In 2014, Paul McCarthy installed the massive inflatable sculpture Tree at Place Vendôme in Paris. The sculpture’s shape was at once reminiscent of a sex toy, a Christmas tree, and a Hans Arp artwork. It caused a public outcry, the artist was attacked, and the work vandalized and ultimately removed. This book brings together conversations with scholars, artists, curators, and writers, which reflect on McCarthy’s work.

In the fall of 2013, Dan Graham and Mieko Meguro traveled with Donatien Grau to a town in the French Alps to meet Michel Butor, one of the foremost innovators of postwar literature. This is their conversation.