John Baldessari, Hans Ulrich Obrist Hans Ulrich Obrist has been a staunch supporter of the Los Angeles maestro of Conceptualism John Baldessari from early on in his career. For these conversations, the artist and curator were joined by, among others, the Uruguayan artist and author Alejandro Cesarco, a friend and previous public interlocutor of Baldessari's. Baldessari himself offers readers insight into the motives and semiotics of his multimedia work and his life as an artist, always expressing himself with precision and with wit. A recurrent topic throughout these discussions is the interaction of text and image (on which so much of Baldessari's work leans), and issues such as the museum as institution, idea archives and unrealized projects, and on his career, exhibitions and retrospectives of the past few years.

Frederique Bergholtz

Beatrice von Bismarck, Jorn Schafaf

Zoe Gray, Miriam Kathrein, Nicolaus Schafhausen, Monika Szewczyk, Ariadne Urlus This book documents three large-scale symposia at Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art. Structured to establish a lively platform for debate and exchange, these symposia explore the practice of three of the protagonists of the contemporary art world: the critic, the curator and the artist. Are they still the people who decide what art is made, what is seen, and whether it is ''good''? The book includes transcripts from workshops and dialogues, and also contains spirited contributions that arrived from participants in the months after the dialogues took place. Bringing together the cross-generational experience of the attendees, this compendium offers insights from some of the most renowned and promising figures in their fields.

Lucy Lippard, Hans Ulrich Obrist Part of JRP|Ringer's innovative Documents series, published with Les Presses du Reel and dedicated to critical writings, this publication comprises a unique collection of interviews by Hans Ulrich Obrist mapping the development of the curatorial field—from early independent curators in the 1960s and 70s and the experimental institutional programs developed in Europe and the U.S. through the inception of Documenta and the various biennales and fairs—with pioneering curators Anne D'Harnoncourt, Werner Hoffman, Jean Leering, Franz Meyer, Seth Siegelaub, Walter Zanini, Johannes Cladders, Lucy Lippard, Walter Hopps, Pontus Hulten and Harald Szeemann. Speaking of Szeemann on the occasion of this legendary curator's death in 2005, critic Aaron Schuster summed up, "the image we have of the curator today: the curator-as-artist, a roaming, freelance designer of exhibitions, or in his own witty formulation, a 'spiritual guest worker'... If artists since Marcel Duchamp have affirmed selection and arrangement as legitimate artistic strategies, was it not simply a matter of time before curatorial practice—itself defined by selection and arrangement—would come to be seen as an art that operates on the field of art itself?"

Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hu Fan On January 31, 2008, Swiss curator, critic and historian Hans Ulrich Obrist conducted a "marathon" of conversations in Beijing, after the example of his famous Serpentine Gallery marathons. This marathon called on artists, cultural producers and media practitioners to discuss the post-Olympic state of the city. Participants included internationally renowned artists Ai Weiwei and Cao Fei, writer and publisher Hung Huang, fashion designer Zhang Da and many others. Topics discussed included everyday life in contemporary Chinese society, the impact of the Olympic Games and the role of the internet in daily life.

Hans Ulrich Obrist, April Elizabeth Lamm Everything you ever wanted to know about Hans Ulrich Obrist but were afraid to ask has now been asked, revealing the truth from the beginning of his career as a young curator in his Zurich kitchen to his recent position as co-director of the Serpentine in London. This book is a ''production of reality conversations,'' otherwise known as interviews. It undertakes the impossible: pinning down this peripatetic curator, and affirming the wisdom of an artist who told Obrist ''don't go'' when he contemplated leaving the art world for other fields. Interviews by Jean Max Colard, Robert Fleck, Jefferson Hack, Nav Haq, Sophia Krzys Acord, Brendan McGetrick, Ingo Niermann, Paul O'Neill, Philippe Parreno & Alex Poots, Juri Steiner, Gavin Wade, et al.

Gregor Stemmrich, Lawrence Weiner, Gerti Fietzek Lawrence Weiner's art uses language in reference to materials. Language itself is a material and at the same time a means of presentation of his work. Weiner evolved this approach in the context of the Conceptual art of the late 60s, yet he does not see his own work as "conceptual." The "space" he works within is the entire cultural context, and his works are associated with various different media and forms of presentation: books, posters, videos, films, records, drawings, multiples, installations indoors and outdoors, and more.

Since his earliest days as a professional artist, Weiner has given written and verbal expression to questions concerning his work and its context. These utterances—statements, interviews, lectures, and conference contributions—have been collected together in this publication for the first time, and ordered chronologically. Taken as a whole they afford an insight both into a complex individual biography and into the wider development of art and culture and the challenge that this entails. Edited by Gregor Stemmrich and Gerti Fietzek. Paperback, 6.5 x 9.5 in. / 496 pgs / 190 b/w.

한스 울리히 오브리스트 지음, 송미숙 옮김