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Hal Foster

Hal Foster, a co-editor of October, chairs the department of art and archaeology at Princeton.

From the London Review dated 16 December 2004

It’s Modern but is it contemporary?

“Such is the predicament of MoMA vis-à-vis the expanded field of contemporary art: how to contain, let alone to present, work that is immense, site-specific, and/or project-based? Here as elsewhere the response is better big than sorry – big as in 15,000 square feet with walls 21 feet high. But not all contemporary artists require the room that Serra needs (he will have a retrospective here in 2007); his scale shouldn’t be the norm. Huge is not necessarily flexible; in fact it can be quite rigid. Flexible can mean a mix of large and small spaces, and no doubt that is what we will see in the future. Yet the high walls will remain difficult: not much else can hold such a white field except extreme Minimalism or painterly bombast” [ read more . . . ]

Selected bibliography

  • Art since 1900: Modernism, Antimodernism, Postmodernism by Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss, Yve-Alain Bois and Benjamin H.D. Buchloh (2005)  Buy this book
  • Prosthetic Gods (2004)
  • Design and Crime (and Other Diatribes) (2003)
  • Vision and Visuality (editor) (1998)
  • The Return of the Real: Critical Models in Art and Theory since 1960 (1996)
  • Compulsive Beauty (1995)
  • Recordings: Art, Spectacle, Cultural Politics (1985)

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In the LRB archive

At the Grand Palais: Hal Foster on Richard Serra · 22 May 2008

At the Hayward: ‘The Painting of Modern Life’ · 1 November 2007

Global Style · 20 September 2007

  • Piano: Renzo Piano Building Workshop 1966-2005 by Philip Jodidio  Buy this book
  • Renzo Piano Building Workshop Vol. IV by Peter Buchanan  Buy this book

subscriber-only content Wine Flasks in Bordeaux, Sail Spires in Cardiff · 19 October 2006

  • Richard Rogers: Architecture of the Future by Kenneth Powell  Buy this book
  • Richard Rogers: Complete Works, Vol. III by Kenneth Powell  Buy this book

subscriber-only content Go, Modernity · 22 June 2006

At the Guggenheim: Hal Foster on David Smith · 9 March 2006

At the Guggenheim: Russian Art · 3 November 2005

In Venice: Hal Foster at the Biennale · 4 August 2005

subscriber-only content Yellow Ribbons · 7 July 2005

In Central Park: Hal Foster on The Gates · 3 March 2005

It’s Modern but is it contemporary? · 16 December 2004

At the Whitney: Ed Ruscha’s Hollywood Sublime · 2 September 2004

At the Guggenheim: Hal Foster on Pop Surrealism · 18 December 2003

subscriber-only content Arty Party · 4 December 2003

  • Relational Aesthetics by Nicolas Bourriaud, translated by Matthew Copeland
  • Postproduction by Nicolas Bourriaud, translated by Jeanine Herman
  • Interviews: Volume I by Hans Ulrich Obrist

subscriber-only content Long Live Aporia! · 24 July 2003

  • Agapē Agape by William Gaddis  Buy this book
  • The Rush for Second Place: Essays and Occasional Writings by William Gaddis, edited by Joseph Tabbi

At Dia:Beacon: Hal Foster at Dia:Beacon · 5 June 2003

subscriber-only content Nutty Professors · 8 May 2003

  • Quick Studies: The Best of ‘Lingua Franca’ edited by Alexander Star

subscriber-only content In New York · 20 March 2003

subscriber-only content Pop Eye · 22 August 2002

  • Image Duplicator: Roy Lichtenstein and the Emergence of Pop Art by Michael Lobel

subscriber-only content Expendabilia · 9 May 2002

  • Reyner Banham: Historian of the Immediate Future by Nigel Whiteley

subscriber-only content Andy Paperbag · 21 March 2002

Bigness · 29 November 2001

  • Harvard Design School Guide to Shopping by Rem Koolhaas et al
  • Great Leap Forward by Rem Koolhaas et al

11 September · 4 October 2001

Why all the hoopla? · 23 August 2001

  • Frank Gehry: The Art of Architecture edited by Jean-Louis Cohen et al

subscriber-only content Hey, that’s me · 5 April 2001

  • Life Style by Bruce Mau

The Great US Election Disaster · 30 November 2000

Slumming with Rappers at the Roxy · 21 September 2000

  • Nobrow: The Culture of Marketing, the Marketing of Culture by John Seabrook

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