Covertext: Is the artist necessary for making art today?

»Covertext: Is the artist necessary for making art today?«, our second publication, is both excerpt and conclusion to an editorial project emailing friends and colleagues about a statement to the question »Is the artist necessary for making art today?«. Compilations of answers and contributions were published online on this site and subsequently as a selection in this book

In late 2001, Palais de Tokyo (with curators Jérôme Sans and Marc Sanchez) published a book consisting of a compilation of hundreds of answers to a single question: 'What is the artist’s role today?'

The book ('What is the artist’s role today?/ Quel est le rôle de l’artiste aujourd’hui?') was part of an editorial project by the curators, re-engaging the debate on the possibilities and limitations of contemporary art and discussing the direction the newly founded Palais de Tokyo would take as an art institution.

'Is the artist necessary for making art today?' is our homage to the project and (in light of years past and means of communication and terms of authorship in all disciplines radically changed) our derivation and continuation of the original question.

On a smaller and a more personal scale than Palais de Tokyo we started 2015 by emailing this question to friends and colleagues. Compilations of answers, statements and contributions were published online on covertext.org, and subsequently as a selection in this book.

Swantje Lichtenstein & Tom Lingnau
With contributions by Jono Podmore, Nick Montfort, Hannes Bajohr, Scott Myles, Daniel Scott Snelson, Birgit Kempker, Sveinn Fannar Jóhannsson, Max Stolkin, Antonia Low, Derek Beaulieu, Nick Thurston, Mara Genschel, Mi You, Dag Erik Elgin