Provocation in Popular Culture [Hardcover]

What role can provocation play in the process of renewal, both of individuals and of societies? Provocation in Popular Cultureis an investigation into the practice of specific provocateurs and the wider nature of cultural provocation, examining, among others:

• Banksy
• Sacha Baron Cohen
• Leo Bassi
• Pussy Riot
• Philippe Petit
• Archaos.

Drawing on Bim Masons own twenty-five year career as performer, teacher and creative director, this book explores the power negotiations involved in the relationship between provocateur and provoked, and the implications of maintaining a position on the edge.

Using neuroscience as a bridge, it proposes a similarity between complexity theory and cultural theories of play and risk. Three inter-related analogies for the edge on which these performers operate  the fulcrum, the blade and the border  reveal the shifts between structure and fluidity, and the ways in which these can combine in a single moment.

Part 1. Introduction  1. Solo Street Shows  2. Phillippe Petit  3. The Winner Effect  4. Theories, Terms and Questions  5. The Artists  6. Structure of Book  Part 2. Stasis and Chaos  7. Structure and Improvisation  8. Choral Work  9. The fulcrum analogy  10. Leo Bassi - Clown Activist  11. Personal risk, popularity and power  12. Power Negotiations in the Big Brotherintervention  13. Centres and their reaction to Revelacion  14. Ambivalence and the Bassibus 15. Conclusion  Part 3. On the Edge ol£"