A Reading by Philippe Parreno at ESPACE DIAPHANES, Berlin

Philippe Parreno reading an excerpt of Eden, Eden, Eden by Pierre Guyotat. Recorded at ESPACE DIAPHANES on September 9, 2020.

Marking the 50th anniversary of Pierre Guyotat’s Eden, Eden, Eden (1970), this video is part of a series of 50 readings organized by the Association Pierre Guyotat in collaboration with contemporary art institutions and galleries around the world.

Since its release on 9 September 1970, this provocative novel has attracted a mixture of scandal and fascination. The work of a young author, it was prefaced with texts by influential French philosophers Michel Leiris, Roland Barthes, and Philippe Sollers, and endorsed by Michel Foucault. Its immediate censorship attracted further international support from leading cultural figures including Pier Paolo Pasolini and Joseph Beuys.

Fifty years later, the work of Pierre Guyotat remains impactful and Eden, Eden, Eden has proven to be prescient of a world on the verge of transformation – through violence, sexuality, decolonization, and cosmology. The texts herald the endpoint of colonial history as well as the starting point of a new history.

Click the image to watch the full reading!