Magiciens de la Terre, retour sur une exposition légendaire

(Magicians of the Earth, a report on a legendary exhibition)

Directed by Annie Cohen-Solal, with the help of Jean-Hubert Martin.

This book was published on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Magiciens de la Terre (Magicians of the Earth). It is a magnificent testimonial to the real exhibition, which resonated around the world and marked a milestone in the history of art. This fine book presents for the first time a complete view of the scenography of 1989 in both locations, the Centre Pompidou and the Grande Halle de la Villette, through over 410 unpublished photographs and testimonies from artists such as Alfredo Jaar, Francesco Clemente, Ilya Kabakov, Chéri Samba, to name but a few.

In the second part, the partakers take the floor: Mark Francis, André Magnin and Aline Luque, associate curators, and Hou Hanru, who narrates the discovery of the Chinese artists. The attitude of Jean-Hubert Martin, exhibition curator, is explained in a text by Raymonde Moulin and contextualised by Annie Cohen-Solal.