Circus Americanus

Circus Americanus is a riotous excursion through America’s changing visual landscape. Exploring its remote corners and bizarre byways, Ralph Rugoff takes us on a tour of theme park slums and mystical police cars, futurist war and the “aesthetics of safe chaos.” With an idiosyncratic eye for detail, he maps a culture in which “reality” has become just another theme, revealing an America much stranger than the glamorous kitsch of its surfaces. Whether he is writing about Las Vegas casinos, forensic cartoons, the enigma of Napoleon’s preserved penis or the aesthetics of sewage treatment, Rugoff considers everyday marvels with a concern for how we live together in a world beyond belief.

Ralph Rugoff is Director of the Hayward Gallery and was previously a Los Angeles art critic covering visual culture for LA Weekly.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Circus Americanus
Gambling with Reality: The New Art of Las Vegas	p. 3
Sea World Tales	p. 9
Theme Park Slums	p. 15
The Largest Free Event in California	p. 21
Honey, I Shrunk the City	p. 25
Courses in Seduction	p. 31
Farewell, My Ferris Wheel	p. 35
Christo's Umbrella Liability	p. 39
Heavenly Vehicles	p. 43
Investigating a Public Disappearance
Excremental Journey	p. 49
World Under Glass	p. 55
Statues of Limitation: The Privatization of Public Art	p. 59
Gun Rites	p. 65
Building a Lost Future	p. 67
Tijuana's Soldier of Fortune	p. 71
The Illuminating Disappearance of Robyn Whitlaw	p. 75
Street Medallions	p. 79
The Last Public Sculpture	p. 83
A Conspiracy of Vitrines
A Conspiracy of Vitrines: The Richard Nixon Library and Birthplace	p. 87
Mothership Hubbard: The Scientology Collection	p. 93
The Museum of Jurassic Technology	p. 97
Jump-cut to Auschwitz: The Beit Hashoah Museum of Tolerance	p. 101
Arrested Artifacts: The LA County Sheriff's Museum	p. 109
Gene Autry and the Marlboro Man	p. 115
The Liberace Museum	p. 121
Collecting Napoleon's Penis	p. 125
Pathological Beauty: The Mutter Museum	p. 129
Spectacular Bodies
Ripped and Shredded	p. 137
O Supermodel	p. 141
Children and Other Miniature Collectibles	p. 145
The Surgical Revolution	p. 149
Lucha Libre: World without Borders	p. 153
Living Large	p. 167
Seeing Double
Pictures from a Futurist War	p. 173
Brave Nude World	p. 177
On Forensic Photography	p. 183
Head Shots	p. 187
Crime Storyboard: Welcome to the Post-rational World	p. 191
Sentimental Surveillance	p. 197
The New Hollywood Park	p. 201
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.

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Summary

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Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials