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An ambitiousintergenerational survey of twenty-five contemporary New York artists.Contemporary art, like the city of New York, has seen massive growth over thepast five decades. The twenty-five artists profiled in Empire State, from DanGraham and Jeff Koons to the net-based Tabor Robak, question existingconventions and explore the new possibilities manifested by their community’snew, near-industrial scale. Empire State is an exhibition that asks how artistsmight reimagine urban life and how the city of New York might continue to be asite of contestation. Making new connections among the artists via commissionedpieces, the book includes essays by the show’s curators, Alex Gartenfeld andSir Norman Rosenthal, and by Tom McDonough, John Miller, Eileen Myles, and MattKeegan. Each artist’s work is paired with original texts by a host of leadingcritics and curators, such as Bruce Hainley, Hans-Ulrich Obrist, BonnieClearwater, and Tina Kukielski.