At the heart of Gothic cathedrals; the threshold between nave and sanctuary was marked by the choir screen; a partitioning structure of special complexity; grandeur and beauty. At once a canopy for altars; a stage for performance; a pedestal for crucifixes and reliquaries and a ground for spectacular arrays of narrative and iconic sculptures; the choir screen profoundly shaped the spaces of liturgy and social interaction for the diverse communities; both clerical and lay; who shared the church interior. For the first time; this book draws together the most important examples ndash; some fully extant; others known through fragments and graphic sources ndash; from thirteenth- and fourteenth-century France and Germany. Through analyses of both their architectural and sculptural components; Jacqueline E. Jung reveals how these furnishings; far from being barricades or hindrances; were vital vehicles of communication and shapers of a community centred on Christian rituals and stories.
#3122643 in eBooks 2012-11-30 2013-06-13File Name: B00A8ICOOY
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. An important text for our contemporary problemBy Michael SisleyThis text will be an essential reference for hundreds of recent analyses of the profiled society. Based in the performative aspects of surveillance; the text looks at our pervasive culture of narcissism where the watcher watches self and others; but through a lens of performing arts and artworks. The personal anecdotes are also valuable and lead the way to subverting surveillance and recasting the watcher as loved accomplice.