Public Knowledge

de Michael Asher, Kirsi Peltomäki

"This collection of legendary artist Michael Asher's writings makes available a large selection of texts that, for the most part, are published here for the first time. The topics of the texts include the conditions of artistic practice, site specificity, public art, the teaching of art, and artists working with art institutions. The collection includes different types of texts: preliminary notes and ideas, proposals for works and exhibitions, exhibition statements, interviews and letters to curators and critics. The dates of the included writings cover a broad range of Asher's career, from the late 1960s to 2010. Each text is introduced by an editor note that includes information about the text, along with the relevant projects and institutional situations that pertain to it. Although Asher has not been known as a prolific writer, this book demonstrates that writing had a substantial role in his practice. His writing gives readers insight into one of the most complex, critically astute and precise set of strategies for artistic practice in recent history"--