[Commlist] New book: A Theory of Assembly

We would like to announce a new publication from the University Of 
Minnesota Press, which we hope will be of interest.

*A Theory of Assembly***

 From Museums to Memes

*Kyle Parry***

*_https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781517913168/a-theory-of-assembly/ 
<https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781517913168/a-theory-of-assembly/> _*

*__*

*Receive a 20% discount online*:*

*CSLF2022*

*Valid until 11:59 GMT, 30th June 2023. Discount only applies to the CAP 
website.

"Kyle Parry's remarkable book offers an eclectic theory of assembly, 
shifting the focus from political theory to aesthetic and media 
practices. This is a wide-ranging and original work that keeps shifting 
angles to produce the sense of vibrant, if problematic, new 
constellations of the various assemblies that pervade contemporary life. 
Mindful of both the progressive and reactionary forms that assemblies 
can take, Parry probes the intensified circulation of digital assemblies 
in all their ambivalence."*—Judith Butler, University of California, 
Berkeley*

"Fitting its title, /A Theory of Assembly /coalesces studies of media, 
information, folklore, and art into a significant contribution on the 
content we create, curate, and share. With an apt balance of 
sophistication and clarity, Kyle Parry shows why and how ‘assembly’ is 
the perfect keyword for contemporary cultural production."*—Ryan M. 
Milner, author of **/The World Made Meme: Public Conversations and 
Participatory Media/*//

A vital reckoning with how we understand the basic categories of 
cultural expression in the digital era.

Digital and social media have transformed how much and how fast we 
communicate. But they have also altered the palette of expressive 
strategies: the cultural forms that shape how citizens, activists, and 
artists speak and interact. Most familiar among these strategies are 
storytelling and representation. In /A Theory of Assembly/, Kyle Parry 
argues that one of the most powerful and pervasive cultural forms in the 
digital era is assembly.

Whether as subtle photographic sequences, satirical Venn diagrams, or 
networked archives, projects based in assembly do not so much narrate or 
represent the world as rearrange it. This work of rearranging can take 
place at any scale, from a simple pairing of images, undertaken by one 
person, to the whole history of internet memes, undertaken by millions. 
With examples ranging from GIFs and paintings to museum exhibitions and 
social movement hashtags, Parry shows how, in the internet age, assembly 
has come to equal narrative and representation in its reach and 
influence, particularly as a response to ecological and social violence. 
He also emphasizes the ambivalence of assembly—the way it can be both 
emancipatory and antidemocratic.

As the world becomes ever hotter, more connected, and more algorithmic, 
the need to map—and remake—assembly’s powers and perils becomes all the 
more pressing. Interdisciplinary, engaging, and experimental, /A Theory 
of Assembly /serves as a playbook of strategies and critical frameworks 
for artists, activists, and content creators committed to social and 
environmental justice, ultimately arguing for a collective reenvisioning 
of what cultural forms matter.

*Kyle Parry*is assistant professor of History of Art and Visual Culture 
at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He contributed to the 
volume /Debates in the Digital Humanities/2019, published by the 
University of Minnesota Press, and is coeditor of /Ubiquity: 
Photography’s Multitudes/.



*University of Minnesota Press**| January 2023 | 320pp | 9781517913168 | 
PB | £25.99**

*Price subject to change.

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