Carnegie haul: Scott Rothkopf interviews Laura Hoptman, curator of the 2004 Carnegie International

SR: Speaking of totalizing issues, what about painting, which surprisingly still seems to be something of a curatorial litmus test? The curators of the Whitney Biennial and the Venice Biennale made a point of stressing the vitality of the medium, while it was almost entirely absent from Documenta. Where do you fall on the spectrum?

LH: Historically, the International was a painting show until the early '60s. For what it's worth, I have historically been a curator who has paid attention to painting. Given this and the fact that there has been a new vitality in painting over the past ten years, particularly in Germany and the US, the International will be strong in pictures. However, I am less interested in the fact of painting than in how painting is deployed by artists now, and to what end. I find it fascinating, for example, that for some artists painting is again a vehicle for spiritual transcendence. I don't think this kind of faith--or hubris, depending on how you feel about pure abstraction--has been at the center of the discourse since Abstract Expressionism. This and other high-stakes notions about art are back because we need them to be. The times call for it.

RELATED ARTICLE: 2004 Carnegie International Artists

On view at the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, October 9, 2004-March 20, 2005

Tomma Abts

Pawel Althamer

Francis Alys

Karin (Mamma) Andersson

Chiho Aoshima

Kaoru Arima

Kutlug Ataman

Dimitrije (Mangelos)

Basicevic

John Bock

Lee Bontecou

Robert Breer

Fernando Bryce

Kathy Butterly

Maurizio Cattelan

Paul Chan

Anne Chu

R. Crumb

Jeremy Deller

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Peter Doig

Trisha Donnelly

Harun Farocki

Saul Fletcher

Isa Genzken

Mark Grotjahn

Rachel Harrison

Carsten Holler

Katarzyna Kozyra

Jim Lambie

Julie Mehretu

Senga Nengudi

Oliver Payne and Nick Relph

Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook

Neo Rauch

Ugo Rondinone

Eva Rothschild

Yang Fudong

Scott Rothkopf is a senior editor of Artforum.

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