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Coverbild Vittoria Martini
A page from a book's table of contents, with page numbers listed on the left and corresponding chapter or entry titles on the right. The entries, dated in 2009, include titles such as Thomas Hirschhorn, The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival, Letter to Lisa Lee, and Letter to Claire Bishop. The list is structured chronologically with boxed date ranges like May 2 — May 17 and June 22 — June 28.
A black-and-white, hand-drawn architectural sketch. On the left is a floor plan for a fan-shaped building, labeled Dimensions Big Book, with rooms like Exhibition, Library, and Platform, and various measurements. On the right, large handwritten text asks: Can I with The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival build an Universal Sculpture?
An open book shows a two-page spread, pages 12 and 13, which is the introduction. The text discusses The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival and includes several paragraphs, quotes, and footnotes at the bottom of each page.
A two-page spread from a document, numbered 22 and 23, detailing The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival. The text is organized under headings such as Presence and Production, The Other, Precariousness, Beam, and Dates. The content outlines the festival's philosophy, its sixteen constituent elements, and its schedule from April to July 2009.
A black and white image showing the front page of The Bijlmer Spinoza Newspaper, issue number 1, dated Saturday, May 2, 2009. At the top is a photo of a group of men, the construction team, posing outdoors. The main headline below reads, Iedere dag is een nieuwe dag / Everyday Is a New Day. The page contains two columns of text, one in Dutch and one in English.
A two-page document spread. The left page, numbered 26, is in English and titled Presence and Production, describing Thomas Hirschhorn's art project, The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival. The right page, numbered 27, is in French and titled Ambassador, outlining a mission for Vittoria Martini for the festival, including her responsibilities and remuneration.
A two-page book spread. The left page contains several paragraphs of text. The right page features a black and white, high-angle photograph of an outdoor art installation in a park-like setting, surrounded by trees, large apartment buildings, and a concrete overpass. A caption identifies it as the Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival.
A black and white book spread. The left page features a photograph of a rustic, makeshift office inside a wooden structure. A hand-painted sign reading AMBASSADOR hangs on the wall above a desk with an old computer, with papers and smaller photos pinned around it. The right page contains a full page of text.
A black and white two-page spread from a book. The left page, 46, contains a column of text discussing art and politics. The right page, 47, features a large photo of a cluttered art installation with handwritten notes and newspapers hanging on a wall. A sign at the top reads Daily-Newspaper to CONSULT. A caption is printed below the photograph.
A two-page spread from a book. The left page contains a full page of text. On the right, a black and white photograph shows a group of children and an adult gathered around a workbench in a workshop setting. Below the image is the caption: Daily presence of many children at the workshop table on the platform.
Two pages from the play script for Spinoza Theater by Marcus Steinweg. The left page, numbered 76, contains the preface, setting, plot summary, and list of characters. The right page, 77, shows the beginning of the play, titled 1. Prologue: Cursed, with dialogue between an Invisible Voice and the character Spinoza.
A black and white two-page spread from a publication. The left page is the cover of The Bijlmer Spinoza Newspaper, issue 49, dated June 19, 2009. It has a collage style with headlines about Precarious Theatre by Thomas Hirschhorn. The right page contains a block of text titled Toward Precarious Theatre, an artist's reflection on the project.
An open book showing two pages of text. On the left, page 170 features a reflection on a performance art piece called Spinoza Theater. On the right, page 171 lists the definitions and conditions for Precarious Theater by Thomas Hirschhorn, followed by the beginning of an email from Mignon Nixon.
The book cover for Thomas Hirschhorn: The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival, featuring a black-and-white photograph of people gathered in a park for a community event.
The cover of the book Thomas Hirschhorn: The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival, The Ambassador's Diary, featuring a black-and-white photograph of people gathered at an outdoor festival in a park.
Vittoria Martini
Thomas Hirschhorn: The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival. The Ambassador's Diary
€ 24.00
VAT included. Shipping costs will be calculated at checkout
Author: Vittoria Martini
By (artist): Thomas Hirschhorn
Designed by: Neil Holt
February 2023, 184 Pages, 10 Photos
Paperback with Flaps
142mm x 210mm
ISBN: 978-3-7757-5262-6

HATJE CANTZ VERLAG
Mommsenstr. 27
10629 Berlin
Germany
E-Mail: contact@hatjecantz.de


According to Article 9(7) of the GPSR Regulation, no additional security information is required for books without supplements or special functions.

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| At the Intersection of the Here and Now, Eternity and Universality
The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival is an artwork, a sculpture, created by Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn in a peripheral borough of Amsterdam's south-east known as the Bijlmer in 2009. This book recounts the event through the eyes of its "Ambassador", art historian Vittoria Martini, who was invited by the artist to be an eyewitness to the existence of this "precarious" work. A term Hirschhorn sees as positive and creative: a means of asserting the importance of the moment and of the place, of asserting the Here and Now to touch eternity and universality. Appreciating the art historian's presence as a central element of his sculpture, Hirschhorn consciously challenged the certainties of the profession by empowering and activating the role, thus leading Martini to find a new working methodology that she calls "precarious art history". Accompanying the readers through her experience of the physical existence of The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival, Martini's commentary leads to the profound understanding of how a work that no longer exists physically, can live on in the mind— elsewhere, at some other time—because in the meantime it has become universal.

Paris-based artist THOMAS HIRSCHHORN (*1957, Bern) is best known for his sculptures in public space—monuments, kiosks, and altars. Questioning the autonomy, the authorship, and resistance of a work of art, he asserts the power of art to touch and transform the other. He represented Switzerland at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011 and received numerous awards, including the Prix Marcel Duchamp and the Joseph Beuys Stiftung Prize.

VITTORIA MARTINI (*1975, Kinshasa) is an independent art historian living in Italy. She has a doctorate from Università Ca' Foscari/Università Iuav di Venezia. Since 2013 she teaches History of exhibitions and curatorial practices and holds the Art Writing workshop at CAMPO - Program of curatorial studies and practices established by the Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo (Turin, Italy). Her research focuses mainly on the institutional structures that produce exhibitions.
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