Conversations

HUO loves to live at high speed. HUO is not at all a Chinese intellectual, he is art critic Hans Ulrich Obrist reduced to his initials. Born in Switzerland just 40 years ago, HUO has already organized over 150 exhibitions and interviewed more than 500 well-known persons. This small, tightly written volume presents close to one hundred interviews. HUO likes to catch old giants (Louise Bourgeois, Manoel de Oliveira, Nathalie Sarraute) as well as creators in their first steps (Loris Gréaud, Tatiana Trouvé). While he constantly seems in a hurry («We will finish the interview in the plane») and is everywhere («I know the son, I have read the book, I have seen the movie»), which is a little irritating, his vast culture permits him to combien all types. Consequently he meets comedians (Jamel Debbouze), architects (Parent, Koolhaas), composers (Boulez, Stockhausen), photographers (Cartier-Bresson, Depardon) and artists (Jeff Koons, Dan Graham). His often very simple questions allow us to talk of the zoo in Tirana with Anri Sala, of Golden Gate bridge with Jean Rouch or of football with Niemeyer. An unusual art critic one can read in one sitting.

• Hans Ulrich Obrist, Conversations, éditions Manuella, 2008, 944 p., 25 €, ISBN : 978-2-917-2170009.