Vittoria Martini's Diary Chronicles Thomas Hirschhorn's 2009 Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival

Art historian Vittoria Martini published 'Thomas Hirschhorn: The Bijlmer Spinoza-Festival, The Ambassador’s Diary' in 2023, documenting her two-month role as 'ambassador of art history' during Swiss artist Thomas Hirschhorn's 2009 project in Amsterdam's Bijlmer district. Hirschhorn's work, conceived as a single sculpture functioning as a festival, created a labyrinthine wooden structure topped by a giant wooden book representing Spinoza's 'Ethics'. The space included a library, documentation center, exhibition area, and a platform serving as a stage for daily performances of 'Spinoza Theater. An Ontological Comedy in Twenty-six Scenes'. Built with local unemployed residents, the project aimed to foster community through daily activities like talks, philosophy lessons, and newspaper publication. Martini's diary captures the challenge of documenting an evolving artwork while being deeply involved, renouncing theoretical distance for immersive experience. The publication concludes with email exchanges among art historians Lisa Lee, Mignon Nixon, and Claire Bishop, who debate the project's performative nature and the responsibilities of art historical writing. Hirschhorn's other monumental works include 'Deleuze Monument' (2000), 'Gramsci Monument' (2013), and 'Robert Walser-Sculpture' (2019), all designed as habitable spaces that continuously transform.