In today’s era of increasingly eroding certainties, artists survey the fundamental questions of life and death, extinction and immortality, investigating the impact that fragments of the past, technology, and collective behavior can have in becoming active agents of change, transformation, and connection. We are moving into a future where technology is going to turn our memories of what we have lost into something more objective. Artistic surveying explores the great mysteries of human existence, diving into the essence of life, in a de-extinction process triggered by the anxiety of natural decay. In the Anthropocene, human beings impose things on the world. But life always emerges from ruins, and the huge and the minuscule seem to co-exist in the same element, forcing viewers to abandon their human stare. Mythical narratives provide a way to think about the experience of life where each element is permeated by and correlated with the others. Some stories start at the end and we are all part of the same destiny.
CURA. 39 Are We Eternal Beings? proudly presents an exceptional lineup of acclaimed artists, writers and works premiere, introduced by four covers conceived by Cyprien Gaillard (with texts by Emma Enderby and Fredi Fischli/Niels Olsen); Marguerite Humeau (with a text by Rebecca Lamarche-Vadel and a conversation with Cortney Lane Stell); Pierre Huyghe (with a text by Amelia Barikin and a conversation with Vincent Honoré); Korakrit Arunanondchai (with a site-specific visual essay narrated by the words of X Zhu-Nowell); special projects have been conceived by Katja Novitksova in a conversation with Joanna Zylinska and by Mimosa Echard introduced by a text by Flora Katz; in addition, conversations between Jakob Kudsk Steensen and Hans Ulrich Obrist, and between Elaine Cameron-Weir and Jodi Graf, and essays by Nicolas Bourriaud on Max Hooper Schneider and by Margot Norton on WangShui; the “Portraits” section features talented artists LuYang (with words by Nora Gantert), Analisa Teachworth (with words by Maurin Dietrich) and Sybil Montet (with words by Luigi Alberto Cippini).
Publishers and Editors in Chief: Ilaria Marotta, Andrea Baccin.
CURA. 39 will be available starting from:
October 18
Cyprien Gaillard’s Cover Premiere Party in collaboration with Lafayette Anticipations, Paris on invitation only.
All covers
Lafayette Anticipations bookshop, Paris
Paris International, Paris
November 3–6
Artissima, Turin
November 30–December 4
Art Basel, Miami
November 1
Worldwide Distribution
Pre-orders through our website.