Spring 2011

2

R. Klanten, B. Meyer

Papercraft 2

Design and Art with Paper

PaPer-craft2

isbn

978-3-89955-333-8

256 24 × 30 cm

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about the book

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€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

full color, hardcover, incl. videos

Outstanding creative work with paper.Paper is arguably the most influential material in human civilization. In our digital age, paper has become less important as a medium for the immediate transmission of information. As this shift occurred, designers and artists in-creasingly discovered the creative possibilities of paper’s endurance. Today, designing with paper continues to be a trend.

In the last three years, a broad range of creative disciplines including scenog-raphy, fashion design, and advertising have discovered the versatility of this basic material. These new areas have contributed fresh ideas and perfected existing techniques. The areas of application and forms of expression for work-ing with paper have now reached an unforeseen breadth and level of quality.

With an unparalleled collection of new and groundbreaking projects, Paper-craft 2 presents current developments in contemporary design with paper

and cardboard. The book documents how techniques such as cutting, fold-ing, gluing, and collage help designers craft innovative communication de-sign, products, and artwork from these materials that reach new creative heights. Recent examples include illustration, sculpture, and 3D graphic de-sign as well as complex spatial installations, fashion, and objets d’art. Clearly advancing the handicraft used in earlier pieces, these are setting prevailing trends and inspiring the future evolution of work with paper in ever more cre-ative disciplines.

Its more than 250 pages and additional bonus video material make Paper-craft 2 a comprehensive documentation of the creative potential that can be realized with the traits of what was once our primary material for communi-cating information.

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Graphic Designrelease

March

new

33

Doppelganger

Images of the Human Being

IMAGES OF THEHUMAN BEING

R. Klanten, S. Ehmann, F. Schulze

240

isbn

24 × 30 cm

978-3-89955-332-1

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about the book

The ongoing quest to capture the visual identity of the human being in our digital age.The digital age has fundamentally changed traditional notions of who we are and how we wish to be perceived. The music producer Chris Walla puts it this way: “Confronted with our significantly more banal everyday life, we’re mea-suring our actual selves against our online selves with hopeful resignation.”

Doppelganger presents current trends in the depiction of human beings. In today’s images and sculptures, personal identities are being intensified, altered, or created through the use of techniques such as deformation and construction/deconstruction as well as the obliteration of classical pro-portions, visual traditions, and what is generally considered beautiful and fashionable.

The book shows permutations of the outer human shell created with cos-tumes and masks as well as photo-technical and artistic manipulation.

These take their visual cues from such diverse aesthetics as Dada, sur-realism, high tech, cutting-edge fashion design, and the folklore of other cultures. Masquerades and artificial characters are used imaginatively to enhance and obscure true identities.

With examples ranging from the intimate to the radical, Doppelganger explores how many or how few effects the depiction of a person can take in order to function as such. In doing so, the book shows that the unique visual appearances being created today often reveal more about the identities of their subjects and creators than their “real” faces ever could.

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, hardcover

Januaryrelease

new

4

Art & Agenda

Political Art and Activism R. Klanten, M. Hübner, A. Bieber, P. Alonzo

288

isbn

24 × 30 cm

978-3-89955-342-0

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about the book

Young and established artists are putting political subjects, protest, and resistance back on the personal and public agenda.Life has become significantly more political in the new millennium, espe-cially in the aftermath of the worldwide banking crisis. Art is both driving and documenting this upheaval. Initially, it was mostly young artists and activ-ists who were raising their voices to protest globalization and the pollution of our environment, but increasingly the work of established artists is also becoming dominated by political topics.

Art & Agenda explores the impact of political activism on contemporary art. The book introduces a variety of artists who are advocating political and social reform on a local or a global scale. Some are influenced by the tradi-tions of Agitprop and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and work with posters, urban interventions, or graphic design. Others prefer established art forms such as painting, sculpture, or performance. The personalities and approaches of the featured artists are as diverse as their subject matter—the artists’ goals, techniques, and degrees of radicalness depend on the cultures to which they belong as well as the social and political circles in which they move.

Some of the younger artists featured in the book are fighting against poverty and for women’s rights. Others are working to rebuild Haitian communities in the wake of that country’s devastating earthquake. Still others are using mass communication to criticize transnational oil companies. While Latin American artists are expressing their powerlessness in the face of totalitar-ian governments, Chinese artists are commenting on the radical changes taking place in their country, calling for human rights and freedom, and an end to cronyism and environmental destruction.

The book examines the interplay between the forms of protest used by environmental and civil rights activists and the techniques used by artists, which are of interest since both groups often address the same topics. It looks at how art and the media are not only reflecting a political agenda, but also how they are influencing political reaction. Consequently, Art & Agenda is not only an insightful documentation of current artwork, but also points to future forms of political discourse and decision-making.

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€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

full color, hardcover

Marchrelease

new

5

R. Klanten, S. Ehmann, K. Bolhöfer

My Green City

Back to Nature with Attitude and Style

1

My Green CityBack to Nature with Attitude and Style

isbn

978-3-89955-334-5

240 21 × 26 cm

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title

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€ 38 (D) £ 35 $ 60

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A stylish compilation of the work and ideas of designers, activists, and architects, who are bringing nature back into our cities.The last few decades were dominated by the urban, the digital, and the sleek as well as a notable esteem for speed and consumption. Today, a growing countermovement is advocating for a sustainable and more responsible way of dealing with our environment and bringing nature back to our cities. My Green City celebrates this turnaround as well as the way of life and creativ-ity of the designers, artists, architects, activists, and passionate laypeople involved.

