Anna Baccanti Boeken

This volume focuses on the process of un/masking rather than on the object of the mask, and highlights the performative aspects that render masks catalysts of transition and transformation. Through its ability to simultaneously hide and reveal, the act of un/masking has the power to destabilize supposedly fixed identities and to blur the lines between the self and the other, the visible and the invisible, life and death. In this sense, masks are ambiguous, liminal objects, marking a condition of ‘in-between’ that is both a point of separation and a line of contact. Masking and unmasking are thus intertwined and cannot be neatly separated.In addressing both historical and contemporary phenomena, Un/Masking offers new perspectives on current debates surrounding issues such as protective masks and facial recognition technologies. To match the incredible variety of cultural contexts in which masks play a crucial role – from ancient theatrical practices to digital technologies, to ritual, artistic, and literary activities throughout the world – this volume takes a decidedly interdisciplinary approach to understanding the act of un/masking and what it can mean today.

„Screening the Creative Process“ examines how biographical films about painters and writers depict the notoriously unfilmable process of artistic creation and asks what role gender plays in the conceptualisation of creativity and genius. Through the discussion of three very different 21st-century biopics focused on heterosexual artist couples, „Pollock“, „Frida“, and „Bright Star“, the book follows the hypothesis that the paradigm of creative genius remains uniquely powerful in this film genre. This distinguishes the biopic from other contemporary media and discourses in which the idea of singular, inborn genius has largely been replaced by the concept of creativity as a universal, trainable skill. The biopic's adherence to an emphatic notion of genius - a notion that appears not only obsolete but also politically problematic due to its historical exclusion of women - is especially relevant in light of how deeply these popular films shape public notions about history and art.