Graham Harman: The Third Table / Der dritte Tisch - September 4th, 2024

Published in conjunction with documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany, the notebook series, “100 Notes, 100 Thoughts,” expresses artistic director Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev’s curatorial vision for documenta 13 through facsimiles of existing notebooks, commissioned essays, collaborations, and conversations.

In “A Third Table,” Graham Harman repeats Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington's 1927 allegory of the ‘two tables’: the familiar ‘table of everyday life’ and its rival, the ‘scientific table’ as described by physics. Both are for Harman the results of reductionism and the traditional dichotomy of natural science and humanities. The third and only "real" table belongs to the ‘third culture,’ a culture of art that creates objects. The essay introduces the philosophy of speculative realism and alludes to the chance to reanimate philosophy in its original sense of philosophia--the love of science.

Binding: Paperback, 32 pages
Dimensions: 4.25 x 5.75 in
1st edition
Extremely Rare

“Christov-Bakargiev, who recruited “agents” from all over the world for her team of advisors led by Chus Martínez from Spain, caused confusion in the press prior to the exhibition with her ‘non-concept,’ eco-feminism, dog calendars, an absurd title that no one could remember (The dance was frenetic, animated, clattering, twisted, and lasted a long time), and the announcement of a parallel exhibition in Kabul, Afghanistan. [...] Between these two locations—Kassel/Breitenau and Kabul/Bamiyan—documenta 13 established a primary motif that recalled the original underlying idea of documenta: ‘Zusammenbruch und Wiederaufbau’ (Collapse and Recovery)—in other words, healing the trauma of war through art.”

Published over a period of two years prior to documenta’s opening (2010–12) “100 Notes, 100 Thoughts” was conceived and edited by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Chus Martinez, and Bettina Funcke and published by Hatje Cantz.