Awarded at “Schönste Bücher Österreichs 2023"

Hannes Schüpbach enters into dialogue with Kira Blazek Ziaii, Stephen Watts, Éléonore Bernard, Heba Raphaëlle Meffre, Flurin Cuonz, Marco Baschera and Jiajia Zhang, exploring the concept of movement that starts within us — in dance, poetry, fashion, music and language. How singular are our gestures? Where do transitions between individuals come into play? Where does a shared cultural space come into being? In this venture (the title references Montaigne’s renowned Essais, in which he contemplates existence on the basis of his own observations and reflections) Hannes Schüpbach addresses a pivotal aspect of artistic work.

This publication pairs lively conversation with images from Schüpbach’s 16mm film Essais and contains an essay by Philippe-Alain Michaud (Curator in charge of the film collection at the Centre Pompidou, Paris). It accompanies presentations in Switzerland, elsewhere in Europe, and in the United States.