To rescue Kahlo from the clutches of the corporate art market, we need to acknowledge the overt and covert political dimensions of the work, demands GAVIN O’TOOLE
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The case for blending reason with passion to inspire radical change
If you can see past the relentless commodification you will be rewarded by enormously powerful work, suggests JENNY MITCHELL
CHRIS SEARLE revels in the one-off collaboration between an American polymath and a British Muslim, and detects the presence of their revolutionary forebear
GORDON PARSONS revels in an ebullient production of Shakespeare’s magical comedy
BRENT CUTLER welcomes a thoughtful analysis of the Erdogan regime, viewed through the evolving history of a neighbourhood in Istanbul
GORDON PARSONS regrets the price, but is dazzled by an outstandingly ambitious study of the way art restoration in particular, and culture in general was weaponised by the Nazis
Passions and Politics
by Paul Ginsborg and Sergio Labate
(Polity, £15.99)
OPTIMISTIC, but not reassuring, Paul Ginsborg and Sergio Labate’s Passions and Politics maintains that politics can be more than “a mere experience of frustration” but only if we let go of cherished beliefs and develop a new critique of neoliberalism.
Well-formed logical arguments are always essential to political persuasion but we will need something more than rationality to challenge the seductive power of consumerism. The authors fling down a political gauntlet: we must, they claim, reflect on the rise of right-wing populism and consider whether its appeal to emotional values can be redirected towards progressive objectives.
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