Whether you find them aesthetically refreshing or merely overindulgent, the films of British avant-gardist Derek Jarman always present either visual or emotional surprises. A restlessly inventive film artist and painter, Jarman railed against the conventional stuffiness of what passed for art in his

Experimental, Homoerotic, Pioneering, Political, Psychological, Queer

All writers struggle with the weight of moral responsibility, even if they profess to create an amoral art. Few writers, however, have carried this burden through the confluence of political and cultural rivers in the way Chinua Achebe has. Achebe came of age in Africa's largest country, Nigeria,

Intimate, Mythic, Political, Post-colonial literature, Spiritual

Ono's work has generally consisted of quiet, personalized, meditative pieces, as well as "event" shows or Happenings, all of which were highly conceptual and often required observer participation to complete. In her "Stone Show" (early 1960s), participants entered a room measuring about 20 square fee

Clever, Fluxus, Improvised, Open-ended, Physical force, Political, Quirky, Rebel, Serene, Sincere, Smart

A historian of the Swirling Surface, Foucault was not really a philosopher -- in fact, he completely rejected the concept of philosophy. His work is historiographic; he wrote histories of madness, of the medical clinic, of the modern prison, of sexuality. Yet, at the risk of angering his ghost, we mu

Cultural studies/new historicism, Deconstructive, Event, Flux, Funny, Homoerotic, Political, Poststructuralism, Power