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Avant-gardes

L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental

 
L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) is a philosophical and literary series dedicated to radical tendencies in the arts as well as in the spheres of society, rejecting the fraudulent separation between aesthetic innovation and social transformation (fundamental writings, complete works, anthologies, essays, biographies).
 
Series founded by Michel Giroud.
Uno Kuniichi - Artaud pensée et corps
2025
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
forthcoming
Ornella Volta - Autres écrits
2025
French edition
Les presses du réel – Music & Sound Arts – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
forthcoming
Writings, manuscripts, bibliography, index.
Jean-Jacques Lebel - Front Unique - La traversée du surréalisme de Jean-Jacques Lebel
2024
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
This book recounts Jean-Jacques Lebel's long and tumultuous passage through the powerful laboratory of ideas and experiments of surrealism that was the journal Front Unique (1955-1960), which heralded and sometimes prefigured his future protean activities in the fields of art, poetry and militancy (anticolonial and libertarian).
Élisée Reclus - Abécédaire Reclus - Les 101 mots d\'Élisée
2024
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A glossary of themes running through the work of Élisée Reclus (1830-1905), reflecting the contemporary relevance and diversity of the anarchist geographer's thought.
Vanessa Theodoropoulou - Le Monde en situation - La révolte sensible de l\'Internationale situationniste
2024
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An in-depth historical study of the artistic and political project of the Situationist International (1952-1972).
Juliette Evezard - « Un Art Autre » - Le rêve de Michel Tapié
2023
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An analysis of the true theoretical and commercial system developed by Michel Tapié de Céleyran (1909-1987), who invented his profession of art entrepreneur by combining several activities—art critic, editor, artistic advisor, broker and collector—, contributed to the international destiny of some 200 artists (including Dubuffet, Mathieu, Pollock, Tapiès, Saura, Fontana, and De Kooning) and was at the origin of "Informal Art".
Pierre Alferi - Une pratique monstre
2023
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
This volume examines the protean and intermedial work of Pierre Alferi (1963-2023), in order to account for its singularity, and to situate it within contemporary poetic and artistic practices.
(In)actualité du surréalisme (1940-2020)
2022
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A reevaluationof Surrealism since 1940: a large-scale, groundbreaking work covering seven decades, questioning the discourses, narratives, and debates on the poetic, political, and artistic commitments of the movement, in the context of the deep social and cultural mutations of the world of the second half of the 20th century.
Marc Décimo - Étant donné Marcel Duchamp - Palimpseste d\'une œuvre
2022
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An erudite investigation into the enigma of Marcel Duchamp's great testamentary work Étant donnés, an installation conceived for twenty years in the greatest secrecy before being unveiled to the public a year after the death of the inventor of the readymade, which gives the viewer new keys to interpretation, by examining both what the work concludes and what it opens.
Sherill Tippins - Dans le palais des rêves - La vie et l\'époque du légendaire Chelsea Hotel de New York
2022
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A fascinating exploration of the utopian origins and tumultuous 130-year history of the largest and longest-lived artists' community in the world.
Pierre Tilman - Actes d\'art (1960-1980)
2022
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A journey through the years 1960-1980, following Pierre Tilman's friendships with the artists, poets, jazz musicians and creators who marked the artistic and literary landscape of the time.
Sherill Tippins - Dans le palais des rêves - La vie et l\'époque du légendaire Chelsea Hotel de New York
2022
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A fascinating exploration of the utopian origins and tumultuous 130-year history of the largest and longest-lived artists' community in the world.
Erik Avert - George Brecht, vers un art transdisciplinaire
2021
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Attempting to explore the transdisciplinary aspects of artistic practice, this book revisits a tipping point in art history: the invention of preconceptual and minimal art forms by George Brecht, a chemical engineer and artist.
Abigail Lang - La conversation transatlantique - Les échanges franco-américains en poésie depuis 1968
2021
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
The fertile exchanges between French and American poetry since 1968.
Emmanuel Hocquard - La poésie mode d\'emploi
2020
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
This volume focuses on all of Emmanuel Hocquard's activities, in order to highlight his importance, and to situate him in a history of contemporary poetry in which he was one of the main protagonists.
Archives sonores de la poésie
2020
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A collection of essays on audio archives of poetry.
Agathe Mareuge - Petite éternité - L\'œuvre poétique tardive de Jean Hans Arp
2019
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A closer reading of the late poetry of Jean Hans Arp (1886-1966), major figure of the Dada movement in Zurich, a friend of the surrealists, painter, sculptor, also author of an important bilingual poetic work, which covers more than half a century of creation (with a choice of poems previously unpublished).
Gertrude Stein et les arts
2019
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A collective reassessment of Gertrude Stein's relationship to the arts, allowing to understand the complexity of the relationship between writing and visual arts in her work.
Cristina De Simone - Proféractions ! - Poésie en action à Paris (1946-1969)
2018
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A history of poetry-performance in Paris, from the post-war period to May 68.
Frédéric Alix - Penser l\'art et le monde après 1945 - Isidore Isou, essai d\'archéologie d\'une pensée
2017
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Analyzing the theoretical and aesthetic thought of the founder of Lettrism in the intellectual context of the post-war and up to 1968.
