Fabrice Stroun Knihy

Asked to contribute to Artforum's "Top Ten" column, David Robbins used one of his entries for "Electricity: That we don't annually celebrate Electricity Day is unfathomable." That sense of whimsy, even amid an advanced critical sensibility, makes this collection of essays from the past quarter century a great read. A regular contributor to magazines such as Real Life (in the 1980s), Purple Prose (in the 1990s), and Artforum, Robbins is one of the first artists and critics to investigate the art world's entrance into the culture industry. His work reflects on the spectacle, the transformation of the position of the artist in the visual system, and the future role of the spectator in art. This publication also brings together his key interviews with Richard Prince, Allan McCollum, and Clegg & Gutman; his writings on television, Hollywood, and Warhol; and contributions to his "Institute for Advanced Comedic Behavior." Edited by Lionel Bovier, Fabrice Stroun. Paperback, 6 x 8.5 in./240 pgs / 16 b&w.

No less versatile in his writing than in his installations, films, architecture and sculpture, Liam Gillick unites his critical essays in this collection, most of which were originally printed in art magazines or exhibition catalogues. Lauded for his ingenious reinterpretation of Conceptual and Minimalist art, Liam Gillick has often used language, whether in type on a wall or on a page, as a site of artistic, theoretical and political intervention. He reveals himself here as a witness of and major actor in the largely European 1990s art scene that included Philippe Parreno, Pierre Huyghe, Carsten Höller, Angela Bulloch, Douglas Gordon and Rirkrit Tiravanija. A key publication of discussions, references, and artistic engagements of the 1990s, the book also allows an examination of the renewed importance at this time of Felix Gonzalez-Torres, John Baldessari and Allen Ruppersberg.