The catalogue of Andrea Fraser’s Salzburg retrospective has returned from the printers and is beginning to show up in bookstores. This publication contains texts by Shannon Jackson and myself, as well as by Sabine Breitwieser and Andrea. Of course, Andrea’s own writings are a significant part of her practice and have shaped the reception of her work—but by now, her 2002 remark (in an October roundtable on art criticism) that there are “no monographic essays about my work” no longer applies. I’m very happy with how my text “Andrea Fraser: Institutional Analysis” has panned out. While it is obviously informed by Andrea’s incisive texts, I have an agenda that does not necessarily concedes with the artist’s, but is developed in a critical dialogue with her. More artist monographs to which I have contributed will follow over the coming months: Wendelien van Oldenborgh, Willem de Rooij, Eran Schaerf.

Edit: I have no idea what has happened here or who might be behind this, but my text has been posted online (in a pre-layout version, without any images). Nonetheless: if you are interested in Andrea Fraser’s practice, I recommend getting hold of this substantial and thorough publication.

 

Vdrome is a welcome initiative: while it does not constitute a remedy for the problem of art world’s restrictive distribution protocols concerning video pieces, it at least makes a selection of such videos available online, one at a time, for a limited time – but if a work is particularly important to you, you should be able to save the file. From 1 to 14 July, Vdrome is streaming The Otolith Group’s film The Radiant (2012), accompanied by a short introduction written by me.

This intro based on a substantial essay on artistic and activist responses to the nuclear regime from the mid-1940s to the present day, which will be published in an upcoming issue of the Nordic Journal of Aesthetics, edited by Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen. I assumed it would see the light of day around now, but recently Mikkel informed me that, due to the Nordic Journal’s uniquely whimsical production process, the issue has been delayed till hopefully-later-this-year. Knowing Mikkel and the list of contributors, it should be worth the wait.