Produced on the occasion of Seth Siegelaub: Beyond Conceptual Art at the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 12 December, 2015–16 April, 2016. An overview of the life and work of the art pioneer, collector and publisher, Seth Siegelaub, one of the key figures of early conceptual art.

This publication is dedicated to pioneering curators and presents a unique collection of interviews by Hans Ulrich Obrist: Anne d’Harnoncourt, Werner Hofmann, Jean Leering, Franz Meyer, Seth Siegelaub, Walter Zanini, Johannes Cladders, Lucy Lippard, Walter Hopps, Pontus Hulten, and Harald Szeemann are thus gathered in this volume.

The contributions map the development of the curatorial field, from early independent curating in the 1960s and 1970s and the experimental institutional programs developed in Europe and in the USA at this time, through Documenta and the development of biennales.

With texts by Daniel Birnbaum, Christophe Cherix and Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Edited by Marja Bloem, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Lauren van Haaften-Schick, Sara Martinetti & Jo Melvin.

Better Read Than Dead was the title Seth Siegelaub had chosen for an anthology of his own writing—one of the projects for which he never found the time, busy as he was running his global one-man operation. The selected writings, interviews, extended bibliography and chronology in this source book fill historical gaps in the sprawling network of exhibitions, publications, projects, and collections that constitute Siegelaub’s life’s work. “Siegelaubian paperwork” comprises Siegelaub’s writings, which are reproduced as scans in order to convey the variety of the documents and to give a sense of archival immersion.

The Joke Book is the first printed edition of the complete jokes & messages file that was found on Seth Siegelaub’s computer by his partner Marja Bloem. It contains jokes, quotes, and pieces of advice, that he collected since 1999 and regularly redistributed via email amongst his friends. With contributions by Alex Alberto, John Baldessari, Marja Bloem, Myrna Bloom, Martin Browne, Alan Kennedy, David Kunzle, Joel Miller, Loren Miller, Kay Robertson, Laurent Sauerwein, Seth Siegelaub, Joan Simon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, Peter Sinclair, Steven Wright, and an introduction by Huan Hsu (written after a long conversation with Marja Bloem). Designed by Marc Hollenstein.

Produced following the film project Conceptual Paradise, for which Stefan Römer conducted numerous interviews with internationally outstanding artists and art theorists for four years. With short texts by the artists interviewed in the film including; artists: Vito Acconci, Art & Language (Michael Baldwin, Mel Ramsden), Michael Asher, John Baldessari, Robert Barry, Hartmut Bitomsky, Mel Bochner, Gregg Bordowitz, Klaus vom Bruch, Daniel Buren, Victor Burgin, Luis Camnitzer, Jan Dibbets, Mark Dion, Sam Durant, Valie EXPORT, Stano Filko, Andrea Fraser, Liam Gillick, Dan Graham, Renée Green, Shilpa Gupta, Hans Haacke, Július Koller, Jiří Kovanda, Joseph Kosuth, Sonia Khurana, David Lamelas, Sol LeWitt, Thomas Locher, Marcel Odenbach, Yoko Ono, John Miller, Christian Philipp Muller, Adrian Piper, Yvonne Rainer, Allen Ruppersberg, Ed Ruscha, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Peter Weibel, Lawrence Weiner, Stephen Willats, Heimo Zobernig and curators/theorists: Alexander Alberro, Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, Sabeth Buchmann, Charles Harrison (Art & Language), Geeta Kapoor, Geert Lovink, Seth Siegelaub, Gregor Stemmrich.

A trailer for the film can be seen here.

• 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.