New Ways of Doing Nothing

Description

"New Ways of Doing Nothing," a group exhibition that took place at Kunsthalle Wien in 2014, devoted itself to artistic production that opposes activity and instead gives an affirmative slant to forms of doing nothing or refraining--a major influence being the titular character of Hermann Melville's "Bartleby the Scriviner: A Story of Wall Street." The book presents the displayed works and artists, but also continues the process that led to the exhibition. Included along with a conversation between the curators is a text collage of reprints and excerpts that introduces those artists and thinkers who, in the words of Bartleby, "prefer not to." Featuring work by Robert Breer, Alejandro Cesarco, Etienne Chambaud, Claire Fontaine, Natalie Czech, Oskar Dawicki, Edith Dekyndt, Mathias Delplanque, Heinrich Dunst, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Marina Faust, Ryan Gander, Lasse Schmidt Hansen, Julia Hohenwarter, Karl Holmqvist, Sofia Hulten, Jiri Kovanda, Rivane Neuenschwander, Georges Perec / Bernard Queysanne, Superflex, Mario Garcia Torres Copublished with Kunsthalle Wien Contributors Giorgio Agamben, Claire Fontaine, Gilles Deleuze, Julius Gavroche, Paul Lafargue, Vanessa Joan Muller, Cristina Ricupero, Tereza Stejskalova, Enrique Vila-Matas

Vanessa Joan Mu ller is Head of Dramaturgy at the Kunsthalle Wien. Nicolaus Schafhausen is a curator at the Documentation Center for the History of National Socialism in Munich.