An invitation
Dear readers, friends and colleagues,
we would like to start this year on »covertext(dot)org« with a question to our peers. If you are interested in participating, please take a bit of time to answer the following question:
Is the artist necessary for making art today?
Please answer in any language you like (with a maximum of 500 words), criticise or reformulate the question to your own needs (i.e. substitute »artist« with »author«, »art« with »literature« and so on). All answers will be published »as received« on »covertext(dot)org« on a regular basis.(1)
The context
In late 2001, Palais de Tokyo (with curators Jérôme Sans and Marc Sanchez) published a book consisting of a compilation of hundreds of answers to a single question:
What is the artist’s role today?
The book was part of an editorial project by the curators, re-engaging the debate on the possibilties and limitations of contemporary art and discussing the direction the newly-founded Palais de Tokyo would take as an art institution.
»Is the artist necessary for making art today?« is our homage to the project and (in light of years past and means of communication and terms of authorship radically changed) our derivation and continuation of the original question.
We are looking forward to your answers
With kind regards from Cologne
Swantje Lichtenstein & Tom Lingnau
What is the artist’s role today?/Quel est le rôle de l’artiste aujourd’hui?
Edited by Jérôme Sans and Marc Sanchez
300 pages, english/french, 21 x 15 cm
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, 2001