Conventionally, art history is treated as a battleground of oedipal rivalries where one generation of father figures is time and again dethroned and replaced by what is to become a new generation of fathers. There is no need to continue this tedious ritual. How could we renegotiate the generational contract in art and write history differently – as rich, queer, feminist, antioedipal histories of inspiration, mockery and appreciation?

The seminar will be a practical experiment in writing such histories through a game of show and tell. Each participant is asked to take their turn and introduce three artists whom they love, hate, appreciate or dedicate their work to: one contemporary, one from another decade, one from another century. Or: one you would like to be, one you would love to marry and one in whose face you would like to splash a drink. Or: one whose work you have known intimately for years, one whose work you have just recently encountered and one whose name you have until now never learned to properly pronounce. (Other rules can be added to the game, if desired.)

Ideally, the seminar should become like a séance in which the spectres of different artists are invoked so that we can seek their advice or exorcise them – or like a book full of opening pages with colourful dedications.

A thematic project by Jan Verwoert (October 2008-June 2009)