This is a subjective chronicle of contemporary art from 2011 to 2017. During this period, the curator, writer, and educator Maria Lind regularly wrote a column for the print edition of ArtReview. The writings focused on individual art works and exhibitions, extending to conversations and debates that were developing in the art world and beyond during these seven years. Works by Haegue Yang, Hassan Khan, Uglycute, Tania Perez-Cordova, and Walid Raad, among others, are thought through, alongside exhibitions such as dOCUMENTA (13), the 2014 Sharjah Biennial, the 2015 Ural Industrial Biennial, as well as several editions of the Venice Biennale.
In Seven Years, Lind’s writings are complemented with an introduction by artists Goldin+Senneby, who discuss Lind’s materialist approach through the use of the word “hand” and how it applies to art. The writings are further complemented by the book’s design produced by long-term collaborators Metahaven. Three additional essays then filter her writing: Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy reflects on how writing can affect curatorial work, and the other way around, both for Lind and for herself. Artist Ahmet Öğüt conducts an imagined interview with Maria Lind, and Philippe Parreno weaves a summary of the years between 2010 and 2018, highlighting the notion of potentiality. The book closes with a postscript by Joanna Warsza, fellow curator, in which she compiles a glossary of the book’s key ideas and terms.
With contributions by Goldin+Senneby, Sofía Hernández Chong Cuy, Ahmet Öğüt, Philippe Parreno, Joanna Warsza.