Catherine Millet Decries Art World's Historical Amnesia

In an editorial for artpress, Catherine Millet criticizes the art world's growing historical amnesia, where recycled formulas are celebrated by naive or opportunistic professionals. She argues that the research of young historians and curators is drowned out by an inflationary vulgate spread by press releases written by non-experts, which are then copied by lazy critics and eventually compiled into superficial books. This cycle perpetuates a lack of rigor and historical knowledge, leading to a diminished capacity for genuine emotional engagement with art. Millet contrasts this with positive examples: the exhibition "Déplacer, déplier, découvrir, la peinture en actes 1960-1999" at LaM in Villeneuve d'Ascq, curated by Marc Donnadieu and Marie-Amélie Senot, and a recent issue of artpress2 featuring young historians on the under-explored topic of photographic representation of art and artists. She calls for greater historical awareness to restore meaningful debate and profound aesthetic experiences.