In its ambitious 18-month Play Van Abbe programme, the Van Abbemuseum has embarked on a four-part exploration into what the museum of the 21st century might be. During this time, the Van Abbemuseum aims to destabilise the idea of a “permanent collection”, activating its dynamism via a series of interruptions, outside interpretations and inside re-presentations. 

The Copyist – a title referring to both the act of transcribing certain events in real time but also the duplication of already published material – mimics the outside/inside tension of the Play programme. Using a dual structure of core and wrapper, the journal invites curators, artists, activists, researchers and writers to contribute a constellation of ideas at the core of Play Van Abbe (in this case, those pertaining particularly to Part 1 and Part 2), while wrapping these ideas within a broader socio-political framework.  

The Copyist was available free of charge at the Van Abbemuseum and a number of worldwide destinations according to our 'Airplay' informal distribution network for a limited time only. The magazine is still available as a downloadable PDF.

Contributors to the Copyist include:

Walter Benjamin - The Way Beyond "Art" notes on art museums

Kim de Groot/Imaginary Property - Flickrs of Possibility

Maria Eichhorn - Aktiengesellschaft

Charles Esche - The Peripatetic Vatican Speculation

Diana Franssen - An annotated review of Rudi Fuchs’s Summer Display 1983: ‘An art historical image of the twentieth century’

Brian Holmes and Claire Pentecost - The Politics of Perception: Art and the World Economy

Chris Lee - Alternative Currencies

Arnout Richter - An Oblique Angle

Dubravka Sekulic - Television, Eurovision, Europe

Steven ten Thije - Climate Controlled?

Dmitry Vilensky - Chto Delat and Method: Practicing Dialectic

Marina Vishmidt - End Days on the Astral Plane