The book presents inspirational projects from around the world—from urban farming initiatives and architectural visions that are changing our cities as a whole, to furniture and other everyday objects that can make our own streets and homes greener. Guerilla gardeners are decorating urban eyesores with

flowers. Glamping resorts offer hip, yet environmentally friendly vacations amid beautiful landscapes. Designers are creating projects, products, and works of art that use plants in a functional or aesthetic way—or are perhaps just trying to get people to think differently.

My Green City is an entertaining and socially relevant compilation for every-one who has an interest in a more responsible and environmentally friendly lifestyle. The book shows us how we can care for our planet without falling into hopelessness or dwelling on a bad conscience. Its manifold visual ex-amples and insightful descriptions make it clear that we can instead design our urban future in a way that is green, innovative, vibrant, and constructive.

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Stylerelease

March

new

6

R. Klanten, L. Feireiss

Utopia Forever

Visions of Architecture and Urbanism

isbn

978-3-89955-335-2

256 24 × 28 cm

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€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

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An exploration of utopias and radical approaches to city planning—the predominant themes in contemporary architecture.A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.—Oscar Wilde

The cities in which we live today are unfortunately not the cities that we need for a humane and sustainable tomorrow. Societies and politicians are des-perately looking for solutions and ideas for the urban areas of the future. That is why the development and discussion of utopias are–next to sustain-ability–the most current topics in contemporary architecture.

We have learned from the 1960s and 1970s that utopian visions are one of the most important catalysts for fundamental change. Modern wind farms for generating energy, for example, were initially contemplated at that time and are now permanent fixtures in our landscapes.

Utopia Forever is a collection of current projects and concepts from archi-tecture, city planning, urbanism, and art that point beyond the restrictions of the factual to unleash the potential of creative visions. In contrast to the largely ideal-theoretic approaches of the past, today’s utopias take the ne-cessity for societal changes into account. The projects in this book explore how current challenges for architecture, mobility, and energy as well as the logistics of food consumption and waste removal can be met.

Whether created by established architects and artists or new talents, the projects in Utopia Forever are radically shaping our notions of life in the future.

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Architecturerelease

April

about the book

new

7

Cutting Edges

Contemporary Collage

cutting edgesContemporary Collage

R. Klanten, H. Hellige, J. Gallagher

224

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24 × 30 cm

978-3-89955-338-3

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title

about the book

The renaissance of collage in art, illustration, and design.Collage has an outstanding tradition in the modern visual arts. Influenced by surrealism and Dada as well as constructivism, the technique was firmly established as an art form in the 1920s and 1930s through the work of artists such as John Heartfield, El Lissitzky, and Hannah Höch. Today, a new gen-eration of young artists and illustrators is rediscovering collage.

Cutting Edges is a collection of current artistic work that unites unrelated elements to create something new. Although the artists also use the com-puter for the purpose of montage, most of the featured collages are made by hand and often include found objects. It is not only the addition of visual

elements that is important to the work, but also their deliberate omission, deletion, and destruction.

While the combination of very different materials is charmingly reminiscent of the past, the innovative work in Cutting Edges proves that a new era of collage has begun.

Texts by curator Dr. Silke Krohn put this current rediscovery of collage into an art-historical context.

Graphic Design, Art

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, hardcover

Januaryrelease

new

8

R. Klanten, A. Mollard

Precursor

An Essential Watchlist of Creativity

±Pre-cursor±

±An Essential Watchlist of Creativity±

isbn

978-3-89955-345-1

288 24 × 30 cm

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about the book

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€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

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A new breed of creatives has grown up with computers and is now using them—and any other tools they can get their hands on—to challenge, revive, question, and interconnect the classic categories of design.Thanks to ever-increasing digitalization, design has gone through a process of democratization since the 1990s. Because the internet has made the digi-tal tools of various creative directions so easily accessible, many young de-signers are currently working in a multidisciplinary way.

Today, the most compelling work is being created where classic design cate-gories intersect. Young designers are moving fluidly between established job descriptions such as graphic designer, advertiser, street artist, video direc-tor, typographer, illustrator, product designer, and musician—often working as several at the same time. Because they customize their fields to suit their individual needs and their output often meanders through very different cat-

egorizations, the work of these designers may seem random at first glance. Still, despite or because of the way the work, they are profoundly innovative as well as remarkably determined when it comes to realizing their creative visions and establishing a personal style.

Precursor introduces outstanding young design talent from around the world and documents their most recent work. Although regional creative differ-ences and design traits still exist, the examples collected here show how a new transnational style is currently being established. This work exists be-yond current trends and retro looks; its only obligation is to innovate.

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Graphic Design,Art

release

April

new

9

R. Klanten, S. Ehmann, L. Feireiss

A Touch of Code

Interactive Installations and Experiences

OF

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C

E

HTA

O

C

isbn

978-3-89955-331-4

240 24 × 28 cm

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title

about the book

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price

€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

full color, hardcover

Innovative designers are creating compelling atmospheres and interactive experiences by merging hardware and software with architecture and design.Thanks to the omnipresence of computers, cell phones, gaming systems, and the internet, a broad audience has traded its past reservations against technology for an almost insatiable curiosity for all things technical. Against this background, unprecedented new tools and possibilities are opening up for the world of design. In addition to sketchbooks and computers, young designers are increasingly using programming languages, soldering irons, sensors, and microprocessors as well as 3D milling or rapid prototyping ma-chines in their work. The innovative use of powerful hardware and software has become affordable and, most of all, much easier to use. Today, the sky is the limit when it comes to ideas for experimental media, unconventional interfaces, and interactive spatial experiences.

