Jean Otth
Works 1964–2013
–
New technologies and traditional references: the work of Jean Otth, a Swiss pioneer of video art
1st edition
, 2020Text in English and French
Paperback
224 pages, approx. 188 color and 191 b/w illustrations
20 x 26 cm
ISBN 978-3-85881-855-3
In collaboration with the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts Lausanne
Jean Otth (1940–2013) was a pioneer of video art in Switzerland. While studying art history and philosophy in the early 1960s, he began to experiment with the then very new medium, making full use of its visual potential. From the beginning, Otth’s artistic trajectory, which was influenced by the practice of painting, became closely tied to the emergence of new technologies. Throughout his career he mixed immaterial video projection with material reality and explored their interaction. While constantly questioning the media he used, Otth produced borderline works that test the observer and provoke desire through covering-up, reframing, and shifting.
This new monograph, the first book ever in English on this remarkable artist, features photographic and filmed works as well as his drawings from all periods of his career.
Nicole Schweizer is an art historian and exhibition curator. She has been curator of contemporary art at the Musée cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, since 2006.