72 (projets pour ne plus y penser) is a book distributed by Presses du Réel (France) and Idea Book (International). The book brings together a large number of projects by contemporary French artists. By project, we mean the strict dictionary definition: “what one intends to do”, with the highly plastic notion of projection in time and space. Here, in particular, artists were asked to provide preparatory elements (plans, diagrams, drawings, graphics, photos, texts… ) for a project buried deep in their memories or drawers. A project that they have never been able to realize due to lack of time, means or opportunity, and which will therefore exist momentarily in editorial form, giving it a potential life. The common denominator of these projects is that they are artistic proposals intended for a specific function in life, in the social world, or simply conceived as a particular activity. More than a survey of the imaginary, this book is first and foremost an inventive look at contemporary art forms: how do artists see the world, how can they parasitize or infiltrate it (other than in conventional exhibitions)? What is the relevance of this view? Finally, show how contemporary artists are increasingly diversifying their fields of activity. Create a cartography of works to come, concrete proposals each with its own synopsis.

This publication brings to life seventy-two aborted projects (for reasons of time, means and opportunity) by publishing the preparatory elements - plans, diagrams, drawings, graphics, photographs, texts - saved by the guest artists.

With Boris Achour, Saâdane Afif, Sandy Amerio, Alice Anderson, Pierre Ardouvin, Gilles Barbier, Virginie Barré, Emmanuelle Bentz, Stéphane Bérard, Berdaguer & Péjus, Jean-Luc Blanc, Michel Blazy, Marc Boucherot, Belkacem Boudjellouli, Pascal Broccolichi, Denis Brun, Alain Bublex, Ludovic Burel, Jean-François Chermann, Marc Chevalier, Frédéric Clavère, Claude Closky, Elizabeth Creseveur, François Curlet, Alain Declercq, Marie Denis, Malachi Farrell, Francesco Finizio, Nicolas Floc’h, Hervé Garcia, Laurent Grasso, Thomas Hirschhorn, Jacques Julien, Thomas Lélu, Serge Le Squer, Claire Lesteven, Edouard Levé, Claude Lévêque, Saverio Lucariello, Eric Madeleine, Stéphane Magnin, Pierre Malphettes, Didier Marcel, Timothy Mason, Maxime Matray, Philippe Mayaux, Didier Mencoboni, Philippe Meste, Marie-Eve Mestre, Nicolas Moulin, Cécile Paris, Guillaume Paris, Bruno Peinado, Alexandre Périgot, Guillaume Pinard, Pascal Pinaud, Laurent Prexl, Marc Quer, Philippe Ramette, Sandrine Raquin, Alain Rivière, Samuel Rousseau, Yvan Salomone, Franck Scurti, Stéphane Steiner, Cédric Teisseire, Muriel Toulemonde, Olivier Tourenc, Tatiana Trouvé, Niek Van de Steeg, Agence Verdonck & Cosseron, Alun Williams.