Krell | The College of Fine Arts
Staff Profiles
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Associate Professor Alan KrellPhD Brist., MA BA Cape T. Position: Associate Professor; BAT Co- ordinator School/Department: School of Art History and Art Education |
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Contact Details: |
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| Room: | C214 | |
| Phone: | +61 2 93850687 | |
| Fax: | +61 2 93850615 | |
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Introductory Profile:
Keeping out and keeping in, loved and reviled. Alan Krell’s research explores barbed wire’s conflicting history, which has made it a key symbol in modernity. Fought over, looked through, yet often overlooked, in contemporary art, literature and fashion, barbed wire expresses a postmodern ambiguity. In Alan’s book The Devil’s Rope: a Cultural History of Barbed Wire (London, 2002) this invention takes on its full range of meanings. Alan’s latest research on fire, continues to pursue these interests. An element of course and not an artifact, fire’s contradictory practical uses (like barbed wire) demand to be viewed in their broader cultural and metaphorical contexts. Alan’s research into the different representations and literal use of fire in the visual arts and popular culture will be published by Reaktion Books, London, in 2008.