This book began as a two-part issue of e-flux journal devoted to the
question: What is contemporary art? First, and most obviously: why is
this question not asked? That is to say, why do we simply leave it to
hover in the shadow of attempts at critical summation in the grand
tradition of twentieth-century artistic movements? A single hegemonic
"ism" has replaced clearly distinguishable movements and grand
narratives. But what exactly does it mean to be working under the
auspices of this singular ism?
"Widespread usage of the term 'contemporary' seems so self-evident that
to further demand a definition of 'contemporary art' may be taken as an
anachronistic exercise in cataloguing or self-definition. At the same
time, it is no coincidence that this is usually the tenor of such large,
elusive questions: it is precisely through their apparent self-evidence
that they cease to be problematic and begin to exert their influence in
hidden ways; and their paradox, their unanswerability begins to
constitute a condition of its own, a place where people work."
e-flux journal: What Is Contemporary Art? puts the apparent simplicity
and self-evident term into doubt, asking critics, curators, artists, and
writers to contemplate the nature of this catchall or default category.
**Contributors
**Julieta Aranda, Brian Kuan Wood, Anton Vidokle, Cuauhtémoc Medina,
Boris Groys, Raqs Media Collective, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Hu Fang, Jörg
Heiser, Martha Rosler, Zdenka Badovinac, Carol Yinghua Lu, Dieter
Roelstraete, and Jan Verwoert
e-flux journal Series edited by Julieta Aranda, Brian Kuan Wood, Anton
Vidokle