A Touch of Code shows how information becomes experience. The book ex-amines how surprising personal experiences are created where virtual realms meet the real world and where dataflow confronts the human senses. It pres-ents an international spectrum of interdisciplinary projects at the intersec-tion of laboratory, trade show, and urban space that play with the new fron-tiers of perception, interaction, and staging created by current technology. These include brand and product presentations as well as thematic exhibits, architecture, art, and design.

The comprehensive spectrum of innovative spatial and interactive work in A Touch of Code reveals how technology is fundamentally changing and ex-panding strategies for the targeted use of architecture, art, communication, and design for the future.

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Product Design, Architecture

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April

new

10

R. Klanten, A. Mollard, M. Hübner

Behind the Zines

Self-Publishing Culture

Behind the

zines

Jung + Wenig

SingleBoerSe

“Hello, not so long ago I have received your letter. I sincerely hope that you are looking for the same as I.”

Thierry SomerS

“I guess, making a magazine on your own is a labour of

love that requires a lot of discipline, per-

severance and uncon-ditional devotion."

William morriS

“To own the means of production isthe only way to gain back pleasure in work, and this, in return, is considered as a prerequisite for the production of (applied) art and beauty.”

Self-publishingculture

isbn

978-3-89955-336-9

240 24 × 28 cm

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editors

title

about the book

features

pages size

price

€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, softcover

Zines and their role as a catalyst in the evolution of media and graphic design today.Social networks are dominating today‘s headlines, but they are not the only platforms that are radically changing the way we communicate. Creatives such as designers, photographers, artists, researchers, and poets are dis-seminating information about themselves and their favorite subjects not via predefined media such as Twitter or blogs, but through printed or other self-published projects—so-called zines. Those who publish zines are mostly in-terested in sole authorship, namely that all components including text, im-ages, layout, typography, production, and distribution are firmly in the hands of one person or a small group. At their best, the results convey a compelling and consistent atmosphere and push against the established creative grain in just the right way. They provoke with surprising and non-linear food for thought. In short, zines are advancing the evolution of today‘s media.

With a cutting-edge selection of international examples, Behind the Zines in-troduces the broad range of zines that exists today. These include zines that

function as a new kind of project-oriented portfolio to showcase a self-pro-file or document an exhibit. While some act as (pseudo) scientific treatises to call the reader‘s attention to a specific topic, others serve as playrooms for creatives to run riot and express themselves and communicate with each other in a space that is free from editorial restrictions.

The book examines the key factors that distinguish various zines. It intro-duces projects in which the printing process significantly influences aes-thetics or in which limited distribution to a small, clearly defined target audi-ence becomes part of the overall concept.

Behind the Zines not only documents outstanding work, but also shows how the self-image of those who make zines impacts the scene as a whole. Through interviews with people involved in zine production and distribution, the book sheds light on various strategies for this evolving media form.

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Graphic Designrelease

April

new

11

The ModernistThe Modernist

R. Klanten, H. Hellige

192

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24 × 28 cm

978-3-89955-344-4

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about the book

The discovery of classical modernism in current graphic design.After going through an eclectic, baroque, and iconic phase, today’s design is again taking its visual cues from functionalism and pragmatism. Young graphic designers and illustrators are working in a way that is influenced by the principles of classic modernism. They avoid excess or exaggeration to create enduring work of the highest quality.

The Modernist is a collection of work in graphic design and illustration that is created with minimal intrusions. The deliberately limited palette of colors, tools, and geometric forms that it uses makes the work seem both contem-porary and timeless.

The book makes clear that today’s work does not simply copy the clas-sic design of the 1960s and 1970s. Rather, it seamlessly includes the best

aspects of the 1990s such as vector graphics and construction. Although computers do not dominate this design, they are clearly used as tools to play with elements that did not yet exist in the past and to merge the com-ponents and styles at hand in the best possible way.

The Modernist documents the current trend of a reduced, matter-of-fact, and practical design approach. It presents examples of unobtrusive but effective design solutions that appear to have been created in a past era. Instead, the book shows that it is only our idealistic conception of modernism that gives earlier work attributes that it never actually had.

Graphic Designcategory editors

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€ 35 (D) £ 32.50 $ 55

full color, softcover

Aprilrelease

new

12

Ruby

Otherworldliness Irana Douer

240

isbn

21 × 26 cm

978-3-89955-343-7

RUBY

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title

about the book

A collection of work by young artists, whose captivating surreal worlds are at the nexus of contemporary visual culture and art.There is a continual exchange between the fields of visual culture and art. Techniques, concepts, and motifs inspire each other, and the fields where they intersect are in constant flux. In the tradition of Salvador Dalí, Robert Rauschenberg, and Andy Warhol, today’s young artists are just as influenced by the old masters as they are by popular culture. They are inquisitively exploring and expanding the possibilities for visual forms of expression.

