Marie-Claire Uberquoi's '¿El arte a la deriva?' Reissued by Penguin Random House

Penguin Random House has reissued Marie-Claire Uberquoi's 2004 essay '¿El arte a la deriva?' in 2024, with a new note and epilogue. Uberquoi, former director of Es Baluard Museu and critic for El Mundo, Descubrir el Arte, and El Cultural, argues that many contemporary artists build their work on shifting sands. She traces the origins of dubious trends to the 1960s fusion of art and life, citing Manzoni, Yves Klein, and Joseph Beuys. Uberquoi critiques the market's spectacle-driven nature, noting a 2,200% increase in contemporary art auction sales this century and the persistence of satellite fairs. She praises artists like Christo and Jeanne-Claude for prioritizing aesthetic over conceptual goals, and Miquel Barceló for his pictorial vocation, while dismissing Julian Schnabel as a fad and Ferrán García Sevilla as market-driven. The book offers paths for art to regain autonomy through distance from reality and technology.