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"An analysis of how a decade of military rule in Venezuela produced a dominant ideology of progress so meticulously crafted that to this day audacious Modernist art and architecture and dictatorship are conflated under the term 'modernity'"-- Provided by publisher.

"In cultural history, the 1950s in Venezuela are commonly celebrated as a golden age of modernity, realized by a booming oil economy, dazzling modernist architecture, and nationwide modernization projects. But this is only half the story. In this path-breaking study, Lisa Blackmore reframes the concept of modernity as a complex cultural formation in which modern aesthetics became deeply entangled with authoritarian politics. Drawing on extensive archival research and presenting a wealth of previously unpublished visual materials, Blackmore revisits the decade-long dictatorship to unearth the spectacles of progress that offset repression and censorship. Analyses of a wide range of case studies--from housing projects to agricultural colonies, urban monuments to official exhibitions, and carnival processions to consumerculture--reveal the manifold apparatuses that mythologized visionary leadership, advocated technocratic development, and presented military rule as the only route to progress. Offering a sharp corrective to depoliticized accounts of the period, Spectacular Modernity instead exposes how Venezuelans were promised a radically transformed landscape in exchange for their democratic freedoms"-- Provided by publisher.

Illuminations : cultural formations of the Americas series

Introduction: Rethinking the Politics and Aesthetics of Modernity

Part I. Official Libretto

Telling Stories : The Historiographical Foundations of Military Rule

Ruling Ideology : Radical Transformations of Space and Body

Part II. Setting the Scene

Nation Branding : From Covert Propaganda to Corporate Publicity

Spectacular Visuality : Enframing the Landscape, Training the Gaze

Exhibiting Modernity : Cultures of Display and the Dictator's Visionary Gaze

Part III. Performing Progress

Subjects on Stage : Organized Walking in Scripted Spaces

Bringing Progress Home : Modern Mythologies in Daily Life

Epilogue: Specters of Spectacle.

Dictatorship > Social aspects > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Military government > Social aspects > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Social change > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Modernism (Aesthetics) > Political aspects > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Art > Political aspects > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Architecture > Political aspects > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Spectacular, The > Political aspects > Venezuela > History > 20th century.

Venezuela > Cultural policy.

Venezuela > Politics and government > 1935-1958.