The Artist As is based on a lecture series with the same title that ran throughout 2016. It was presented at the Institute of Modern Art (IMA), Brisbane, and at Monash University’s Faculty of Art Design & Architecture (MADA), Melbourne, as part of the Curatorial Practice program.

“How do artists work today? What kinds of roles do they occupy, have these roles changed over the years, and how does this impact the ecology of art?” These are some of the questions that contributors Brook Andrew, Walter Benjamin, Heman Chong, Ekaterina Degot, Hal Foster, Helen Hughes, Helen Johnson, Isabel Lewis, Adam Linder, Suhail Malik, Tara McDowell, Emily Pethick, Terry Smith, Cecilia Vicuña, and Tirdad Zolghadr, seeks to address in this reader.

The Artist As is edited by Aileen Burns, Johan Lundh, and Tara McDowell. Designed by Ziga Testen and Robert Milne.

“Every now and then, I briefly describe the bodily positions Jo and myself are laying in as we awaken. Still half asleep, usually with my eyes closed, I try to work out our positions in relation to one another and in relation to gravity. 46 of those descriptions are collected in this book”—Toine Horvers

“On a weekday in 1999, from a fixed point inside Chartres cathedral, I made an hour long sound recording. At the time of recording, no organised religious activity was taking place. The building was being visited by tourists and groups of believers who were talking, praying and singing.

In 2013, I began to translate this universe of sounds into words and sentences, without stating the source of the sound or referring to the physical space of the cathedral.”—Toine Horvers