Life in Progress
Published on 2. October 2025
Book
Hardback
160 pages
978-0-241-71220-7 (ISBN)
Description
World-renowned curator Hans Ulrich Obrist for the first time grants a private view of his life, and his journey towards art and artists
When Hans Ulrich was six years old, he was knocked down by a speeding car as he was crossing the street. Hospitalized for weeks, a sense of urgency was instilled in him. Enraptured by the healing powers of art from this young age, he began to travel across Europe on night trains, visiting artists' studios.
In a book that is part unputdownable coming-of-age story, part tour de force of the contemporary art world, part user's manual on how to live a life driven by curiosity, conversation, and not least hope, Obrist takes us through the formative experiences that made him. From his first exhibition in his Zurich kitchen to penning 250 postcards while trapped by an avalanche in Val Bregaglia, Life in Progress is an enchanting ode to the healing properties that engaging with art and the people around us boundlessly affords.
When Hans Ulrich was six years old, he was knocked down by a speeding car as he was crossing the street. Hospitalized for weeks, a sense of urgency was instilled in him. Enraptured by the healing powers of art from this young age, he began to travel across Europe on night trains, visiting artists' studios.
In a book that is part unputdownable coming-of-age story, part tour de force of the contemporary art world, part user's manual on how to live a life driven by curiosity, conversation, and not least hope, Obrist takes us through the formative experiences that made him. From his first exhibition in his Zurich kitchen to penning 250 postcards while trapped by an avalanche in Val Bregaglia, Life in Progress is an enchanting ode to the healing properties that engaging with art and the people around us boundlessly affords.
Reviews / Votes
Life In Progress invites us to discover the person behind the polymath ... Art is the gateway to possibility, Obrist believes, and his aim, it would seem, is to chivvy the rest of us through it * The Times * In his memoir, Obrist reveals a poignant motive for all his busyness. When he was six-years old, he was hit by a car on his way to school. He spent weeks hovering between life and death in hospital. "I just remember that the feeling of urgency started there, that there is no time to lose, every day could be your last" * Financial Times * His words come out in an almost comical torrent, citations bobbing up and ideas colliding... ArtReview named him the most powerful figure in the field, but Obrist seems less to stand atop the art world than to race around, up, over, and through it * The New Yorker * Hans Ulrich Obrist manages to underline the value of art, to single it out from other human endeavours as something of paramount importance; to this, he brings an instinctive and profound love, a generosity of spirit (and heart) that he extends also to other fields of human expression -- Etel Adnan He is a passionate communicator. In result, half the world is starting to live in the future now -- Yoko OnoMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 217 mm
Width: 143 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
274 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-71220-7 (9780241712207)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Hans Ulrich Obrist is Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London. Prior to this, he was a curator at the Musee d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show World Soup (The Kitchen Show) in 1991, he has curated more than 300 shows.
Obrist's recent publications include Ways of Curating (2015), The Age of Earthquakes (2015), Lives of the Artists, Lives of Architects (2015), Mondialite (2017), Somewhere Totally Else (2018) and The Athens Dialogues (2018).
Obrist's recent publications include Ways of Curating (2015), The Age of Earthquakes (2015), Lives of the Artists, Lives of Architects (2015), Mondialite (2017), Somewhere Totally Else (2018) and The Athens Dialogues (2018).