Midnight, The Tempest Essays

Molly Nesbit considers the work of artists - Paul Chan, Pierre Huyghe, Yang Fudong, among others - best defined as members of the extended family of Marcel Duchamp. They endeavor, not to represent reality, but seek, instead, to be held in reality's grasp through the play of chance and contingency. They are, therefore, not bound to any particular medium or set of practices; generally, they produce short-lived installations and performances and have recently preferred to do do at remote or surprising locations. The essays in this volume constitute a response to such art and the particular challenges it poses to critical exposition and judgement. The result is by no means theoretical speculation about the nature of poststudio practice. Her essays work in counterpoint to their subjects through what is sometimes called a relational aesthetic. Themes are picked up and expanded; personalities evoked; histories proposed; emotions are given due to consequence. Nesbit has won international recognition as a brilliant exponent of a new mode of art writing, one that turns art criticism into a history of the present. By providing the first collection of her essays, this book makes it possible to see the breadth of her contribution to contemporary culture,