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Damien Hirst's discursive ready-mades at Académie de Lagado

opinion-review · 2026-04-23

The article examines Damien Hirst's oeuvre, arguing that all his work tends toward the ready-made, but a discursive ready-made that generates meaning by pointing to illness and medicine. The text discusses how Hirst's practice, from preserved animals to pharmaceutical cabinets, functions as a conceptual gesture that borrows from the readymade tradition while shifting its focus toward medical and biological themes. The article appears in artpress, a French art magazine, and was published in May 2001. No specific exhibition or event is mentioned; the piece is a critical essay on Hirst's artistic approach.

Key facts

  • Damien Hirst's work is described as tending toward the discursive ready-made.
  • The ready-made is used to generate meaning about illness and medicine.
  • The article was published in artpress magazine.
  • The publication date is May 2001.
  • The article is a critical essay, not a review of a specific exhibition.

Entities

Artists

  • Damien Hirst

Institutions

  • artpress

Sources