Living With Contemporary Art

"It's wonderful, but I wouldn't want it in my home" is a comment you might easily overhear in any museum showing contemporary art. This brilliant and original book asks "Why not?" Based on an exhibition of the same name developed by the Aldrich Museum, it tackles head-on the difficulties and pleasures of living with unusual art. Eleven unconventional artists--including Christian Boltanski, Mary Lucier, Andrea Zittel and others--were invited to install their work both in the museum and in homes (and one car) around the suburban New England town of Ridgefield. Living with Contemporary Art is both a catalogue and report from the residents of Ridgefield, on everything from consulting with the artists to working out practical issues like insurance, to reflecting on what it's really like to "to have it in my home."