Exhibition Histories: ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ Paris Book Launch
Join us at castillo/corrales for the Paris launch of Making Art Global (Part 2): ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ 1989. On Thursday 11 July, contributing authors Lucy Steeds and Pablo Lafuente will be in conversation with Annie Cohen-Solal.
In 1989, an exhibition in Paris united the recent work of over a hundred artists and, since only half would be described as Western, it radically challenged the Western art system from within. ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ argued for the universality of the creative impulse and endeavoured to offer direct aesthetic experience of contemporary works of art made globally and presented on equal terms.
Making Art Global (Part 2), the fourth title in the Exhibition Histories series, focuses on ‘Magiciens de la Terre’, with photographs and gallery plans representing the exhibition in detail. An essay by Lucy Steeds provides an extended examination of its context and choices, while arguing that the show may be seen as an inadvertent model for transnational and project-based curating in the ensuing era of neoliberal globalisation. Jean-Marc Poinsot contributes a reflection on the discursive legacy and Pablo Lafuente’s opening essay inscribes ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ within the wider history of exhibition practice. Texts from the time include previously unpublished material, such as a programmatic statement by curator Jean-Hubert Martin and a conference paper by Gyatri Chakravorty Spivak.
Annie Cohen-Solal is a professor at the Université de Caen Basse-Normandie (Caen) and is in charge of the ‘Géopolitique de Sartre’ seminar at the École Normale Supérieure (Paris). Her most recent book is Leo and His Circle (Knopf: New York, 2010) and she is currently writing a biography of Mark Rothko for Yale University Press. Cohen-Solal will curate a series of events for the Centre Georges Pompidou to mark the 25th anniversary of ‘Magiciens de la Terre’ in 2014.
‘Magiciens de la Terre’ book launch
Thursday 11 July 2013, 19:00
castillo/corrales
80 rue Julien Lacroix
75020 Paris
Admission free, however seating is limited so please arrive early to ensure a place.
castillo/corrales is a non-profit exhibition space and bookshop, for more information visit their website.
This title is a companion to Making Art Global (Part 1): The Third Havana Biennial 1989. It is part of the Exhibition Histories series, and has been published by Afterall Books at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London, in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, the Centre for Curatorial Studies at Bard College and the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven.