Bettina Richter, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich (eds.)

Talking Bodies
Image, Power, Impact

Bodies are classified by category and incorporated into narratives that are invariably oriented toward a supposed norm, one that, in turn, can mostly be understood as a system of belonging or exclusion. Non-binary, queer, ill, disabled, old and Black bodies are strikingly underrepresented and only come into view when their depiction is motivated by the message. As much as generalizing is essential to quick communication, it is also dangerous. Power relations and norms with respect to gendered, racialized and nonnormative bodies are continually upheld, adding legitimacy to their marginalization and discrimination.

“Talking Bodies” examines different mechanisms of representation of the body in media cultures—from stereotypical forms of gender representation to the persistence of the regime of the white gaze and to self-staging on social media—and situates them in a cultural, historical and sociological context. This publication brings together international posters from a wide range of categories and reveals continuities as well as changes and deviations in the depiction of the human body. Unsettling and even provocative poster compositions provide food for thought and inspire the discovery of new visual dialogues. “Talking Bodies” strives to promote a critical reappraisal of media images of the body.

Bodies are classified by category and incorporated into narratives that are invariably oriented toward a supposed norm, one that, in turn, can mostly be understood as a system of belonging or exclusion. Non-binary, queer, ill, disabled, old and Black bodies are strikingly underrepresented and only come into view when their depiction is motivated by the message. As much as generalizing is essential to quick communication, it is also dangerous. Power relations and norms with respect to gendered, racialized and nonnormative bodies are continually upheld, adding legitimacy to their marginalization and discrimination.

“Talking Bodies” examines different mechanisms of representation of the body in media cultures—from stereotypical forms of gender representation to the persistence of the regime of the white gaze and to self-staging on social media—and situates them in a cultural, historical and sociological context. This publication brings together international posters from a wide range of categories and reveals continuities as well as changes and deviations in the depiction of the human body. Unsettling and even provocative poster compositions provide food for thought and inspire the discovery of new visual dialogues. “Talking Bodies” strives to promote a critical reappraisal of media images of the body.

English edition – also available in German

Edited by Bettina Richter, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich

With contributions by Markus Dederich, Florian Diener, Hans Fässler, Bettina Richter, Mara Yaǧmur Richter, Maria Schreiber, Marilyn Umurungi, Paula-Irene Villa

Design: Studio Krispin Heé

15 × 22 cm, 6 × 8 ½ in

180 pages, 184 illustrations

paperback

2024, 978-3-03778-734-2, English
CHF 35.00
New

Bettina Richter

Bettina Richter studied art history in Heidelberg, Paris and Zurich and obtained her doctorate in 1996 with a thesis on the antiwar graphics of Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen. From 1997 to 2006, she served as a research associate at the Poster Collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, and in 2006 became its curator. Bettina Richter lectures at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and works as a freelance writer. She is the editor of the publication series "Poster Collection" and has published articles and essays on art history, literature, and the subject of posters.