Avant-gardes

L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)

 
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.
 
Series founded by Michel Giroud.
Jacques Donguy - De Jeff Golyscheff à Stelarc - De l\'avant-garde à la post-humanité
2025
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
forthcoming
A collection of texts and interviews, some previously unpublished, covering a period of 40 years, with rare illustrations.
Ornella Volta - Autres écrits
2025
French edition
Les presses du réel – Music & Sound Arts – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
forthcoming
Writings, manuscripts, bibliography, index.
Louis Ucciani - Avant-garde et contre culture
2025
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Three perspectives (philosophical, sociological and artist's word) on the meaning of the avant-garde, and its relationship to the counter-culture.
Uno Kuniichi - Artaud pensée et corps
2025
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
A specialist in French philosophy and literature, and a key intermediary in Japan for the work of Deleuze and Guattari, Artaud, Beckett and Genet, Uno Kuniichi publishes in French his fundamental text on Antonin Artaud, a revised, recomposed and expanded version of his thesis, written under the direction of Gilles Deleuze in 1980.
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)
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)
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.
Chantal Guillaume - Fourier ou l\'utopie en réel
2024
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Charles Fourier or utopia as reality.
Kitasono Katué - 1902-1978
2024
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Reference monograph of the most renowned Japanese artist-poet of the 20th century in Europe and the United States, active since the 1920s, a figure of visual poetry, linked to all the European and American literary and artistic avant-gardes, with numerous illustrations.
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)
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)
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".
Louis Ucciani - Avant-garde et contre culture
2023
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Three perspectives (philosophical, sociological and artist's word) on the meaning of the avant-garde, and its relationship to the counter-culture.
Jacques Donguy - Essai sur la Poésie numérique - Ou vers un élargissement du langage
2023
French edition / excerpts translated into English
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
An international essay (France, USA, Brazil, etc.) on digital poetry, from the first attempts to generate text on the computer to the most contemporary developments and the problems posed by artificial intelligence.
Pierre Alferi - Une pratique monstre
2023
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
A fascinating exploration of the utopian origins and tumultuous 130-year history of the largest and longest-lived artists' community in the world.
The Return of DADA / Die Wiederkehr von DADA / Le Retour de DADA (4 volume box set)
2022
texts in English, French, German
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Reevaluating the scholarly knowledge about Dada and its legacy, this publication reconstructs how Dada was (re)invented in the 1950s and the 1960s, especially by the Dada protagonists themselves, and asks to what extent Dada's impulses are still relevant regarding current aesthetic, literary and cultural analyses.
Erik Avert - George Brecht, vers un art transdisciplinaire
2021
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
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)
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)
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)
A collection of essays on audio archives of poetry.
Jean-François Bory - Une monographie
2020
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Retrospective monograph.
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)
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)
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.
Jacques Donguy - Chroniques de Poésie numérique
2019
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
currently out of stock
The chronicles of the digital poetry movement, by one of its pioneers and main actors in France.
Camille Bryen - L\'ouvre-boîte - Colloque abhumaniste
2018
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Narrative essay developping the notion of abhumanism, a critical philosophy which questions the centrality of mankind in our relationship to the world. With illustrations by Camille Bryen and a foreword by Michel Giroud.
Le lettrisme et son temps
2018
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
A collective reflection on the historical stakes of French avant-garde movement Lettrism.
Cristina De Simone - Proféractions ! - Poésie en action à Paris (1946-1969)
2018
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
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)
Analyzing the theoretical and aesthetic thought of the founder of Lettrism in the intellectual context of the post-war and up to 1968.
Jacques Donguy - Pd-extended 1 - Poésie numérique en Pure Data
2017
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Reference monograph dedicated to the pioneer of digital poetry in France, including documentation illustrating recent projects as well as all theoretical texts on digital poetry written by Donguy from 1984 to 2015.
Jacques Donguy - Pd-extended 1 - Poésie numérique en Pure Data
2017
French edition
Les presses du réel – Literature – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Reference monograph dedicated to the pioneer of digital poetry in France, including documentation illustrating recent projects as well as all theoretical texts on digital poetry written by Donguy from 1984 to 2015.
Marc Décimo - Les jardins de l\'art  brut
2016
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
Outside museums, on the roadsides, a journey through the gardens and backyards of Europe and America to discover the "madmen's art": an illustrated essay on the birth and the future of Art Brut (new expanded edition).
Raoul Hausmann et les avant-gardes
2015
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
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.
Julien Blaine - La poésie à outrance - À propos de la poésie élémentaire de Julien Blaine
2015
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
A critical book: a reassessment of Julien Blaine's poetry and the aesthetic problems related to it.
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)
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)
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)
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)
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.
Michel Giroud - Le Musée des Muses Amusées (MMAM) Imperium Asinum Magnificum (IAM) selon la Poésie Totalement Totale (PTT) (+ CD / DVD)
2014
French edition
Les presses du réel – Avant-gardes – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
A real, potential and fictitious museum by Michel Giroud.
Charles Fourier - Le Nouveau Monde amoureux
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
currently out of stock
Simone Debout's re-edited version of Fourier's essential work.
Nicole Salzard - L\'index fouriériste
2013
French edition
Les presses du réel – Philosophy / politics – L'écart absolu (Absolute Gap)
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.
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