Abstract Possible

The second installment of Maria Lind's group exhibition Abstract Possible can currently be seen at the Museo Tamayo in Mexico City; later this year the third version will be on view in Zurich. This series of exhibitions is the most visible manifestation of a research project examines three forms of abstraction: formal abstraction, economical abstraction - and withdrawal, the latter being "intimately connected with the etymology of the latin term abstrahere". Maria has edited a reader in Spanish and English, the third in the museum's Microhistorias y Macromundas series.

It is an excellent selection of texts by authors including Ina Blom, Liam Gillick, Peter Halley, Brian Holmes and Gerald Raunig. Meyer Schapiro's classic text "Nature of Abstract Art" is also part of the mix, as is my less classic essay "Living With Abstraction" (the version from Texte zur Kunst, not the longer book chapter from Idols of the Market). The book's design has negative effect on the readability of the English texts, which have been relegated to rather narrow colums, but no doubt the book is mostly aimed at Spanish-speaking (and, more to the point, Spanish-reading) audiences.

http://abstractpossible.org/

http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/8789