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Culture Vultures: Is UK Arts Policy Damaging The Arts?
Edited by Munira Mirza, Policy Exchange, £10
In six chapters, each with a different author, this small book tackles many of the sacred cows of current arts policy. So if you are of the opinion that:
1. It is impossible to effectively evaluate the impact of art on society.
2. It might be possible to evaluate this impact but its effect is not necessarily beneficial.

3. Most public art is crap, except the work of Anthony Gormley4. The Design Council is ineffectual.
5. There are no proven health benefits from art.
6. The Arts Council is the devil’s spawn,
then this is the book for you.

This document, to be fair, is not a call for a return to some pre-Cool Britannia golden age, but there is the whiff of sour grapes in the air.

London's Contemporary Architecture
Kenneth Allinson,
Architectural Press Fourth edition £19

London is a living architectural exhibition. This handy pocket guide aids navigation of the city’s greatest sights with a clear map-based format, features more than 260 buildings, with full notes and references and provides a superb full colour photographic record of the capital.

Tank Too
Edited by Masoud Golsorkhi and Andreas Laeufer, Thames & Hudson.
Tank Magazine is known for its experimentation, its cutting-edge fashion and its ability to surprise. This edition represents the 2nd collection of Tank’s photographs, covering the highlights of the past four years. More than 100 of the best young photographers, illustrators and stylists whose work the magazine has hosted have contributed to the creation.

Exhibition Design
David Dernie
Laurence King Publishing, £35
Dernie, an academic and exhibition architect takes us through the history of exhibition development and argues that exhibition design can be made distinctive and interesting either by its conceptual approach or by the techniques used.

 

DESIGNsuisse
Edited by Meret Ernst and Christian Eggenberger, £45.00
DESIGNsuisse explores the exquisite simplicity of modern Swiss design through a unique compilation of lush images and critical essays on the best current designers. The text includes an essay by Meret Ernst on the historical role of design in Switzerland and the emergence of specific design schools from the early 1900s to the present day.

The book is accompanied by a two-DVD set, produced by the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, featuring twenty-five film portraits of the major Swiss designers. 

Meret Ernst is an art historian and the culture and design editor for Hochparterre, the Swiss architecture and design magazine. Christian Eggenberger is a producer for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation.

Bauhaus
Hans Engels (photographs) and Ulf Meyer (text). Prestel, £12.99

This publication presents the reader with a detailed survey of Europe’s surviving Bauhaus architecture. Meyer’s text encourages the reader not to treat Bauhaus as just a stylistic approach, but as a complete architectural movement, and this book documents examples from all the major representatives.

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