Raoul Hausmann et les avant-gardes
2015
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
This publication aims to explore how the multiple production of Raoul Hausmann, a central figure of Dada, has helped to shape the art of modernity.
Loïc Rignol - Les Hiéroglyphes de la Nature - Le socialisme scientifique en France dans le premier XIXe siècle
2014
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An epistemology of historical socialism (politics, natural sciences, humanities and religion in the early XIXth century).
Clémentine Hougue - Le cut-up de William S. Burroughs - Histoire d\'une révolution du langage
2014
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A genealogy of cut-up: the history and development of a radical and pioneering literary technique, in Europe and the US, in the twentieth century (readings from William S. Burroughs).
Léon Rosenthal - Correspondance croisée
2014
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
In about 600 selected letters, this correspondence documents the biography, activities, career and work of the art historian Leo Rosenthal (1870-1932).
Pierre-Luc Abramson - Mondes nouveaux et Nouveau Monde - Les utopies sociales en Amérique latine au XIXe siècle
2014
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A study of social utopias (of European origin, mainly French) in Latin America in the 19th century: a contribution to the defense of utopia as a driving force of human progress, against all forms of utilitarianism and pragmatism.
Charles Fourier - Le Nouveau Monde amoureux
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
currently out of stock
Simone Debout's re-edited version of Fourier's essential work.
Louis Ucciani - L\'index fouriériste
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Digital version of the Fourierist conceptual index: a tool allowing a completely new reading of Charles Fourier's complete writings based on current possibilities of science and technology applied to texts, through a dedicated software interface for content analysis.
Louis Ucciani - L\'index fouriériste (+ CD-rom)
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
The Fourierist conceptual index: a tool allowing a completely new reading of Charles Fourier's complete writings based on current possibilities of science and technology applied to texts, through a dedicated software interface for content analysis (CD-rom included).
Raoul Hausmann - Hylé - État de rêve en Espagne
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Raoul Hausmann's autobiographical novel.
Xavier Forneret - Ecrits complets - Volume I (1834-1876) – Théâtre, poésie, musique
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
The theatrical, poetical and musical work of Xavier Forneret, French Romantic writer, precursor of the Surrealist movement.
Xavier Forneret - Ecrits complets - Volume II (1836-1880) – Aphorismes, contes et récits, roman, vie quotidienne
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Stories, novels, correspondence and short texts by Xavier Forneret, French Romantic writer, precursor of the Surrealist movement.
Charles Dreyfus Pechkoff - Fluxus - L\'Avant-garde en mouvement
2012
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Essay and interviews.
Émile Bernard - Les lettres d\'un artiste (1884-1941)
2012
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Émile Bernard's correspondence.
Jonathan Beecher - Victor Considerant - Grandeur et décadence du socialisme romantique
2012
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A critical biography.
Fabrice Flahutez - Le lettrisme historique était une avant-garde
2011
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Letterism's history and posterity: a new reading of the historical issues of an unknown but influential artistic avant-garde.
Carole Boulbès - Picabia avec Nietzsche - Lettres d\'amour à Suzanne Romain (1944-1948)
2010
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
From Picabia's unpublished love letters to a philosophical and aesthetic inquiry on art, through Goethe, Schlegel, Hegel, or Baudelaire.
Bernard Desmars - Militants de l\'utopie ? - Les fouriéristes dans la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle
2010
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An essay on Charles Fourier's legacy through his disciples and "utopian" activists in late XIXth century.
Charles Fourier - Théorie des quatre mouvements et des destinées générales
2009
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
currently out of stock
The first, fundamental work in which Fourier declares his objectives for a world government and economy administered by "Passionate Attraction".
Camille Bryen - Désécritures - Poèmes, essais, inédits, entretiens
2007
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A collection of the painter's writings (poetry, interviews, chronicles, previously unpublished texts and documents) who, between the 1930's and the 1970's in St-Germain-des-Prés, never ceased to explore language and to work with words as if with an unprocessed and unlimitted material.
Patrick Tacussel - L\'imaginaire radical - Les mondes possibles et l\'esprit utopique selon Charles Fourier
2007
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
A new essay on Charles Fourier's social utopia.
Lydie Fischer Sarazin-Levassor - A Marriage in Check - The Heart of the Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelor, Even (Marcel Duchamp and Lydie Fischer Sarazin-Levassor)
2007
English edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
Marcel Duchamp met Lydie Sarazin-Levassor at the end of March 1927. On 7 June, they were married. Francis Picabia acted as a witness and the ceremony was filmed by Man Ray. On 25 January 1928, they divorced. Lydie Sarazin-Levassor tells the story of their marriage.
Pierre Tilman - Robert Filliou - Nationalité poète
2006
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
The first biography of Robert Filliou.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon - Carnets (1847-1851)
2005
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An essential work covering the activities of the 19th century French theoretician of anarchy, federalism, perpetual education and the mutual principle.
Marc Décimo - Le Diable au désert – Ananké Hel ! - suivi de Paul Tisseyre-Ananké : Rires et larmes dans l\'armée !
2005
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap) – Fundamental
An essay on Paul Tisseyre Ananké, the military officer in saharian French colonies and writer, which proposes a linguistic and biographic approach, accompanying the reedition of Ananké's book, denouncing the horrors of the French colonisation in Africa.
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