Midnight: The Tempest Essays - by Molly Nesbit (Hardcover)

About the Book

Midnight: The Tempest Essays, the second book in Molly Nesbit's 'Pre-Occupations' series, returns the question of pragmatism to the everyday critical practice of the art historian working in the late 20th century. These essays take their cues from the work of specific artists and writers, beginning in the late 1960s, a time when critical commentary found itself in a political and philosophical crisis. Illustrated case studies on Eugáene Atget, Marcel Duchamp, Jean-Luc Godard, Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, Rachel Whiteread, Gabriel Orozco, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lawrence Weiner, Nancy Spero, Rem Koolhaas, Martha Rosler, Gerhard Richter, Matthew Barney and Richard Serra, among others, continue the legacy of a pragmatism that has endured while debates over postmodernism and French philosophy raged.

Book Synopsis

Midnight: The Tempest Essays, the second book in Molly Nesbit's Pre-Occupations series, returns the question of pragmatism to the everyday critical practice of the art historian working in the late 20th century. These essays take their cues from the work of specific artists and writers, beginning in the late 1960s, a time when critical commentary found itself in a political and philosophical crisis.

Illustrated case studies on Eugène Atget, Marcel Duchamp, Jean-Luc Godard, Cindy Sherman, Louise Lawler, Rachel Whiteread, Gabriel Orozco, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Lawrence Weiner, Nancy Spero, Rem Koolhaas, Martha Rosler, Gerhard Richter, Matthew Barney and Richard Serra, among others, continue the legacy of a pragmatism that has endured while debates over postmodernism and French philosophy raged.

Review Quotes

Nesbit has found a way to combine her expertise as an art historian with her interest in experimental modes of display.--Daniel Birnbaum "Artforum"

Nesbit schools the inattentive to keep alert for what is not there...--Bruce Hainley "Artforum"

Nesbit's approach can feel scientific and a bit free-associative at the same time. ..she combine[s] the spirit of natural-history research -- turning over rocks in search of clues -- with that of poetry...--Edward M. Gómez "Hyperallergic"

About the Author

Molly Nesbit is Professor in the Department of Art at Vassar College and a contributing editor of Artforum. Since 2002, together with Hans Ulrich Obrist and Rirkrit Tiravanija, she has curated Utopia Station, a collective and ongoing book, exhibition, seminar, website and street project (in Poughkeepsie, Frankfurt, Venice, Munich, Porto Alegre and, next, the Brooklyn Museum). Her books include Atget's Seven Albums (Yale University Press, 1992) and Their Common Sense (Black Dog, 2000). The Pragmatism in the History of Art (Periscope, 2013) was the first volume of Pre-Occupations, a series collecting her essays.