde Van Gelder is professor of art history at KU Leuven.

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