Ruby collects current work by 65 talented young artists with one thing in common: whether working in fantastical illustration, hyper-real photography, or figurative painting or sculpture, these artists all depict or conjure up sur-

real otherworldliness. The examples in this book document current trends at the place where art meets contemporary visual culture.

Ruby is a project by Buenos Aires-based curator, editor, and artist Irana Douer. The book presents artists, illustrators, photographers, and designers from around the world with whom she has worked over the last five years.

Illustration,Art

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€ 29.90 (D) £ 26.99 $ 45

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Aprilrelease

new

13

Nuevo Mundo

Latin AmericanStreet Art

Maximiliano Ruiz

256

isbn

21 × 26 cm

978-3-89955-337-6

Maximiliano Ruiz

NUEVO MUNDOLatiN aMERicaN StREEt aRtMaximiliano Ruiz

NUEVO UEVO UEV MUNDOMUNDOMUNLatiN aMERicaNStREEStREESt t aRt

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about the book

The first comprehensive documentation of the vibrant street art scene in Latin America.One could argue that today’s most innovative street artists come from Latin America. The work of Os Gêmeos, Nunca, Vhils, Basco-Vazko and Vitché is highly respected in the international art scene and has been exhibited at renowned museums including the Tate Modern and Fondation Cartier.

Nuevo Mundo is the first book to provide a comprehensive documentation of current street art in Latin America by exploring the full spectrum of regional scenes in their impressive diversity. The book is structured into chapters that introduce work from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Central America, Chile, Columbia, Cuba, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.

Nuevo Mundo features not only established artists from Latin America, but also promising new talents. In addition to inspiring images, the book’s

insightful texts describe the history and context of each scene as well as the region as a whole.

The explosive mixture of indigenous cultures, local folklore, and the history of European colonization has created a unique visual style. The high regard in which these young street artists are now held around the world is a sign of the new self-confidence of an entire continent.

Maximiliano Ruiz has explored for years the subject of Latin American street art as author, curator, and film director. Previously based in Buenos Aires, he now works from Barcelona.

Artcategory

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€ 35 (D) £ 32.50 $ 55

full color, hardcover

Aprilrelease

new

14

DzineThe Beautiful Struggle

The Art of Dzine

BE

AU

TIF

UL

ST

RU

GG

LE

t he a r t

of dz ine

isbn

978-3-89955-329-1

224 24 × 30 cm

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, hardcover

Dzine melds ghetto, baroque, bling, and psychedelic influences to create work that ranks among the most unique in American contemporary art today.The work of Dzine, who was born in Chicago as Carlos Rolon in 1970, alludes to Latin American Kustom Kulture and aesthetics from ghetto to baroque. By combining these influences in a playfully ironic way, he has created a unique visual language that has already found its place in renowned museums, col-lections, and galleries.

Dzine’s art stems from the place where the conflicting worlds of luxury and the street intersect—where desire, identity, beauty, and meticulous-ness collide in kaleidoscopic colors. He reworks everyday objects, bicycles, ghetto blasters, or Latino status symbols—including lowrider cars—until his

perfected versions subsume their original functions and the visual excess causes those viewing his art to question their own value systems.

The Beautiful Struggle is the first comprehensive collection of the full spec-trum of Dzine’s work in the areas of sculpture, painting, and installation. A foreword by filmmaker Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) as well as texts and quotes by other creatives and art insiders such as Dallas Contemporary di-rector Peter Doroshenko round out this unique monograph.

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Artrelease

April

new

15

Beta TankTaxing Art

When Objects Travel

isbn

978-3-89955-346-8

160 16 × 21 cm

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€ 29.90 (D) £ 26.99 $ 45

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An illustrated essay about the influence of tax laws and customs officials on what constitutes art and design.In recent years, the boundaries between art and design have become more and more blurred. It is not the object itself, but rather its economic function-ality that determines where design stops and art begins—and this function-ality is reassessed at every link in the chain of the object’s dissemination. In fact, it is often customs officials who subjectively decide what constitutes art and design based on their personal views and erratic local tax laws.

Taxing Art is an insightful case study by Beta Tank that illustrates the influ-ence of tax laws on art and creativity. The Berlin-based studio created a se-ries of “blended” work, which was partly handmade and partly machine-made, and sent it around the world. Naturally, this resulted in differing customs du-

ties. The book is a buoyantly ironic, clever documentation and analysis of the effect of traditional, bureaucratic procedures on innovative work.

Beta Tank, explains cofounder Eyal Burstein, hopes Taxing Art will fuel a dia-log about “how true innovation and creativity, that which crosses boundaries and moves into the unknown, can be actively pursued and matched within existing categories and assumptions about business practices and results.”

The book puts a spotlight on the effect that tax laws have on art and design. Be-cause this aspect is largely underestimated, Taxing Art is as revealing for artists, designers, curators, and event managers as it is for lawyers and tax officials.

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Product Designrelease

April

new

16

192

Hyperactivi typography from A to Z

isbn

16 × 21 cm

978-3-89955-327-7

Studio 3

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available

title

about the book

features

pages size

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€ 19.90 {D} £ 17.99 $ 29.90

full color, hardcovercategory

Typography

by

Everything you always wanted to know about typography but were too afraid to ask.Who knew that a publication with the charm of an attractively designed children’s book could take such a revealing look at the demanding topic of typography.

