Donatien Grau Boeken

In almost thirty interviews, Donatien Grau probes some of the world's most prominent thinkers and preeminent arts leaders on the past, present, and future of the encyclopedic museum.

A personal take on French Theory by one of the people who invented it. In the mid-1970s, Sylvère Lotringer created Semiotext(e), a philosophical group that became a magazine and then a publishing house. Since its creation, Semio-text(e) has been a place of stimulating dialogue between artists and philosophers, and for the past fifty years, much of American artistic and intellectual life has depended on it. The model of the journal and the publishing house revolves around the notion of the collective, and Lotringer has rarely shared his personal journey: his existence as a hidden child during World War II; the liberating and then traumatic experience of the collective in the kibbutz; his Parisian activism in the 1960s; his time of wandering, that took him, by way of Istanbul, to the United States; and then, of course, his American years, the way he mingled his nightlife with the formal experimentation he invented with Semiotext(e) and with his classes. Since the early 2010s, Donatien Grau has developed the habit of visiting Lotringer during his trips to Los Angeles; some of their dialogs were published or held in public. This book is an entry into Lotringer's life, his friendships, his choices, and his admiration for some of the leading thinkers of our times. The conversations between Lotringer and Grau show bursts of life, traces of a journey, through texts and existence itself, with an unusual intensity.

A modern history of the world’s greatest museums, as told by the people who know the institutions most intimately In his new book, French art critic Donatien Grau (born 1987) presents a case for the reconsideration of art museums as historical institutions and political forums, each one with its own rich biography.For this ambitious inquiry, Grau traveled to Williamstown, New York City, Vienna, Oxford, Ampthill, Moscow, Berlin and London to speak to the people working behind the scenes in the Western world’s greatest museums. Focusing on the 1960s to the 2000s, Grau details the stories of these cultural institutions from the perspectives of those who know them architect Frank Gehry explains his inspiration for the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain while Irina Aleksandrovna Antonova reminisces on the five decades she spent as Director of Moscow’s Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts.Grau’s incisive research is a testament to the influence of art museums as cultural touchstones throughout history.

An essay on aesthetics and the meaning of creation by a French critic.With forewords by Maurizio Cattelan, Douglas Coupland, and Carsten HöllerIn the last two hundred years, “art” has become one of the most fetishized concepts in Western civilization. The idea according to which certain people—also known as artists—would provide the world with their inner vision is a modern myth, but has proved to be a contemporary reality. Today, this post-Romantic conception is challenged by recent geographical and demographic explosions. Being an artist is often seen as an activity, a position, even a “job”—contrary to its first definition at the beginning of the nineteenth century.The Age of Creation analyzes the entrance of art into culture at large. Since so much art now considers itself as cultural production, mystical creation has been turned into a minority paradigm. Creation does not intend to embrace culture, but actually to address it and engage in a conversation between the world and its participants. As such, it paves the way for a perpetual reinvention of human life.

"Criticism is our censorship . . ." So begins one of the greatest invectives against criticism ever written by an artist. Paul Gauguin wrote "Racontars de Rapin" only months before he died in 1903, but the essay remained unpublished until 1951. Through discussions of numerous artists, both his contemporaries and predecessors, Gauguin unpacks what he viewed as the mistakes and misjudgments behind much of art criticism, revealing not only how wrong critics' interpretations have been, but also what it would mean to approach art properlyto really look. Long out of print, this new translation by Donatien Grau includes an introduction that situates the essay within Gauguin's written oeuvre, as well as explanatory notes. This text sheds light on Gauguins conception of artwidely considered a predecessor to Duchampand engages with many issues still relevant today: history, novelty, criticism, and the market. His voice feels as fresh, lively, sharp in English now as it did in French over one hundred years ago. Through Gauguins final piece of writing, we see the artist in the full throes of passionfor his work, for his art, for the art of others, and against anyone who would stand in his way. -- publisher's statement.

Eleven renowned contemporary artists -Paul Chan, Rachel Harrison, Huang Yong Ping, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Joseph Kosuth, Paul McCarthy, Whitney McVeigh, Raymond Pettibon, Adrian Piper, and Michelangelo Pistoletto-engage with, and respond to, the ideas of Plato.

A blend of theory and stories from an extraordinary life by a leading cultural figure. Tom Bishop has, for over sixty years, helped shape the literary, philosophical, cultural, artistic, and political conversation between Paris and New York. As professor and director of the Center for French Civilization and Culture at New York University, he made the Washington Square institution one of the great bridges between French innovation and a New York scene in full transformation. Bishop was close to Beckett, championed Robbe-Grillet in the United States, befriended Marguerite Duras and Hélène Cixous, and organized historic public encounters--such as the one between James Baldwin and Toni Morrison. He was also a scholar, a recognized specialist in the avant-garde, notably the Nouveau Roman and the Nouveau Théâtre. In 2012, Bishop invited Donatien Grau to give a talk at NYU. This invitation led to conversations--many of which are presented in this book--and a friendship. Literature Is a Voyage of Discovery gathers their dialogues, retracing Bishop's career, his own history, his departure from Vienna, his studies, his meetings, his choices, his conception of literature and life, his relationship to the political and economic world, and the way he helped define the profession of "curator" as it is practiced today, offering a thought-provoking look into one of the leading minds of our time.

After the Crisis offers a platform for discussions between some of today's leading artists, writers, theorists, curators, and historians aimed at questioning the very status of photography today. Contributors come from the realms of critical theory, fiction, performance art, fashion photography, and museums, as well as film and design, and their conversations bring together history and the contemporary. Comparing the current situation of photographic images with the crisis experienced by representation at the time of the birth of photography, they set our relationship with photographic images in the digital era in perspective. Through these discussions, we come to sense the existential burden of being surrounded by images, while also beginning to grasp the historical depth of a questioning of images that started long before the current generation and engages with crucial political and cultural issues of our time.

Dans les années 1970, Sylvère Lotringer fonde Semiotext(e), un espace de rencontre entre art et philosophie. Ce livre explore sa vie, ses expériences variées, et ses dialogues avec Donatien Grau, révélant son parcours unique et ses réflexions sur la pensée contemporaine, tout en témoignant de l'effervescence intellectuelle américaine.

Tom Bishop a joué un rôle clé dans les échanges culturels entre Paris et New York pendant plus de soixante ans. Professeur à NYU, il a été proche de figures comme Beckett et Duras. Ce livre retrace son parcours, ses choix, et sa conception de la littérature, tout en mettant en lumière son impact sur la profession de « curator ».