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Laura Kipnis
Encyclopedia
Laura Kipnis is a professor of media studies
at Northwestern University
. She is also a cultural and media critic who focuses especially on gender issues, sexual politics, popular culture
, and pornography
. She began her career as a video artist, exploring similar themes in the form of video essays.
She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts
at the San Francisco Art Institute
and a Master of Fine Arts
from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has received fellowships for her work from the Guggenheim Foundation
, the Rockefeller Foundation
, the Michigan Society of Fellows, and the National Endowment for the Arts
.
Her 2010 book, How to Become a Scandal, focuses on scandal: "shattered lives, downfall, disgrace and ruin, the rage of the community directed at its transgressors."
Her works include:
Media studies
Media studies is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'. Media studies may draw on traditions from both the social sciences and the humanities, but mostly from its core disciplines of mass...
at Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
. She is also a cultural and media critic who focuses especially on gender issues, sexual politics, popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, and pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
. She began her career as a video artist, exploring similar themes in the form of video essays.
She earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts
Bachelor of Fine Arts
In the United States and Canada, the Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, usually abbreviated BFA, is the standard undergraduate degree for students seeking a professional education in the visual or performing arts. In some countries such a degree is called a Bachelor of Creative Arts or BCA...
at the San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute
San Francisco Art Institute is a school of higher education in contemporary art with the main campus in the Russian Hill district of San Francisco, California. Its graduate center is in the Dogpatch neighborhood. The private, non-profit institution is accredited by WASC and is a member of the...
and a Master of Fine Arts
Master of Fine Arts
A Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She has received fellowships for her work from the Guggenheim Foundation
John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation
The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation was founded in 1925 by Mr. and Mrs. Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died April 26, 1922...
, the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
, the Michigan Society of Fellows, and the National Endowment for the Arts
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created by an act of the U.S. Congress in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal government. Its current...
.
Her 2010 book, How to Become a Scandal, focuses on scandal: "shattered lives, downfall, disgrace and ruin, the rage of the community directed at its transgressors."
Her works include:
- Ecstasy Unlimited: On Sex, Capital, Gender, and Aesthetics (1993)
- Bound and Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in AmericaBound And Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in AmericaBound And Gagged: Pornography and the Politics of Fantasy in America is a 1996 book by Laura Kipnis. It attempts to approach pornography in a new way, focusing not on whether pornography is a serious social ill, but rather on its nature and what its function and meaning might be in the lives of its...
(1996) - Against Love: A Polemic (2003)
- The Female Thing : Dirt, Sex, Envy, Vulnerability (2006)
- How To Become a Scandal: Adventures in Bad Behavior (2010)
External links
- "Laura Kipnis" Laura Kipnis's Website, www.LauraKipnis.com.
- "Laura Kipnis" (faculty page), School of Communication at Northwestern University.
- "Laura Kipnis", Randomhouse.com – author page, includes brief biography.
- Laura Kipnis in the Video Data Bank
- "Laura Kipnis Biography", Electronic Arts Intermix (website). – Biographical info circa 1988.
- Laura Kipnis articles at SlateSlate (magazine)Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
. - "An Interview with Laura Kipnis" by Jeffrey J. Williams, Minnesota Review.