Hyperactivitypography from A to Z is a practical handbook that presents ty-pography in a simple and fun, yet deeply insightful way. Its appealing illus-trations, personal explanations, and entertaining exercises explain common terms and useful details from the world of typography in a way that is easily understood.

Hyperactivitypography from A to Z allows beginners to learn the ropes of typography but also gives experienced typographers ample opportunity to hone their skills and take away new insights. The tone of this clever how-to is light and friendly without any raised index fingers or self-congratulatory smugness.

This book was created by Studio 3, the design agency of Oslo’s renowned Westerdals School of Communication.

new

17

The Design Hotels™ Book

Edition 2011 Design Hotels™

432

isbn

978-3-89955-340-6

The Design Hotels™ Books

Limited Collector’s Edition Design Hotels™

800

isbn

978-3-89955-341-3

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about the book

The new edition of The Design Hotels™ Book is a comprehensive overview of the most original design hotels worldwide. By presenting 200 spectacu-lar hotels, including 47 properties that are new for 2011, the book provides

insight into trends and developments in hospitality design. With its images of striking architecture and interior design, this opulent hardcover brings the experience of staying in a Design Hotels™ property to life.

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€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

full color, hardcover

Januaryrelease

title

about the book

The Design Hotels™ Made by Originals Book is the perfect opportunity for those who are interested in learning more about the inspiring people behind these unique design hotels. This book introduces more than 30 individu-als who explain how they make their distinct properties thrive. The behind-

the-scenes interviews take an insightful look at their creative processes as well as the travel and leisure industry today. The book is only available in an exclusive limited collector’s edition together with The Design Hotels™ Book: Edition 2011.

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€ 69.90 (D) £ 60 $ 99

full color, hardcover, 2 volumes in carton set

Januaryrelease

new

new

23 × 32.5 cm

23 × 32.5 cm

18

Danielle de PicciottoThe Beauty of Transgression

A Berlin Memoir

The Beauty of Transgression

Danielle de Picciotto

A Berlin Memoir

288

isbn

14 × 21 cm

978-3-89955-328-4

Style

10 11

cians became my friends, and their unconventional lifestyle and roaming natures struck a chord with me, an outcast . What I felt when I met them was comparable to when I saw The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as a small, unhappy girl living on US army bases . Being an outcast and living life by one’s own rules, succeeding in keeping up integrity inspite of injustice was a lifestyle I admired and had decided to follow .

Heiner Ebber, lanky drummer of The Waltons, a German rock-and-roll band, was the first of these musicians whom I spoke to in depth . After having exces-sively drunk, wildly danced, and unreservedly spoken to me throughout the night after his performance, he invited me to come and pay him a visit, pulling out photos, describing Kreuzberg, a beautiful drum set, and his girlfriend . Heiner had the edgy, driving passion typical of Berliners in the 1980s . He ignored convention and experimented with music, initiating numerous bands ranging from easy lis-tening to hard core, organizing ludicrous Adriano Celentano theme parties in tiny nightclubs, appearing as his second personal, Palminger, wearing colossal tinted sunglasses, reading surreal lyrics written the night before, DJing unknown singles or exhibiting his black-and-white prints reminiscent of early George Grosz .

His sense of humor, paired with compassion for others and an intense longing for the exceptional, impressed me deeply .

It was after one of these nights at the Rose Club, around eight in the morning, that I was kicked out of the bakery by the buxom, blond, red-cheeked baker lady, who, after taking one look at my tired face, tartan skirt, and heavy black boots, immediately came around the counter hissing, “We do not serve people like you here, I will call the police if you do not leave immediately,” pushing her fat face into mine .

She strongly smelled of detergent and onions . I stared at her cold, red eyes, square cut fingernails, the tiny beads of sweat on the blond mustache of her up-per lip and envisioned the parade of air-headed models I would have to dress up as asparagus in the morning, my arrogant bosses in the background, smoking Cuban cigars with bored business associates . Although I had been treated rudely in boutiques and department stores befor, due to my colorful, homemade outfits and odd accessories, unable to afford the luxury goods they were offering, this was the first time I had actually been threatened with the police for having entered a place only wanting to buy bread .

I decided it was time to abandon Cologne .Leaving the high-pitched salesperson behind slamming glass doors, I contin-

ued down the street, contemplating my possibilities . Manhattan was not an al-ternative; it was too soon to go back . Remembering Heiner’s invitation and a fascinating movie I had seen the day before, Wings of Desire by the German film director Wim Wenders, which depicted Berlin drenched in the golden glow of

home—in other words, the usual restless twilight assembly, looking for inspiration or jobs . The owner, a charismatic, good-looking man with pitch-black, curly hair and sparkling white teeth was a regular fixture on the “Kölner” nightlife scene until he suddenly went bankrupt due to his cocaine addiction, and left town in a hurry, scared of large, angry beer companies and imaginary space-ships pursuing him .

