In his preface to … dontstopdontstopdontstopdontstop, Hans Ulrich Obrist’s collection of texts from 1990 to 2006,
DESIGNED BY M/M, … DONTSTOPDONTSTOPDONTSTOPDONTSTOP
Rem Koolhaas cites a rumour about this archetypal curator-at-large, concerning
PRESENTS OBRIST’S TEXTS IN A FORM THAT HIGHLIGHTS AND
the reason why he left his native Switzerland: because his speech was too fast for the Swiss. He mischievously goes
EMPHASIZES THE FLUID, ‘MOBILE’ AND ‘INEVITABLY INCOMPLETE’
on to suggest that Obrist is blessed rather than cursed with a logorrhea
ETHOS THAT UNDERPINS MANY OF HIS CURATORIAL PROJECTS.
that has allowed him to work at an almost preternatural level of
EACH PAGE CONTAINS TWO TO THREE SEPARATE TEXTS
productivity, generating a huge array of texts, interviews, exhibitions and projects – as Koolhaas’ rather
RUNNING CONCURRENTLY IN ONE, TWO AND THREE-COLUMN GRIDS ACROSS THE TOP, MIDDLE
grandly puts it, ‘a heroic attempt to preserve the traces of intelligence
AND BOTTOM OF THE PAGE.
TITLES ARE OFTEN SPACED
of the last 50 years’. At first glance
… dontstopdontstopdontstopdontstop
OUT ACROSS THE WIDTH OF TWO OR THREE COLUMNS, EACH WORD S | P | L | I | C | E | D BY GLYPHS
comprises a set of writings and
interviews based around the work of
AND P / U / N / C / T – U – A –
T / I / O / N MARKS. SO MANY
the 1990s generation of artists with which Obrist is most closely associated,
BOOK DESIGN ATTEMPTS TO
SIGNAL INTERTEXTUALITY OR
such as Douglas Gordon, Pierre Huyghe, and Philippe Parreno, alongside
MULTIPLICITOUS READINGS ONLY SERVE TO MAKE READING
a few older artists including Hans-Peter
Feldmann, Louise Bourgeois and
TEXT A MIGRAINE-INDUCING CHORE, REDUCING THE CONTENT OF WRITING TO A MERELY
Peter Fischli and David Weiss. On closer inspection, however, the book
RHETORICAL VISUAL LEVEL (I’M OFTEN REMINDED OF THE
covers a dizzying range of subjects, many of them spinning outwards from salient Obristian themes such as
‘MORE PAINT MUST MEAN MORE FEELING’ READING OF
artistic collaboration, visionary architecture (‘Cedric Price; Curating with Light Luggage’), ecology and waste
EXPRESSIONIST ART – ‘MORE TEXT MUST MEAN MORE DIALOGUE!’).
(‘Cloaca Maxima’), and economic development in the Far East (‘Cities on
YET M/M’S POLYPHONIC AND ANTI-HIERARCHICAL DESIGN CONCEIT IS NOTABLE FOR
the Move’) and yet, as if the synthesis of some kind of intellectual centrifuge or particle accelerator experiment,
THE EASE WITH WHICH THE TEXTS CAN BE READ; THE
always crystallizes around issues concerning museology and the display
READER’S EYE IS ALLOWED TO DRIFT FROM SUBJECT TO SUBJECT, CREATING UNUSUAL
reception and discussion of art. The book includes the transcript
INTERSECTIONS OF IDEAS, YET
IS SELDOM OVERWHELMED
to an illuminating lecture about one of Obrist’s heroes, the German curator
BY A TYPOGRAPHIC BABEL THAT PREVENTS CLOSE CONCENTRA-
Alexander Dorner, who once stated that ‘we cannot understand the forces
TION ON ANY ONE TEXT. THE BOOK’S FORM CREATES ‘A
which are effective in the visual production of today if we do not have
POTENTIALLY COMPLEX AND
DYNAMIC SYSTEM OF FEEDBACK
a look at other fields of life’, and at times, Obrist comes across more as
LOOPS’, TO PARAPHRASE OBRIST’S DESCRIPTION OF CEDRIC PRICE’S
a futurologist or one-man social think-tank than curator or critic – a self-
aggrandizing position often assumed by aspiring members of the
IDEAS ON EXHIBITION-MAKING. OR, AS HE MORE SIMPLY PUT IT IN HIS ESSAY FOR ‘RETRACE YOUR
curatorial intelligensia. Yet as this book demonstrates, Obrist never loses sight of the communities of artists
STEPS: REMEMBER TOMORROW’ AT LONDON’S SIR JOHN SOANE
that continue to feed his happily logorrheaic mind.
MUSEUM IN 1999 – ‘UNANTICIPATED PERSPECTIVES.’
