This publication is a compilation of the lectures and debates that were held in conjunction with Witte de With’s exhibition program during 1992. Witte de With – The Lectures -1992 is a documentation of the critical discussion that Witte de With had been conducting on 1992’s state of affairs of contemporary art. These lectures and debates not only addressed the so-called theoretical points of interest which Witte de With considered essential to its exhibition programming, but they also served as a communicative forum for the artists, critics, theoreticians, and public involved in Witte de With’s exhibitions.
The exhibition program of Witte de With in 1992 included, the exhibition of the Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica (22 February – 26 April 1992); the C.E.E.-Project (1989-1992) by the Spanish artist Antoni Muntadas: united Europe; The exhibition of the Dutch artist Philip Akkerman (May 16 -July 12, 1992); the exhibition Walker Evans & Dan Graham (29 August – 11 October 1992), co-curated with Jean-François Chevrier; the collaboration with American artist Haim Steinbach, who curated the exhibition No Rocks Allowed., and the exhibition of the German artist Stephan Balkenhol (12 December 1992 – 24 January 1993), that addressed the concept of mimesis.
In the lectures and debates that were programmed with the aforementioned exhibitions, the following themes came up: the importance of the work of Hélio Oiticica for the contemporary art scene, the past and the future of the catalog as documentation of art, the significance of Walker Evans for a contemporary comprehension of photography, the status of the exhibition program and of the program as an institute, and the sense of the nonsense of the depiction of the human figure in contemporary art.
The contributors were: Stephan Balkenhol, Guy Brett, Jean-François Chevrier, Catherine David, Chris Dercon, Ludger Gerdes, Craigie Horsfield, Martin Kreissig, Rodrigo Naves, Walter Nikkels, Stephen Prina, Sônia Salzstein-Goldberg and Jeff Wall.
In this issue of The Lectures, Bruce Mau’s talk held at the beginning of 1993 is also included. For indeed, his contribution and that of Walter Nikkels provide interesting points of comparison for the future of art publications like this.
—Publication Type
The Lectures
—Year Published
1993
—Colophon
Contributions
Guy Brett, Catherine David, Rodrigo Naves, Sônia Salzstein-Goldberg, Stephan Balkenhol, Jean-François Chevrier, Chris Dercon, Ludger Gerdes, Martin Kreyssig, Jeff Wall, Craigie Horsfield, Bruce Mau, Walter Nikkels, Stephen Prina
Print-run
650 copies
Language
English
Format
size 15 x 21 cm, 128 pages, 30 black-and-white photographs
ISBN
90-73362-26-1
Publisher
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art