I was working for an advertising agency that had contacted me in New York, explaining that they needed somebody to design costumes for them . After having studied painting and costume design, racing through the courses in a madcap manner, wanting to leave the cumbersome, claustrophobic air of home and school as quickly as possible, it seemed like a good deal . Today the agency advertises large shoe and restaurant chains in Germany . In the mid-1980s they were officially poor and could only pay tiny salaries, especially to visual artists like me . Young and naïve, I believed them when they told me that was all they could afford, ignor-ing the fact that even back then they were driving Porsches, wearing expensive designer suits, and ordering chrome refrigerators from Hawaii . I was too happy to be in the “real world” and didn’t mind doing additional jobs on the side to pay my rent, greeting guests at wedding parties in penguin suits on roller skates, or serving cocktails at Café Central to Martin Kippenberger, a genial German artist who drank himself to death in the 1990s and who would sometimes invite me over to his apartment for food after work . Selling self-produced tapes of Die Tödliche Doris and Mania D . in punk stores, or go-go dancing to their music in bars, were a couple of other occupations easing my financial state .

Eventually I settled for serving drinks in the Rose Club while designing cos-tumes in the form of seafood, or cubic ballet uniforms (worn by robot models), during the day . The contrast of moving between these two universes, each con-vinced of its own irrefutable importance, quenched my thirst for outrageous clashes, relying on the noise and garbage of Luxemburger Strasse to camouflage the rest of my fundamentally restless nature .

The night shift was my favorite . Christa and Dietz, a friendly couple consistent-ly dressed in black leather, who carried whips to most events, invited underground heroes from all over the world to play at their venue . It was there, working at the Rose Club, that I witnessed a lineup of celebrated outlaws that would change my life forever . Snakefinger, the former front man of the famed Residents, a band known for appearing on stage masked and unrecognizable, proudly explained and showed me his legendary, self-made guitar in loving detail one week before he died of heart failure; Laibach, the Slovenian avant-garde industrial band, raising the roof with heavy Eastern choruses and bold symbolism; the Celibate Rifles, who were Australian and claimed to be the only band to have been kicked out of CBGBs in New York for being too loud; and many others, including Psychic TV, Blur, Crime and the City Solution, and Nikki Sudden . Several of these musi-

34 35

A new acquaintance who was also an expat, Donna, took me to a similar get-together in East Berlin a couple of weeks later . She had been offered 10,000 DM to marry an East Berlin resident to help him escape the GDR, a common proposi-tion that usually didn’t pan out . She was supposed to meet him at a party that Udo Lindenberg, a German rock musician, was hosting, and had invited me to come along . We arrived later than expected because of being held up at Checkpoint Charlie, and the party was at its peak . After being handed two straight vodkas in the narrow hallway of the entrance, we were invited into the living room, which was bursting with singing, laughing, and crying people . It was almost impossible to hear the music coming from an old tape recorder in the corner, especially as two men started fighting in the back room, which was filled with bunk beds .

Donna was interested in fashion, which is how I came to be introduced to Sa-bine von Öttingen, member of an underground East Berlin fashion group called Allerleirau . After telling her about designing costumes in New York and Cologne she described GDR fashion shows in detail, describing abandoned swimming pools, coats made of leather that looked like trees, the difficulties of finding good materials in the East, and the band Rammstein, who were good friends of hers, and usually played music at the fashion events .

We became friends, meeting as often as possible, exchanging stories and gossip about life on opposite sides of the Wall . Hanging out in her apartment was a pre-cious introduction into how people survived under the strict regime . They were constantly helping each other out, thinking not only of their own but five other families, always on the lookout for nice buttons, good shoes, unusual makeup, good bread, foreign newspapers, and so on . They met each other excitedly to dis-tribute the loot, smelling the different perfumes brought over by friends from the West or recounting stories of relatives escaping . It was a closeknit society with enviable friendships . Sabine and her friends were like sisters, each more beautiful and creative than the other, and they turned the sad, drab, gray East into a color-ful installation of imaginative objects .

In general I was fascinated by the discipline, which combined the different art scenes on both sides of the Wall, and in spite of long drinking sprees and excessive parties the creative output was constant . These eccentrics not only wrote music, lyrics, manifestos, and books, many of them designed their clothes, and jewelry, organizing concerts, readings, or fashion happenings to go along .

Nothing was left to chance—a consumer mentality was non-existent . This was an atmosphere I felt comfortable in . I had been doing music and art for as long as I could remember, combining them with fashion after studying costume design in New York, and it quickly became apparent that creating apparel in Berlin was quite different from the commercial guidelines I had been taught to follow in my classes .

Berlin Fashion

Berlin’s slogan during the 1980s was “initiate and create .” No one sat around wait-ing for offers or ideas .

Interaction consisted of friendly competition between those who wanted to break new artistic boundaries . Beautiful women pounded away on drums and spiky-haired, ashen-faced men screamed intricate, intellectual lyrics to metallic-sounding accompaniment . At wild festivals, experimental bands and performance artists outdid each other in excessive provocation, hazardously performing with fire, hanging precariously by their feet, initiating spiritual rituals, and defying gender roles . Living in Berlin meant always doing the opposite of what would normally be expected of you . Besides being provocative, dangerous, and positively destructive, this atmosphere was rich in magic and humor, meaning that it was easy to savor the surreal aspects of the most insignificant, routine events .

