This book concentrates on the deep historical political and institutional relationships
between art education and excess. Going beyond field specific discourses of art history art
criticism philosophy and aesthetics it explores how the concept of excess has been important
and enduring from antiquity through contemporary art and from early film through the newer
interactive media. Examples considered throughout the book focus on disgust grandiosity sex
violence horror disfigurement endurance shock abundance and emptiness and frames them
all within an educational context. Together they provide theories and classificatory systems
historical and political interpretations of art and excess examples of popular culture and
suggestions for the future of educational practice.
