The context of art. The art of context

The book presents original texts and images by 70 artists and it aims to a critical understanding of the new conditions of art at the end of the twentieth century; it is a project originally conceived in the early 90's by seth siegelaub with marion and roswitha fricke. the purpose of the project was an attempt to understand how the artists, the art world and art itself has evolved over the past 25 years. the late 60's have been chosen as a point of departure for this project because more than in any other period in recent history many artists radically confronted and questioned the dominant values underlying the production and consumption of art: art as unique and rare object, art as a physically permanent "timeless" object, art as private property, etc. the organizers have asked 123 international artists who participated in one or more of the following exhibitions - op loose schroeven, when attitudes become form, prospekt 69 and konzeption/conception - to share their thoughts about the development of the art world, their work and themselves from the late 60's until today. the response has been excellent and the book contains the replies of more than 60 artists including among others daniel buren, james lee byars, jan dibbets, joseph kosuth, mario merz and lawrence weiner