The day after I arrived in Berlin I called Heiner, who was on his way to what he mysteriously called a “second-hand party .” He told me to meet him in Wie-ner Strasse; a street in Kreuzberg known for its many rock cafes—the Madonna, Wiener Blut, or Wild at Heart, all of them usually filled with rock musicians and exhilarated fans . I set out curious to see what kind of event awaited me . We met at a storefront overflowing with colorful 1970s fashion victims adorned in flared pants, short straight dresses, platform shoes, oddly colored patterned shirts, flo-ral ties, and fake eyelashes . Inside the stucco-ceilinged room, a band was play-ing violently in the middle of hundreds of second-hand articles decorating the vicinity . A tiny, rough wooden board placed over two chairs served as the bar, which sold vodka or beer in chipped porcelain cups . The basement, accessible by a steep, narrow ladder, consisted of the same mixture of clothes and people, the sole variation being a toilet standing in the middle of the room . A continuous flow of people would nonchalantly sit and pee whenever necessary . Heiner in-troduced me to his friends: chatty bass players, giggly percussionists, and randy drummers, and he got a beer for me while commenting on different sock-and-tie combinations . The party stretched into the early morning hours with riotous dancing sprees, drunken guitar solos, séances, and impromptu fashion shows held on the toilet .

Everybody was very friendly . I soon realized that in Berlin everyone knew each another because of the Wall, which made getting in or out difficult and tedious . It was a situation comparable to a nightliner, filled to the brim with musicians who have to get along for months, ultimately developing a very courteous manner of approaching one another . People preferred fun parties and creating the legend of Berlin’s insanity together .

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An insider’s memoir that captures the evolution of Berlin’s underground from the 1980s to today.Today, Berlin is celebrated around the world as a magnet for creative talent. But many people do not know or have forgotten how this came to be. In the 1980s, the island city surrounded by the Wall was a sanctuary for musicians, artists, avoiders of West Germany’s mandatory military service, and other outsiders, who were inspired by Berlin’s distinct atmosphere. Berlin winters were cold, long, and especially delirious. When the Wall fell, an unparal-leled vacuum of authority was created that further fueled the city’s already uniquely free creative climate.

The American artist Danielle de Picciotto moved to Berlin in 1987. She was there when the Love Parade was founded and infamous clubs such as Tresor and E-Werk opened their doors. For decades, she witnessed up close the upheaval in the city and the evolution of its underground from post-punk through techno to the mixed experimental creativity of today. She was a

part of this transition and experienced how societal changes influenced and changed the city and its inhabitants over the years.

The Beauty of Transgression is Danielle de Picciotto’s memoir of Berlin. The book brings together her accounts of musicians, fashion designers, and club owners as well as other artists and their milieus with unique first-hand descriptions of milestone places and events. It is not only a fascinat-ing collection of stories about key individuals, but also gives an authentic and detailed overview of why Berlin has become one of the most appealing metropolises for creatives from around the world.

Danielle de Picciotto’s intimate text and personal selection of images penetrate through hype and commercialization and make The Beauty of Transgression a uniquely genuine documentation of the creative history of Berlin’s underground.

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€ 22 (D) £ 19.99 $ 30

b/w, 16 pages full color, language: English

Marchrelease

new

19

Nadine Barth

German Fashion Design 1946–2012

GERMAN FASHION DESIGN ( 1946 – 2012 )

Distanz isbn

978-3-942405-26-3

24 × 30 cm300

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title

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€ 44 (D) £ 40 $ 68

full color, hardcover, bilingual: German / English

The exciting history of German fashion from the 1940s until today.In the mid-1980s, people began to speak about German fashion designers. At this time, fashion shows with plenty of press hype and international flair took place at the Düsseldorf Fair. The old labels no longer exist; Wolfgang Joop now does Wunderkind, the Igedo fair is called CPD, and instead of traveling to the Munich Fashion Week, you go to the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in Berlin. But the scene’s self-confidence grew. Full of verve, its aim was to ad-vance awareness for the history of fashion made in Germany, which had be-gun around 1900 with the studios near Berlin’s Hausvogteiplatz and reached a glamorous zenith with the post-war designers Heinz Oestergaard and Uli Richter.

Today, the annual sales volume of the German textile and clothing industry is about 20 billion euros, with exports ranging near 40 percent. Labels like

Hugo Boss have stores all over the world. How did this all come about? When was which fair first launched, what is the story behind Willy Bogner and the James Bond movies, who is the Indian woman Megha Mittel who saved Es-cada from bankruptcy, and how will it all continue in Berlin? This book is a reader about the background of German fashion, its developments, trends, and its prospects.

Featured in the book: Bogner, Boss, Caren Pfleger, Daniela Bechtolf, Escada, Firma, Heinz Oestergaard, Iris von Arnim, Jil Sander, Joop!, Kaviar Gauche, Kilian Kerner, Kostas Murkudis, Manfred Schneider, Michalsky, Rena Lange, Schumacher, Strenesse, Uli Richter, and Wunderkind.

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Fashionrelease

July

new

20

Tatjana DollGirls (used to) Wait!

Distanz

isbn

978-3-942405-22-5

320

012 013

007006 005

015014

015014 021020

019

023022

025024

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, softcovercategory

Artrelease

February

Drawings by the painter Tatjana Doll.Her oversized enamel canvasses of everyday objects put Tatjana Doll’s name on the map: cars, trains, containers, pictograms, babushkas and yet the pictures do not show reality. Instead they retain their independence. This is also true of her fine drawings—often done in pencil—which make an inter-esting contrast to the massive paintings. Although the viewer is immediately reminded of commercial photographs typically seen in fashion magazines, they are disembedded from their instumentalization, i.e. the sale of goods. Like the objects in her paintings, Tatjana Doll lends her figures an indepen-dent existence. By transforming them into the drawing medium, on the one hand Tatjana Doll reveals the figures’ desires and on the other hand she shows precisely what they can trigger in the spectator. At the same time, she exhibits a part of herself, which is cleverly hidden behind the drawn element.

