François Rastier's 2026 Book Reexamines the Concept of 'Work' in Contemporary Art

François Rastier, a French semiotician and semanticist from Toulouse, authored the 2026 book 'Opera e creazione. Immagine, linguaggio, Intelligenza Artificiale' published by Edizioni ETS. Edited by Nunzio La Fauci, the publication critically reassesses the notion of 'work' in art, which has become an increasingly obsolete term. Rastier outlines eight theses (pages 10-21) that have emerged from 20th-century art's efforts to weaken this concept, later summarized on page 132. Contemporary art practices now favor terms like intervention, proposal, performance, or installation over 'work.' The book examines how artworks can consist of ephemeral materials, citing Pipilotti Rist's smoke bubbles at the 2013 Venice Biennale, or degraded and perishable substances, such as Joseph Beuys's fat block and Camille Norme's broken glass. This scholarly volume aims to legitimize and revive discussions around what constitutes an artistic work in today's context.