Seth Siegelaub

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Seth Siegelaub (born 1942) is an American-born art dealer, curator, author and researcher. He is best known for his innovative promotion of conceptual art in New York in the 1960s and 70s.^[1]

At his gallery, "Seth Siegelaub Contemporary Art", operating between June 1964 and April 1966, Siegelaub encouraged visitors to lounge on couches and chairs to appreciate the show as an overall environment and hosted a four-day happening featuring the artist Arni Hendin.^[2] He was an aggressive promoter and paid as much attention to press and publicity as to the content of exhibitions, showing that even unconventional art work could be sold.^[2]

After the close of the gallery he acted, in Joseph Kosuth's words, as a "curator-at-large". He was the first exhibition organizer to specialize in conceptual art, holding group exhibitions that had no existence outside of the catalogue.^[3]

He organized several important group shows, including "The Xerox Book" in December 1968, and "January 5-31, 1969". The latter show contained no objects, no painters and no sculptures.

He is also the author of The Artist's Reserved Rights Transfer and Sales Agreement, published in 1971.

Siegelaub was born in the Bronx, New York, grew up in New York City, and currently resides in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

[edit] References

1. ^ Alexander Alberro and Blake Stimson, Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology, MIT Press, 1999, pxl. ISBN 0262511177
2. ^ ^{a b} Alexander Alberro, Conceptual Art and the Politics of Publicity, MIT Press, 2003, pp10-11. ISBN 0262511843
3. ^ Joseph Kosuth, Art After Philosophy, in Alexander Alberro and Blake Stimson, Conceptual Art: A Critical Anthology, MIT Press, 1999, p.177 ISBN 0262511177