Destruction Rites: Ephemerality and Demolition in Postwar Visual Culture

In the early sixties, crowds gathered to watch rites of destruction-from the demolition derby where makeshift cars crashed into each other for sport, to concerts where musicians destroyed their instruments, to performances of self-destructing machines staged by contemporary artists. Destruction, in both its playful and fearsome aspects, was ubiquitous in the new Atomic Age. Destruction Rites is the first book to explore the ephemeral visual culture of the postwar era.