Bodies act as powerful signs: Which bodies are represented and how, which gaze determines them, which bodies are not shown or only shown in a particular way and in a particular context? Normative ideas of the body and beauty shape images of the self and the world. They are bodies that manifest inequalities and reflect the prevailing relations of power and violence. Talking Bodies examines mechanisms of representation of the body in medial cultures and illus- trates them exemplarily with posters. Masterpieces of art history that have inscribed themselves in the collective memory are negotiated, as are contemporary self-dramatizations in social media, gender stereotypes, images of black bodies, and the representation of disabled and non-normative bodies. With its focus on the construction and impact of body images, but also on possible strategies of resistance, the publication sees itself as a critical contribution to current debates. With essays by Markus Dederich, Florian Diener, Hans Fässler, Bettina Richter, Maria Schreiber, Marilyn Umurungi, Paula-Irene Villa

Iranian graphic design looks back on a brief history. The first poster designers completed independent artistic training and created painterly-illustrative works in the 1960s. The simultaneous opening to the West under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi promoted global cultural exchange. With the proclamation of the Islamic Republic in 1979 and the First Gulf War (1980–1988), however, this was rapidly interrupted. At the end of the 1980s, a new generation of designers took up the graphic heritage of the pre-war period. At the turn of the millennium, the Iranian poster finally conquered international festivals and caused a great stir in the Western community. The volume Contemporary Iran brings together Iranian cultural posters from 1960 to the present. Despite the many different creative approaches, they always demonstrate the search for a fusion of history and contemporaneity, Iran’s own tradition and Western inspiration, art and everyday culture. An often unorthodox interpretation of Persian cultural heritage is combined with the confident use of computer-generated graphics. Thus, some posters confirm common Western notions of Islamic aesthetics, while others radically undermine them and irritate and surprise us.