Just Published: the book “Taking Offense. Religion, Art and Visual Culture in Plural Configurations”, co-edited by Christiane Kruse, Anne-Marie Korte and Birgit Meyer, with contributions by Christiane Kruse, Nika Spalinger, Norbert M. Schmitz, Anne-Marie Korte, Monica Juneja, Maruška Svašek, Tania Becker, Jürgen Wasim Frembgen & Asif Jehangir, Jojada Verrips, Christoph Baumgartner and Birgit Meyer.

The central question is: What makes a picture offensive to some people and not to others? In diverse, pluralistic societies around the world, images are triggering heated controversy as never before. Their study offers a perfect entry point into the clashes between different values, ideas, and sensibilities. How is the relation between regimes of visibility in art, journalism, politics, and religion negotiated in plural settings? Situated at the interface of art history, anthropology and religious studies, this volume unravels the dynamics of taking offense in current politics and aesthetics of cultural representation in Europe and beyond.

The book is based on a symposium on offensive pictures held at the Muthesius Kunsthochschule in Kiel. It is an interdisciplinary endeavor, involving scholars in the arts, art history, visual culture studies/Bildwissenschaft, anthropology, religious studies, and ethics. For more information about the Contents and the Introduction (open access) click here.