Gerz / The Anthology of Art

[Claudia Westermann]

Jochen Gerz " temps détournés " Vidéo et Internet dans l'oeuvre 1969-2002
http://www.cnac-gp.fr/Pompidou/Expositions.nsf/Docs/ID9769F241F2D4B1DFC1256AEA004DF9B2?OpenDocument
6 février - 22 avril 2002


and:

Jochen Gerz

The Anthology of Art
Art and Theory in Dialogue.

The Anthology of Art offers an internet-based platform for dialogue between 
artists and art theorists from all over the world. Its theme is the vision 
of art and its relationship to theoretical discourse.

The appropriation of art by its institutions has shown that art and 
discourse are interconnected, placing equal emphasis on both theoretical 
reflection and on the work of art itself. Contemporary art reflects the 
conditions of its own production and promotion.

Instead of presuming the connection between production and theory, the 
Anthology of Art is investigating, and demonstrating it. At the same time, 
it confronts the global medium of the Internet with traditional 
relationships within the international art. As a result, this experiment 
provides information about contemporary artistic process.


The Game
In the beginning, six artists and six theorists were invited to contribute 
to the Anthology of Art. The artists chose one of their own images, while 
the theorists wrote a short text (1 - 3 pages) in their native language or 
in English, both answering the same question:

"In the context of contemporary art, what is your vision of a yet unknown art?"

The twelve contributions - either images or text - are accessible on the 
Internet for only two weeks. Each participant invites a successor to send 
in a replacement submission, either an image or text. In this way, the web 
site is continuously updated and no more than twelve contributions will 
appear on the Anthology's site at any given time. The rotation of 
contributions will continue until October 2002.

At the completion of the project, all contributions will be published. The 
final Anthology of Art will comprise 312 different contributions, 156 
images and 156 texts.


The Investigation
Beyond compiling a representative collection of contemporary theory, the 
intention is to investigate a production process in dialogue form, without 
the initiators' interference. It is assumed today that art itself is no 
longer being questioned. On the contrary: every word about art tends to 
transform itself into art as well. The Anthology of Art tests the limits of 
this trend. The question is: can a large number of independent authors 
produce a meaningful work as a whole? Will this form of production reflect 
a global society more adequately than traditional, curated models of 
presentation?


The Anthology of Art
The year long process of developing the Anthology ends in October 2002 and 
will coincide with the opening of the new library of the Academy of Fine 
Arts in Braunschweig. Six months later, a printed version of the Anthology 
of Art will be published, including all images and texts.

Summary
The aim of this work in progress is to forge a new dialogue between art and 
theory. Members of a heterogeneous international community will be the 
authors and curators of the Anthology. Existing contacts will grow; 
unexpected relationships will be initiated.

The international and interdisciplinary claim of contemporary art has often 
been taken for granted. It will now be questioned by simultaneous, 
ephemeral and aleatoric confrontations of different regions of the world, 
no longer merely from centres or peripheries, no longer from either naive 
or informed perspectives.


Organization
Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig - Braunschweig School of 
Art/Germany

Project Team
- Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Institut für 
Kunstwissenschaft, Prof. Horant Fassbinder, Heike Wetzig, Deborah Phillips 
(translations), Christoph Behm (site administration)
- Université Rennes 2, Haute Bretagne, Département des Arts plastiques, Dr. 
Marion Hohlfeldt, and students
- Dr. Sigrid Pawelke (Paris)

Partners
- Lettre International, Berlin
- Fondation Evens, Antwerp
- eku interactive e. K. Berlin
- Universität Karlsruhe (TU), Virtuelle Bibliothek der UB
- advanced visions Design & Mediaagentur, Braunschweig

Funder
Stiftung Niedersachsen, Germany www.stnds.de



contributors:

