Memories of a future. Essays related to art and its study in multimodernity

„Memories of a Future“ comprises of short essays related to art and its study. They are linked, but simply pick up the book and read whichever you wish. „Memories of a Future“ recalls the optimism of looking to a better future. Although there have been significant changes for the good, such as women’s improved role in society and a better acceptance of one’s choice of sexuality, contemporary society still envisages an indistinct, confused, possibly bleaker future – environmental issues, democracy’s end, corporate power etc. We seem to have exhausted political solutions and alternatives, so a better future becomes an impossible fantasy. Late 20th c. postmodernism bred scepticism to history and to belief systems that sustained us, yet, being isolated from past and future makes life inexplicable. Living for the moment may be a pleasing idea but isolating that moment as a disconnected state is potentially dangerous. Unfolding the Cards (2013) related to playing cards in uncertainty, finding answers in your own hands, not in never-ending false innovations. „Memories of a Future“ involves itself with ideas that fuel discussion (my Nomadic Forum) in a contemporary (art)world of excess with an ever-widening gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, I wonder how we arrived here. Hooked to consumption, even progress is a doubt in „Memories of a Future“.

„(Memories of a Future) … includes endless analytical details from the work of different artists. Ian Damerell has collected and presented to the reader the ideas of various artists, art critics and philosophers on different topics that are relevant to art during different periods. In a sense, these collections of phrases create a virtual seminar which does not comply with strict academic rules but instead resemble a symposium-feast of Plato’s friends. In terms of form and content, Professor Ian Damerell’s book is a work of unquestionable value which not only expands the problematic field of art studies but also can in itself be an excellent example of artistic research which has been intensely debated in Europe. I strongly recommend this book to Master and PhD students and especially to young university teachers. I believe that it will provide the readers with an expanded understanding of the methodology of art education, let alone the possibility to enjoy the very process of reading it.“
Alvydas Lukys