Launch of the book Une histoire de l'art des années 1990 : On s'est bien amusés ! by Christine Macel (2026, Manuella Éditions)

The title sets the tone of the book, between sharp analysis and reflection of a dynamic era animated by a festive spirit where the author was both an actress and a spectator, while the 90s arouse new interest with the exhibition "90’s" which will start on October 7, 2026 at the Tate de Londres.
This essay explores the upheavals of the art world in the 1990s, from the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 to the attacks of September 11, 2001 – key years that changed them in depth and opened up all current debates and realities. 
This is a chronological account, taking into account for each year the geopolitical and sociocultural events that constitute the framework in which contemporary art has evolved in a decisive and unprecedented way: Globalization has changed the situation by opening up perspectives to other continents, changing the way art history is viewed, in the context of a questioning of universalism and the rise of the South. 
The technological upheavals, from email to mobile phones and low-cost flights have also profoundly changed our knowledge of art scenes while expanding our horizons. From New York to China, passing through South Africa and the opening up to Eastern Europe, while taking as its point of view the situation in France, this book also analyzes the major exhibitions of the decade, the biennales and documenta, the founding theoretical and critical texts, the controversies of the time, or even the evolution of the art market and its consequences. It defines the major themes, sometimes opposed, addressed by artists, between relational aesthetics, sociopolitical art, art of the intimate, banal, kitsch or almost nothing. It also addresses the very evolution of the artist’s position and posture in a world where visibility becomes a crucial issue, as do networking and marketing. It finally deepens the analysis of art in the 90s in its relationship to media, fashion and brands, techno music and the spirit of celebration and laughter that defined these years, divided between disenchantment and desire to open a new page on the world.

Christine Macel is an art historian and heritage curator. She supervised the visual arts collections of the National Fund for Contemporary Art for five years, then created and directed the department of contemporary art at the Centre Pompidou Musée national d'art moderne for 22 years (Service Création contemporaine et prospective). In 2017, she curated the Venice Art Biennale "Viva Arte Viva", as well as more than 50 exhibitions since 1995. She directed the Musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris from 2022, where she curated the exhibition "L'intime. De la chambre aux réseaux sociaux (From the Chamber to Social Networks) (Gallimard catalogue). She published the essay "Le Temps pris. Le temps de l'œuvre, le temps à l'œuvre in 2009 (Monografik/republished by Flammarion in 2017).