« Art Critics' Reading List
KATJA WEITERING
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Katja Weitering is the artistic director of the Cobra Museum of Modern Art in Amstelveen (The Netherlands), devoted to the Cobra experimental avant-garde movement of the 1940s and 1950s. She is the author of a range of articles and catalogues on the subject of European avant-garde artists and groups. Under Katja’s leadership, the Cobra Museum conducts an active policy in which experimental modern art and contemporary art are presented alongside each other. She has worked on such exhibitions as “Patria o Libertad!” and “Mike Bouchet. New Living.” |
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Andrew Keen. The Cult of the Amateur. How blogs, MySpace, YouTube and the rest of today’s user-generated media are killing our culture and economy. London and Boston: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2010. In my view, Andrew Keen’s well known tirade against the endless stream of banal content spouted by amateurs presents an inaccurate picture of the positive contribution made by users of digital and social media. Despite this, the book is essential reading for anyone interested in the ongoing debate over the meaning of creativity and the role of the amateur. In the revised paperback edition, Keen argues that the convergence of the public and the author has transformed Western culture into a cacophony of uncontrollable information. This development supposedly poses a threat to creativity in general. In the Netherlands, the position of the amateur artist versus the professional has recently been the subject of much interest. The government is introducing cost-cutting measures that hit professional art institutions while at the same time engaging in political policy that encourages output from amateurs. The Cult of the Amateur actualizes this discussion.
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Ruth Baumeister (Ed.). Fraternité Avant Tout. Asger Jorn’s writings on art and architecture, 1938-1958. Rotterdam: 010 Publishers, 2011. The Danish avant-garde artist Asger Jorn (1914-1973) is considered to have been one of the most versatile artists of the 20th century. Jorn was not only active as a visual artist, but was also a passionate theoretician and the founder and a leading member of various collectives, including Cobra and the International Situationists. By compiling this new publication, Ruth Baumeister aims to bring Jorn’s writings about the relationship between art and architecture to the attention of an English-speaking public. The book contains a selection of articles from the period 1938-1958, including some that have never before been translated into English. Reading Jorn’s work can best be described as a rollercoaster ride, during which fascinating theories about a possible synthesis between art and architecture are examined. Seen from the perspective of 2011, Jorn’s views cast a captivating light on the problems faced by post-industrial societies. This publication underlines the importance of Jorn’s legacy.
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Alex Danchev (sel.). 100 Artists’ Manifestos. From the Futurists to the Stuckists. London and New York: Penguin Classics, 2011. This publication by Penguin is a great handbook for any art historian and curator whose work involves modern and contemporary art. The selection of 100 artists’ manifestos by Alex Danchev, whose previous works include On Art and War and Terror, starts with the Futurists’ manifesto of 1909 and ends with a pamphlet dating from 2009 by The Other Muswell Hill Stuckists, whom, I admit, I had never heard of. The numerous writings from the intervening century paint a picture of the intellectual foundations for the development of modern and post-modern art. As the artistic director of a museum devoted to an avant-garde movement, I find these stimulating manifestos particularly exciting. They are concise, driven by urgency and inspired by a conviction that is often expressed in hyperbole. However varied they may be in their nature and content, all of these documents are based on a belief that art can truly make a difference.
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