Ian Wilson has been exploring the aesthetic potential of spoken language since the late 1960s. His ongoing body of work—beginning with “oral communication” and eventually including his signature Discussions—began in 1968 with the spoken word “time”.

Over the course of the 1970s, his discussions took on a more formal character, and his interests shifted towards ‘The Known and Unknown’, based on Plato’s ‘The Parmenides’. In contrast to a ‘performance’, during a discussion the audience can actively take part in realising the concept of ‘oral communication’. Wilson does not want the discussion to be recorded either on film or audio. Wilson summarises the core of these discussions in a book series entitled ‘section’.

Retour d’y voir is the art history review published by the Mamco, Geneva. The 5th issue is entirely dedicated to Philippe Thomas: analysis (Michel Gauthier, Jean-Philippe Antoine, Robert Storr, Stéphane Sauzedde, Christophe Kihm, Érik Verhagen, Guillaume Leingre, Claire Fontaine, Judith Ickowicz, Émeline Jaret) and testimonies (Claire Burrus & Émeline Jaret, Sylvie Breton & Dominique Païni, Daniel Bosser, Jacques Salomon, Bernard Blistène, Daniel Soutif, Ghislain Mollet-Viéville).