Swiss Institute New York presents two e-flux publications

Swiss Institute Swiss Institute presents two e-flux publications Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 6 – 9 pm. Swiss Institute [SI] 495 Broadway 3rd Floor New York NY 10012 T. 212.925.2035 F. 212.925.2040 http://www.swissinstitute.net / info@swissinstitute.net SI New York, e-flux and JRP|Ringier are pleased to announce the New York book launch for a new publication, entitled The Best Surprise Is No Surprise and a second, bootleg edition of the The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist. The book launch will take place at the Swiss Institute, New York, on Wednesday, May 16, 2007, from 6 – 9 pm. Please join us for a conversation with Liam Gillick, Jens Hoffmann, Molly Nesbit and Anton Vidokle about these unusual publications. Over the past several years, electronic communications have had a transformative effect on the public discourse on contemporary art by removing temporal and geographical barriers to the flow of information and, for the first time, putting local exhibition makers and institutions in contact with an international art public unmediated by the univocal perspective perpetuated by the few leading art journals. The Best Surprise Is No Surprise covers a 7-year period beginning in 1999, and chronicles communiqués for exhibitions, publications, events and symposia chosen from the archive of electronic announcements originally distributed by e-flux, and selected both by the e-flux readers and by some of the most active international curators, artists, critics and art historians of our time, including: Zdenka Badovinac, Ariane Beyn, Mircea Cantor, Binna Choi, Elena Filipovic, Liam Gillick, Jörg Heiser, Jennifer Higgie, Jens Hoffmann, Eungie Joo, Samuel Keller, Francesco Manacorda, Viktor Misiano, Naeem Mohaiemen, Jessica Morgan, Molly Nesbit, Ernesto Neto, Natasa Petresin, Brian Sholis, Nancy Spector, Christine Tohme, Barbara Vanderlinden, Octavio Zaya, and Tirdad Zolghadr. The book, published by JRP|Ringier press, contains an essay by Daniel Birnbaum and an interview by Hans Ulrich Obrist with Anton Vidokle & Julieta Aranda. BACK IN PRINT BY POPULAR DEMAND The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist After the opening of Documenta 11 several questions were posed to a group of international artists: What happens if artists take over and occupy territory usually reserved for curators? What happens if artists are asked to propose a concept for a large-scale group exhibition and take control over a prestigious exhibition such as Documenta? The responses to these questions, some in the form of full proposals or shorter comments, resulted in a publication, a web-based project and a conference titled The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist in 2003 and 2004. Just before the opening of Docmenta 12 in Kassel this June, these questions and the responses are still at the center of the conversation about the role of large-scale international group exhibitions and the relationship between artists and curators. Out of print for the last three years the The Next Documenta Should Be Curated By An Artist book is back and available again! Over 30 proposals will be back in print as a bootleg version of the original publication which will be launched on May 16th at the Swiss Institute in New York City. Curated by Jens Hoffmann Participants: Marina Abramovic Pawel Althamer John Baldessari Ricardo Basbaum Laura Belem Dara Birnbaum Daniel Buren AA Bronson Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset Morgan Fisher Liam Gillick Joseph Grigely Natascha Sadr Haghighian Carl Michael von Hausswolff Isabel Heimerdinger Federico Herrero Alfredo Jaar Tim Lee Ken Lum Dorit Margreiter John Miller Jonathan Monk Boris Ondreicka Serkan Ozkaya Florian Pumhosl Martha Rosler Julia Scher Markus Schinwald Tino Sehgal Lawrence Weiner http://www.e-flux.com/projects/next_doc/