Harald Szeemann

Widely regarded as the most influential curator of the second half of the twentieth century, Harald Szeemann (1933–2005) is associated with some of the most important artistic developments of the postwar era. A passionate advocate for avant-garde movements like Conceptualism and Postminimalism, he collaborated with artists such as Joseph Beuys, Bruce Nauman, Richard Serra, and Cy Twombly, developing new ways of presenting art that reflected his sweeping vision of contemporary culture. Szeemann once stated that his goal as an exhibition maker was to create a “Museum of Obsessions.” This richly illustrated volume is a virtual collection catalogue for that imaginary institution, tracing the evolution of his curatorial method through letters, drawings, personal datebooks, installation plans, artists’ books, posters, photographs, and handwritten notes. This book documents all phases of Szeemann’s career, from his early stint as director of the Kunsthalle Bern, where he organized the seminal Live in Your Head: When Attitudes Become Form (1969); to documenta 5 (1972) and the intensely personal exhibition he staged in his own apart-ment using the belongings of his hairdresser grandfather (1974); to his reinvention as a freelance curator who realized projects on wide-ranging themes until his death in 2005. The book contains essays exploring Szeemann’s curatorial approach as well as interviews with collaborators. Its more than 350 illustrations include previously unpublished installation photographs and documents as well as archival materials. This volume is published to accompany an exhibition on view at the Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center February 6 to May 6, 2018 (a satellite show will be at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles February 4 to April 22, 2018); at the Kunsthalle Bern in Bern, Switzerland, June to September 2018; at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf in Düsseldorf, Germany October 2018 to January 2019; and at the Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Rivoli in Turin, Italy, February to May 2019.

Born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1933, Harald Szeemann was a crucial force in identifying, exhibiting, and writing about the important new movements in postwar contemporary art. This collection of seventy-four texts from the curator’s vast body of written work—which includes essays, lectures, studio notes, reviews, interviews, correspondence, and transcripts—introduces the depth of his method, insight, and inclusive artistic interests. The pieces have been translated from German and French and collected in an informed, authoritative edition, making this the first time Szeemann’s work is accessible in English. The first two sections of this volume republish Szeemann’s anthologies Museum der Obsessionen (1981) and Individuelle Mythologien (1985). The final part assembles important writings from 1986 until his death in 2005 to represent the later years of his career and round out a record of his contribution to and dialogue with later twentieth- century art and artists. The book’s publication coincides with the opening of the Getty Research Institute’s exhibition Harald Szeemann: Museum of Obsessions and complements its catalogue, as well as a contemporaneous satellite show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, that focuses on Szeemann’s Grandfather exhibition (1974).

Harald Szeemann (1933-2005) war einer der einflussreichsten Ausstellungsmacher der letzten Jahrzehnte. Eine ganze Generation von Kuratoren hat sich von seiner unabhängigen Ausstellungspraxis und seinen emphatischen Inszenierungen der Gegenwartskunst inspirieren lassen. Szeemanns unbeirrbares Interesse am künstlerischen Einzelweg, an starker Haltung und kraftvoller Persönlichkeit erscheint im Rückblick wie vehementer Widerspruch gegen einen Kunstbetrieb der Trends und Tendenzen. Der Band beschreibt das »Prinzip Szeemann«, die Visionen eines erklärten Ausstellungskünstlers und lässt die wichtigsten Stationen seiner singulären Karriere Revue passieren - von der legendären Berner Ausstellung »When Attitudes Become Form« über die documenta 5, die großen thematischen Untersuchungen wie »Junggesellenmaschinen« und »Der Hang zum Gesamtkunstwerk«, die Entdeckung der jungen osteuropäischen Szenen bis hin zu den Biennalen in Venedig, Lyon und Sevilla. (Englische Ausgabe ISBN 978-3-7757-1705-2) Zum Autor: Hans-Joachim Müller (*1947), Studium der Kunstgeschichte und Philosophie, in den 1980er Jahren Kunstkritiker im Feuilleton der »Zeit«, zuletzt Feuilletonchef der »Basler Zeitung«. Lebt heute als freier Autor (unter anderem für die »Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung«, die »Zeit« und das »art«-Magazin) in Freiburg im Breisgau und in Süditalien. Autor des 1992 erschienenen Filmporträts »Harald Szeemann - Verzauberung auf Zeit«. Unterstützt von Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung

Here for the first time is a complete presentation and comprehensive appraisal of the work of Harald Szeemann, who has an international reputation as one of the most creative of today's exhibition-makers. Numerous documents, notes, sketches, photos, commentaries, reactions, explanations and recollections convey a lively picture of how Szeemann's ideas and concepts are put into practice, as well as his philosophy and understanding of art.

Born in Bern, Switzerland, in 1933, Harald Szeemann was a crucial force in identifying, exhibiting, and writing about the important new movements in postwar contemporary art. This collection of seventy-four texts from the curator’s vast body of written work—which includes essays, lectures, studio notes, reviews, interviews, correspondence, and transcripts—introduces the depth of his method, insight, and inclusive artistic interests. The pieces have been translated from German and French and collected in an informed, authoritative edition, making this the first time Szeemann’s work is accessible in English. The first two sections of this volume republish Szeemann’s anthologies Museum der Obsessionen (1981) and Individuelle Mythologien (1985). The final part assembles important writings from 1986 until his death in 2005 to represent the later years of his career and round out a record of his contribution to and dialogue with later twentieth- century art and artists. The book’s publication coincides with the opening of the Getty Research Institute’s exhibition Harald Szeemann: Museum of Obsessions and complements its catalogue, as well as a contemporaneous satellite show at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, that focuses on Szeemann’s Grandfather exhibition (1974).

Harald Szeemann: The Exhibition as Fine Art~ISBN 3-7757-1705-6 U.S. $35.00 / Paperback, 6 x 8 in. / 176 pgs / 60 b&w. ~Item / April / Nonfiction and Criticism

"Harald Szeemann (1933-2005) is without doubt one of the most authoritative figures of contemporary curatorial practice. He has played a considerable role in the development of exhibition curating since the 1960s, and almost all art-historical books refer to [his] 'When attitudes become form' (1969). Neither a biography nor a compilation of his projects, this publication, thanks to privileged access to the archives of the Fabbrica rosa, hopes to shed light on Szeemann's curatorial methodology." -- Back cover

Over the period of twelve months, between May 2017 and 2018, Polish-born curator and critic Anda Rottenberg has written a series of fictitious letters to legendary curator and writer Harald Szeemann (1933?2005). In these pieces, Rottenberg analyzes the art and nature of curating and reveals references and relations in the history of art. She questions female artistic positions both in the Eastern and Western Europe and so encourages new individual readings of them. Her letters express a unique rhetoric that take-up questions and polemic judgements to amalgamate individual opinion and objective knowledge into a personal history.00This is the first publication of the much acclaimed new museum foundation Muzeum Susch, an initiative of the Polish entrepreneur and art collector Gra?yna Kulczyk.