Contemporary art practices affect not only production, but also the imaginary of literary creation. Contemporary art multiplies circulations between supports, mediums, media and arts, and invites us to think of literature in its relationship to different networks of production and reception, which go far beyond the support (the book), the system of references (intertextuality) and the public (the readership) traditionally assigned to it. This article looks at the relationship between literature and contemporary art not from the angle of simple appropriation, but from a perspective of reciprocal contamination, in which literature leaves its mark on the practices it adopts. The authors involved (Philippe Vasset, Michel Houellebecq, Édouard Levé, among others) are less concerned with "doing contemporary art with literature" (as many visual artists and performers propose) than with revitalizing the field and production of literature, by bringing in dynamics that have enabled contemporary artworks to attract new audiences, redefine the figure of the artist and invent new forms of creation, while at the same time engaging criticism and aesthetic philosophy in a profound theoretical reflection on the ontology of the work of art.