Ian Wilson has been exploring the aesthetic potential of spoken language since the late 1960s. His ongoing body of work—beginning with “oral communication” and eventually including his signature Discussions—began in 1968 with the spoken word “time”.

Over the course of the 1970s, his discussions took on a more formal character, and his interests shifted towards ‘The Known and Unknown’, based on Plato’s ‘The Parmenides’. In contrast to a ‘performance’, during a discussion the audience can actively take part in realising the concept of ‘oral communication’. Wilson does not want the discussion to be recorded either on film or audio. Wilson summarises the core of these discussions in a book series entitled ‘section’.

• Josef Bauer, Körpergalerie,1974
• Dear Trisha Brown: A letter from Robert Wilhite
• Dear Mr Christopher Williams: A letter from Robert Wilhite
• Nina Beier: In tribute to time spent walking with Will (2013)
• Will Holder: Caption card (2014)
• Democracy is Empty, A conversation between Doug Ashford and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, originally published in Documents, no.10, Fall 1997, pp. 23–30
• Lucky Dime, for Seth Siegelaub by Willem Oorebeek
• Thoughts on control by Raivo Puusemp
• Jan Mot and Germaine Kruip in discussion about Ian Wilson
• A letter to Céline Condorelli by Tyler Coburn
• A conversation between Eva Berendes and Doug Ashford
• A conversation between Lucy Skaer and Willem Oorebeek
• Invited by Tirdad Zolghadr, Marina Noronha’s Curatorial Systems Manifesto (as a response to Mierle Laderman Ukeles)
• Céline Condorelli, Three letters to all and no one: strangers, friends, collaborators, allies
• Notes on a lunch meeting (with Willem Oorebeek) by Kate Strain
• Sarah Browne, Remembering Gray, 2013: In collaboration with Alice Lyons
• Beatrice Gibson, A letter to Axel Wieder (and also implicity to Will Holder)
• David Reinfurt and Stuart Bailey: A conversation
• Victoria Dejaco: Lantern slides

Designed by Marc Hollenstein.

Ian Wilson has been exploring the aesthetic potential of spoken language since the late 1960s. His ongoing body of work—beginning with “oral communication” and eventually including his signature Discussions—began in 1968 with the spoken word “time”.

Over the course of the 1970s, his discussions took on a more formal character, and his interests shifted towards ‘The Known and Unknown’, based on Plato’s ‘The Parmenides’. In contrast to a ‘performance’, during a discussion the audience can actively take part in realising the concept of ‘oral communication’. Wilson does not want the discussion to be recorded either on film or audio. Wilson summarises the core of these discussions in a book series entitled ‘section’.

Ian Wilson has been exploring the aesthetic potential of spoken language since the late 1960s. His ongoing body of work—beginning with “oral communication” and eventually including his signature Discussions—began in 1968 with the spoken word “time”.

Over the course of the 1970s, his discussions took on a more formal character, and his interests shifted towards ‘The Known and Unknown’, based on Plato’s ‘The Parmenides’. In contrast to a ‘performance’, during a discussion the audience can actively take part in realising the concept of ‘oral communication’. Wilson does not want the discussion to be recorded either on film or audio. Wilson summarises the core of these discussions in a book series entitled ‘section’.