For quite some time now, ethnographic museums in Europe have been compelled to legitimate themselves. Their exhibition-making has become a topic of discussion, as has the contentious history of their collections, which have come about through colonial appropriation. Clearly, this cannot continue. That the situation can be different is something that Clémentine Deliss explores in her current publication. She offers an intriguing mix of autobiographically-informed novel and conceptual thesis on contemporary art and anthropology. Reflections on her own work while she was Director of Frankfurt's Weltkulturen Museum (Museum of World Cultures) are interwoven with the explorations of influential filmmakers, artists and writers. She introduces the Metabolic Museum as an interventionist laboratory for remediating ethnographic collections for future generations. CLÉMENTINE DELISS has achieved international renown as a curator, cultural historian and publisher of artist's books. In her role as Director of the Weltkulturen Museum in Frankfurt, as a curator, and as a professor and researcher at eminent institutes and academies, she focuses on transdisciplinary and transcultural exchanges. She is Associate Curator of KW Berlin and Guest Professor at the Academy of Arts, Hamburg.

Skin in the Game follows on from the acclaimed fieldwork diary, The Metabolic Museum. In this new book, Clémentine Deliss expands on how artists understand risk and contention both in their work and with regard to historical collections. Through a series of compelling conversations, questions are raised on how to work on colonial collections through the concept of the "prototype" as generative of a multiplicity of non-exclusive interpretations. The book includes interviews with leading women artists spanning two generations—Ruth Buchanan, Otobong Nkanga, Collier Schorr, Joëlle Tuerlinckx, and Andrea Zittel—in which they discuss that moment of "skin in the game," when each of them took the decision to become an artist, to enter the Hades of an uncertain existence and the Heaven of aesthetic experiment. What was the prototype that defined their career and their life's trajectory, that like a revenant returns over the course of an artist's lifetime? CLÉMENTINE DELISS (*1960, London) is an independent curator whose practice crosses the borders of contemporary art, critical anthropology and curatorial experimentation. She is internationally recognized for her seminal work on the Post-Ethnographic, on African modernism, and for her interventionist practices in art. She is Honorary Global Humanities Professor of History of Art at the University of Cambridge, and Associate Curator at KW Institute for Contemporary Art in Berlin.

Since the advent of modernity, art has been associated with freedom, provocation and courage. In 1972, art was to unfold its potential as an emancipatory and creative force as part of the Gesamtkunstwerk of the XX. Olympic Games in Munich—according to the grand vision of its planners. The international avant-garde of the time, including Walter de Maria, Gerhard Richter, Andy Warhol and Dan Flavin, enthusiastically developed revolutionary concepts. Many of these remained in draft-form. After the tragic assassination of Israeli athletes, concepts such as the "Spielstraße" were canceled. This publication is the first to give an impression of the playful, participatory cultural programme of 1972. In the second part of the book, a multitude of voices from all over the world look to the future. International authors and artists use contemporary examples to convey the importance of the arts in shaping the democratic society of the future.

Los museos etnográficos europeos llevan tiempo sufriendo presiones para legitimarse. El discurso fundamental de sus exposiciones está tan en juego como la historia de sus colecciones, que con demasiada frecuencia deben mucho a la autolegitimación colonial. Está claro que las cosas no pueden seguir así. Clémentine Deliss muestra en su actual publicación que también puede ser muy diferente. Ofrece una apasionante mezcla de novela autobiográficamente informada y tesis científicamente argumentada sobre arte contemporáneo y etnología. Las reflexiones sobre su propio trabajo como directora del Museo Weltkulturen de Fráncfort se cruzan con encuentros formativos con influyentes cineastas, artistas y escritores. Las descripciones de las condiciones se encuentran con el Museo Metabólico, que como laboratorio intervencionista abre posibles colecciones para el futuro.

Aujourd'hui, après une pause de près de 15 ans, Métronome est relancé au KW avec quatre tomes des "Proceedings of the Metabolic Museum-University" qui incluent "Collections and Contention", "Syncopathologies", "The Undead and the Land" , et "Prototypes and Ominous Objects". Ces brochures sont basées sur les transcriptions du "Bureau d'Esprit", une série régulière de réunions tenues pendant le confinement. Edité par Clémentine Deliss avec BLESS, Matthias Bruhn, Iman Issa, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Augustin Maurs, Tom McCarthy, Henrike Naumann, Azu Nwagbogu, Margareta von Oswald, Manuel Raeder, Elhadj Abdoulaye Sène, Krista Belle Stewart, Luke Willis Thompson et Gast Tarek atoui.

Aujourd'hui, après une pause de près de 15 ans, Métronome est relancé au KW avec quatre tomes des "Proceedings of the Metabolic Museum-University" qui incluent "Collections and Contention", "Syncopathologies", "The Undead and the Land" , et "Prototypes and Ominous Objects". Ces brochures sont basées sur les transcriptions du "Bureau d'Esprit", une série régulière de réunions tenues pendant le confinement. Edité par Clémentine Deliss avec BLESS, Matthias Bruhn, Iman Issa, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Augustin Maurs, Tom McCarthy, Henrike Naumann, Azu Nwagbogu, Margareta von Oswald, Manuel Raeder, Elhadj Abdoulaye Sène, Krista Belle Stewart, Luke Willis Thompson et Gast Tarek atoui.

Aujourd'hui, après une pause de près de 15 ans, Métronome est relancé au KW avec quatre tomes des "Proceedings of the Metabolic Museum-University" qui incluent "Collections and Contention", "Syncopathologies", "The Undead and the Land" , et "Prototypes and Ominous Objects". Ces brochures sont basées sur les transcriptions du "Bureau d'Esprit", une série régulière de réunions tenues pendant le confinement. Edité par Clémentine Deliss avec BLESS, Matthias Bruhn, Iman Issa, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Augustin Maurs, Tom McCarthy, Henrike Naumann, Azu Nwagbogu, Margareta von Oswald, Manuel Raeder, Elhadj Abdoulaye Sène, Krista Belle Stewart, Luke Willis Thompson et Gast Tarek atoui.

Aujourd'hui, après une pause de près de 15 ans, Métronome est relancé au KW avec quatre tomes des "Proceedings of the Metabolic Museum-University" qui incluent "Collections and Contention", "Syncopathologies", "The Undead and the Land" , et "Prototypes and Ominous Objects". Ces brochures sont basées sur les transcriptions du "Bureau d'Esprit", une série régulière de réunions tenues pendant le confinement. Edité par Clémentine Deliss avec BLESS, Matthias Bruhn, Iman Issa, Krist Gruijthuijsen, Augustin Maurs, Tom McCarthy, Henrike Naumann, Azu Nwagbogu, Margareta von Oswald, Manuel Raeder, Elhadj Abdoulaye Sène, Krista Belle Stewart, Luke Willis Thompson et Gast Tarek atoui.