Steve Bannon: A Propaganda Retrospective
Published by Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, 2018, 96 pages, (colour ill.), 23 × 12.6 cm cm, English
Price: €15
This publication accompanies the eponymous exhibition project by artist Jonas Staal that offers an overview of the artistic, cultural, and political work of Stephen K. Bannon, best known as campaign manager and advisor for US President Donald Trump. Less well known is Bannon’s work as a filmmaker. Between 2004 and 2016 he directed nine documentary films in a style he has termed “kinetic cinema”. Together they sketch a grim profile of a world on the brink of disaster, beset by economic crisis, secular hedonism, and Islamic fundamentalism. The book deconstructs the mechanisms of propaganda, showing how Trumpism was decades in the making through Bannon’s work.