Nancy Adajania (Bombay)
Igor Antic (Paris/ *Yugoslavia)
Inke Arns (Berlin)
Sara Arrhenius (Stockholm)
Zeigam Azizov (London/ *Azerbajgan)
George Baker (New York)
Ricardo Basbaum (Rio de Janeiro)
Kenny Berger (Los Angeles)
Hannes Böhringer (Berlin)
Mikkel Bolt (Aarhus)
Gábor Bora (Stockholm/ *Hungary)
Robert Boyd (New York)
Will Bradley (Glasgow)
Suzanne Broughel (New York)
Daniel Buren (Paris)
Jackie Chang (New York/ *Taiwan)
Yungshu Chao (New York/ *Taiwan)
Sara Ching-Yu Sun (New York/ *Taiwan)
John Clark (Sydney/ *England)
Jordan Crandall (London/ *USA)
Joselina Cruz (Manila)
Ann B. Daly (New York)
Katy Deepwell (London)
Florine Demosthene (New York/ *Haiti)
Alan Dunn (London)
Charles Esche (Edinburgh)
Daniel Firman (St. Priest)
Patrick Flores (Manila)
Rainer Ganahl (New York/ *Austria)
Vera Gliem (Cologne)
Charles Green (Melbourne)
M. A. Greenstein (Los Angeles)
Catherine Grout (Paris)
Silvia Gruner (Mexico City)
Marina Grzinic (Ljubljana/ *Yugoslavia)
Liselot van der Heijden (New York/ *The Netherlands)
Eric Heist (New York)
Betti-Sue Hertz (San Diego)
Stewart Home (London)
Stephen Horne (Lignières-Orgères - France/ *Kenya)
Teri Hoskin (Adelaide)
Ranjit Hoskote (Bombay)
Hanru Hou (Paris/ *China)
Akiko Ichikawa (New York/ *Japan)
ium (Seoul)
Magdalena Jetelová (Cologne/ *Czechoslovakia)
Claudia Jolles (Zurich/ *Austria)
Claudia Joskowicz (New York/ *Bolivia)
Suhasini Kejriwal (Calcutta)
Bom-jun Kim (Seoul)
Mi-kyung Kim (Seoul)
Astrid A. Klein (Cologne)
Marta Kuzma (London)
Lars Bang Larsen (Copenhagen)
Miguel Leal (Porto)
Pi Li (Beijing)
Detlef B. Linke (Bonn)
Geert Lovink (Amsterdam)
Pablo Vargas Lugo (Mexico City)
Jan-Erik Lundström (Umeå - Sweden)
Harm Lux (Zurich/ *The Netherlands)
Lenore Malen (New York)
Gianfranco Maraniello (Milan)
Howard McCalebb (New York)
Scott McQuire (Melbourne)
Suzana Milevska (Skopje)
Susette Min (Los Angeles)
Juan Luis Moraza (Madrid)
Sina Najafi (New York/ *Iran)
Odili Donald Odita (Tallahassee/ *Nigeria)
Olu Oguibe (New York/ *Nigeria)
Luis Felipe Ortega (Mexico City)
Nikos Papastergiadis (Melbourne)
Marsha Pels (New York)
Fernando José Pereira (Porto)
Sharmini Pereira (London)
Johan Pijnappel (India/ *The Netherlands)
Elizabeth Presa (Hampton, Vic. - Australia)
Jiri Prihoda (Prague)
Cay Sophie Rabinowitz (New York)
Andrea Ray (New York)
Chris Reid (Adelaide)
Rosângela Rennó (Rio de Janeiro)
Irit Rogoff (London/ *Israel)
Robbie Rowlands (Northcote - Australia)
Beatrix Ruf (Zurich/ *Germany)
Jayce Salloum (Vancouver)
Jeffrey Schulz (New York)
Avraham Schweiger (Tel Aviv & New York City/ *The Netherlands)
Peter Scott (New York)
Shuddhabrata Sengupta (New Delhi)
Valeska Soares (Rio de Janeiro)
Allan de Souza (Los Angeles/ *Kenya)
Catherine Speck (South Australia)
Dorothea Strauss (Freiburg)
József A. Tillmann (Budapest)
Laureana Toledo (Mexico City)
Momoyo Torimitsu (New York/ *Japan)
Rosemarie Trockel (Cologne)
Iké Udé (New York/ *Nigeria)
Gregory L. Ulmer (Gainesville - Florida)
Adriana Varejão (Rio de Janeiro)
Miguel Ventura (Mexico City/ *USA)
Suzann Victor (Singapore)
Yvonne Volkart (Zurich)
Ute Vorkoeper (Hamburg)
James R. Watson (New Orleans)
Michael Waugh (New York)