The Stedelijk Museum, the University of Amsterdam, W139, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam and Valiz are pleased to invite you to the launch of the publication Right About Now: Art & Theory since the 1990s. On this occasion first copies will be presented to Hans van Straten (Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds) and Gijs van Tuyl (Stedelijk Museum). In response to the book, Paul Domela (Program Director Liverpool Biennial) will deliver a short lecture reflecting on its content.

The collection of essays Right About Now: Art & Theory since the 1990s has been published in connection with the Right About Now lecture series held in 2006 and which included speakers like Nicholas Bourriaud, Hal Foster and Deborah Cherry, amongst others. All of the presented lectures have now been edited into one book, revolving around six topical themes: The Body, Interactivity, Engagement, Documentary Strategies, Money and Curating. The book offers a broad and up-to-date review of the most important developments, themes and ideas in the visual arts of the 1990s. The starting point for Right About Now: Art & Theory since the 1990s is the observation that the enormous diversity in artistic production of the last fifteen years has generated virtually no theoretical reflection or historical context. The contrast with previous decades could scarcely be starker. In the 1990s it was mainly the art itself and the experience it provided that were key.

On the occasion of the launch of the publication Right About Now: Art & Theory since the 1990s, Paul Domela, Program Director of the Liverpool Biennial and former organizer of the Public Program at the Jan van Eyck Academy, Maastricht, will present a short lecture in which he will reflect on the contents of the book. He will go further into the themes and arguments put forward by the authors in the different essays concerning the complexities of cultural diversity, the postcolonial discourse and the western-orientated art market.

The lecture will be followed by a short panel discussion and open forum, moderated by Margriet Schavemaker (Editor and co-organizer of the Right About Now publication and lecture series, and Lecturer in Modern & Contemporary Art at the University of Amsterdam). The evening will be concluded with the presentation of the first copies to the main sponsors of the publication, after which the bar will be open for drinks.

Right About Now: Art & Theory since the 1990s with essays by Jennifer Allen, Sophie Berrebi, Claire Bishop, Beatrice von Bismarck, Maaike Bleeker, Jeroen Boomgaard, Nicolas Bourriaud, Deborah Cherry, Hal Foster, Vít Havránek, Marc Spiegler, Olav Velthuis and Kitty Zijlmans. Right About Now: Art & Theory since the 1990s is published by Valiz, book and cultural projects, and is available in selected bookstores and during the book launch.

Editors: Margriet Schavemaker, Mischa Rakier

Design: Esther Krop, Amsterdam

184 pages, 24 x 17 cm, paperback, English

In cooperation with UvA, W139, SMBA; supported by Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, Mondriaan Foundation

October 2007

ISBN 978-90-78088-17-2, NUR 646, 651, ? 19,50

www.valiz.nl

Right About Now is a collaboration between W139, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, Universiteit van Amsterdam en het Stedelijk Museum.

www.rightaboutnow.nl