The Do It book contains artworks by more than 100 international artists in the form of do-it-yourself text instructions to be completed by the reader. Based on the traveling exhibition and e-flux online project curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, the book also includes a selection of essays and interviews, and offers comprehensive material on the groundbreaking show. Do It began in 1993 with a discussion among friends Christian Boltanski, Bertrand Lavier, and Hans Ulrich Obrist. All three had been interested in various forms of instructional procedures since the early 1970s, and that evening they spoke of the instructions contained within their own work. From this discussion arose the idea of an exhibition of do-it-yourself descriptions and procedural instructions. Since 1993, the exhibition has taken place in venues in more than 40 cities worldwide, including Palo Alto, Pittsburg, Calgary, Atlanta, Toronto, Andover, Glasgow, Reykjavik, Helsinki, Bangkok, Copenhagen, Edmonton, Paris, Mexico City, and Costa Rica. Meaning has been multiplied as various interpretations of the text accumulated while the exhibition traveled from venue to venue. The online component, which invites participants to upload images of the results of their chosen project, is less concerned with copies, images, or reproductions of artworks than with human interpretation.

Do It

Arts & Photography

Birnbaum, Daniel

Garfinkel, Harold

History & Criticism

e-flux/Revolver

The Next Documenta Should Be Curated by an Artist

Themes

Instigated by a conversation between Jens Hoffman and artist Carsten Höller after the opening of Documenta 11, this project provocatively questions the ascent of the curator, the value of the artist as curator, the future of international exhibitions and many less easily summarized tangents. Exhibited virtually on the e-flux website, The Next Documenta Should be Curated by an Artist is really much more of a question than a statement, a question to which a dozen or so artists responded in a varied manner, including Marina Abramovic, Pawel Althamer, AA Bronson, Daniel Buren, Liam Gillick, Joseph Grigely, Alfredo Jaar, Ken Lum, John Miller and Martha Rosler. Some offered considered expository positions and formal exhibition proposals, others contributed brief wit and poetic statements. The Next Documenta Should be Curated by an Artist offers an experimental means of questioning a relevant topic through one of the most important exhibitions on the international scene.

The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist

Hoffmann, Jens

Bronson, AA

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Books by e-flux/Revolver