''Aesthetic Journalism: How to Inform Without Informing'' is a book by Italian writer, curator and artist Alfredo Cramerotti. Recognising the "blurring of margins between artistic and information practices" as a main feature in contemporary culture, Cramerotti sets out the Who, What, Where, When and How, and Why of Aesthetic Journalism. Cramerotti identifies this "investigative approach" in contemporary art and photography as the use of fieldwork, reportage, interviews, document analysis, graphic mapping and information distribution. He cites a number of artists who employ these strategies:

Hans Haacke Hans Haacke (born August 12, 1936) is a German-born artist who lives and works in New York City. Haacke is considered a "leading exponent" of institutional critique, and is considered to be the most harsh and consistent critic of museums among t ...

Martha Rosler Martha Rosler (born 1943) is an American artist. She is a conceptual artist who works in photography and photo text, video art, video, installation art, installation, sculpture, site-specific art, site-specific and performance art, performance, a ...

, Lukas Einsele, Laura Horelli, Renzo Martens,

Alfredo Jaar Alfredo Jaar (; ; born 1956) is a Chilean-born artist, architect, photographer and filmmaker who lives in New York City. He is mostly known as an installation artist, often incorporating photography and covering socio-political issues and war—th ...

, Renée Green, The Atlas Group/

Walid Raad Walid Raad (Ra'ad) (Arabic: وليد رعد) (born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad. He lives and works in New York, where he is curr ...

and Bruno Serralogue. For Cramerotti, Aesthetic Journalism implies the critical use of documentary techniques and journalistic methods where the medium itself undergoes questioning. He posits that aesthetics, understood as a "process in which we open up our sensibility to the diversity of the forms of nature (and manmade environment)" can open up the mechanisms of art and media to expose the limitations of photojournalism, documentation and the ethics of representation. In doing so, Aesthetic Journalism renders productive readings of reality, information, fact, fiction and objectivity. Although "the process leading up to aesthetic journalism can be considered from both perspectives as art being absorbed by the generalist media, or as journalism becoming a (common) art form", Cramerotti's text speculates on the mutual convergence of art and media into a new cross discipline of Aesthetic Journalism. The concepts outlined in the book have been a key tool in the development of the Chamber of Public Secrets' curatorial approach for the 8th edition of

Manifesta Manifesta, also known as the European Nomadic Biennial, is a European pan-regional contemporary cultural biennale. History Manifesta was founded in 1994 by Dutch art historian Hedwig Fijen. The first edition took place in Rotterdam. One of t ...

, the European Biennial of Contemporary Art: Manifesta 8 taking place in the region of Murcia, Spain.

References

{{Reflist

External links

ABC of ''Aesthetic Journalism'' by Fay Nicolson

The Geopolitical Turn: Art and the Contest of Globalisation talk at Nottingham Contemporary, UK

Talk on Aesthetic Journalism with Alfredo Cramerotti, Autograph ABP London, April 13th 2010.
Books about the visual arts Aesthetics books Art history books Italian contemporary art Critical theory