Conversations | Dandyism in the 21st Century? / Dandysme au 21e siècle ?

Conversations | Dandyism in the 21st Century? / Dandysme au 21e siècle ?
Paris + par Art Basel 2022, October 21

Long decried for idleness and being at a remove from reality, the figure of the dandy has been updated again and again by different generations of artists. Beneath the dust of codes that blankets this character celebrated by Baudelaire, Gérard de Nerval, and Vali Myers, might we detect the energies of a new radicality? By advocating a permanent reinvention of the self, the emergence of neo-dandyism revitalizes our relationship to contemporary identities. While this conversation seeks to pay homage to dandy figures who have haunted the Parisian imaginary and East Village avenues, it also aims to understand what it means to be a dandy artist today.

‣ Jeremy O. Harris, Playwright, Producer, Writer, Actor, New York City
‣ Ulrike Ottinger, Painter, Photographer, Film and Theater Director, Berlin
‣ Emily Sundblad, Artist, Performer, Curator and Co-Founder of Reena Spaulings Fine Art, New York City
‣ Moderator: Luca Lo Pinto, Artistic Director, MACRO–Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome

‣ Jeremy O. Harris is the playwright and creator of the most Tony-nominated Broadway play, Slave Play. His play Daddy opened to great acclaim at its UK debut at Almeida Theatre in London in March 2022. In June 2022, Daddy took stage in the Tokyo Globe Theatre and Cool Japan Park Osaka. Jeremy co-wrote A24’s critically acclaimed indie feature Zola alongside director Janicza Bravo. His television credits include HBO’s hit series Euphoria and TV adaptation of Irma Vep. As an actor, Jeremy recently appeared on HBO Max’s Gossip Girl reimagining and in season two of Netflix’s Emily in Paris, for which he is currently in production for season three.

‣ Ulrike Ottinger was born in Constance in 1942 and is living in Berlin since 1973. She realized numerous well-known feature films and documentaries. In all of her 28 films she is responsible for screenplay, camera, direction and production. Her work has been honored at international festivals, retrospectives and exhibitions, including the Cinémathèque française in Paris, the Centre Pompidou and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. For her work, Ulrike Ottinger has received, among others, the German Federal Film Award, the German Film Critics' Prize several times, the Hannah Höch Prize of the State of Berlin, the Berlinale Camera, and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Ulrike Ottinger is a member of the Academy of Arts, Berlin, the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which presents the annual Academy Awards (Oscars).

‣ Emily Sundblad, born 1977, is an artist, gallerist and performer who lives and works in New York City. She is a co-founder of Reena Spaulings Fine Art and a co-producer of art by Reena Spaulings the artist. She has performed extensively as a singer under her own name, often in collaboration with the composer Pete Drungle and the guitarist Matt Sweeney. She is a member of the performance collective Grand Openings ( together with Ei Arakawa, Jutta Koether, Jay Sanders and Stefan Tcherepnin) and a singer in the band "A Night of Country" together with the playwright Richard Maxwell, Jim Fletcher and others.

‣ Luca Lo Pinto is the artistic director of MACRO - Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome. From 2014 till 2019 he worked as curator of Kunsthalle Wien. He is co-founder of the magazine and publishing house NERO. He produced a range of solo exhibitions with artists including Simone Forti, Nathalie du Pasquier, Jason Dodge, Tony Cokes, Cinzia Ruggeri, Camille Henrot, Olaf Nicolai, Pierre Bismuth, Babette Mangolte, Lawrence Weiner, Gelatin&Liam Gillick, Charlemagne Palestine, Lisa Ponti, Darren Bader as well as publications with Emilio Prini, Mario Garcia Torres and Mario Diacono. In 2012 he edited the book Documenta 1955-2012. The endless story of two lovers. He has been a contributor to numerous exhibition catalogues and magazines, including Spike, Mousse, Flash Art, Purple, Rolling Stone.

The Conversations program for Paris + par Art Basel 2022 is curated by Pierre-Alexandre Mateos and Charles Teyssou.