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A comprehensive, critical and accessible account of Theodor W. Adorno´s materialist-dialectical aesthetic theory of art from a contemporary perspective, this volume shows how Adorno´s critical theory is awash with images crystallising thoughts to such a degree that it has every reason to be described as aesthetic.

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Acknowledgements Abbreviations Anti-introduction: Paint it Black PART I: MESSAGES IN A BOTTLE: AESTHETIC THEORY CONTRA CRITICAL THEORY 1. Introduction 2. Critical Messages in a Bottle and Restoration 3. Excursus I: The Prevalence of a View: Being Uncompromisingly Critical at the Grand Hotel Abyss 4. Excursus II: The Prevalence of a View: ´Don´t participate:´ The Politics of Social Praxis 5. Aesthetic Messages in a Bottle and Progress 6. Messages in a Bottle as the Work of Art PART II: ART ITSELF THINKS: THE POLITICS OF AESTHETIC (MIS-)EDUCATION 7. Introduction 8. The Politics of Artistic Practice: ´What artist isn´t socially engaged?´ 9. The Politics of Spectatorship: Shocking Spectators 10. The Politics of Aesthetic (Mis-)Education 11. Contemporary Art Itself Thinking: Making the Invisible Visible? Anti-conclusion: The Russian Ending Notes and Bibliography Index

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"[O]ne senses throughout that Hellings is testing his own ideas and critical persuasions through, and with, Adorno, which is illuminating in the light of his rather good discussion of subjectivity and objectivity within both aesthetic theory and art making in general."

"[Hellings] makes Adorno´s thought vivid for the present, especially in his attempts to think through contemporary artistic and political practices."

-David Ryan, Art Monthly

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Dr James Hellings is Lecturer in Art at the University of Reading, UK. He researches, writes and lectures about modern and contemporary art and the thought that accompanies it. Originally educated as an artist, James worked in the Department of Prints and Drawings at The British Museum, before receiving full AHRC Scholarships for both his MA and PhD studies in contemporary art theory at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

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