Tatjana Doll was born in 1970 in Burgsteinfurt, Germany. In 1998, she gradu-ated from Düsseldorf’s Kunstakademie. After working as visiting professor for painting at the Kunsthochschule Weißensee, Berlin (2005–2006), she was made professor at the Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe in 2009–2010. Tatjana Doll lives and works in Berlin.

This is the first publication of 350 sheets derived from Tatjana Doll’s draw-ing oeuvre and dated between 1998 and 2010. With a text by Ulrich Loock, deputy director of the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto.

16.5 × 23 cm

new

21

Stephan Koal / Kunsthalle Rostock

Portfolio Berlin 01

Kunsthalle RostockDISTANZ Distanz isbn

978-3-942405-25-6

96

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272626

31

6 7 152120

17 2322

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€ 24.90 (D) £ 22.99 $ 40

integrated booklet, six foldout pages,bilingual: English / German

Berlin artists visiting the Kunsthalle Rostock.After the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the East German regime’s boundaries, Berlin experienced an unprecedented upsurge as a center for contemporary art. Meanwhile, there is no other European city where more artists are living and working than in Berlin. It is thus no surprise that works are created here that cut across classical categories and place special em-phasis on dialogue and intercontextual qualities. The exhibition at the Kunst-halle Rostock will show Berlin artists who have received an increased public exposure during the past decade and whose work addresses the interface between painting and other media.

Participating artists: Norbert Bisky, Peggy Buth, Katharina Grosse, Gregor Hil-debrandt, Antje Majewski, Thomas Rentmeister, Thomas Scheibitz, and Ame-lie von Wulffen.

Essays: Dominikus Müller, Sebastian Preuss, and others.

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Artrelease

December 2010

23.5 × 33.5 cm

new

22

Privatzugang

Private Kunstsammlungen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz

Privat zu gangPrivate Kunstsammlungen in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz

Distanz

Skadi Heckmüller

256

isbn

15 × 21 cm

978-3-942405-08-9

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title

about the book

A comprehensive guide to private art museums in German-speaking Europe.A practical mix between museum and travel guide, this handy and richly illustrated publication introduces some 60 private collections of contempo-rary and modern art in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. All of the places included, many of which were specifically designed for the private collec-tions, are open to the public. For the most part, they are true insiders’ tips the general public is unaware of. Many of them did not open until 2010.

In addition to exciting facts about the numerous collectors, the exhibitions, and the architecture of the structures, Privatzugang provides plenty of valu-able information for art aficionados such as opening hours, how to get there, admission fees, as well as other nearby highlights.

The private collections that are introduced include: Herbert-Gerisch-Stiftung, Neumünster; Sammlung Falckenberg, Hamburg-Harburg; Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin; Axel Haubrok/haubrokshows, Berlin; Julia Stoschek Collection, Dusseldorf; Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden; Kunstraum Alexander Bürkle, Freiburg; Gratianus Stiftung, Reutlingen; Museum Ritter/Sammlung Marli Hoppe-Ritter, Waldenbuch (near Stuttgart); Sammlung Klein, Eberdingen-Nussdorf (near Stuttgart); Sammlung Domnick, Nürtigen (near Stuttgart); Schauwerk Sindelfingen, Sindelfingen; Stiftung für Konkrete Kunst Reutlingen; Sammlung Goetz, Munich; Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuberg (near Vienna); Museum Liaunig, Neuhaus (near Klagenfurt); Fondation Beyeler, Riehen (near Basel); Sculpture at Schoenthal, Langenbruck (near Basel); Sammlung Rosengart, Lucerne; Daros Collection, Zurich; Villa Flora Winterthur/Sammlung Hahnloser, Winterthur; and Fondation Pierre Gianadda, Martigny.

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€ 34.90 (D) £ 32.50 $ 55

full color, softcover

Aprilrelease

new

23

Under Destruction

Under.Destruction.Blad.101020.indd 1 10/21/10 10:51 AM

Distanz

Gianni Jetzer, Chris Sharp / Tinguely Museum Basel, Swiss Institute New York

136

isbn

24 × 28 cm

978-3-942405-17-1

Under.Destruction.Blad.101020.indd 10-11 10/21/10 10:51 AM

8

Mainly consisting of performative interventions, the practice of Nina Beier and Marie Lund examines the context in which the artwork operates. The artists often ask staff and workers to go to hyperbolic extremes, their labor completing the work of art. One might consider the early insti-tutional critique of Mierle Laderman Ukeles as a predecessor. Like Ukeles' performances, those instigated by Beier and Lund elucidate the maintenance of the exhibition space. This physical engagement suggests that the theoretical and physical conditions of a given piece be indivisible from the art itself. In Autobiography (If these Walls Could Speak) (2009) the gallery staff was invited to uncover all the holes from nails and screws that had been used in the exhibition space. Taking this concept to a more politically reflective extreme was Nina Beier’s 2008 project for the Zoo Art Fair, where fair laborers were requested to whistle the socialist workers’ anthem only when per-forming grueling physical labor. The collaborative work implicates conditions of working which are not limited to the white cube, but extend to a larger structure in which the laborer and the artwork operate. These artworks engage the immediate circumstance: the workers, the walls, the labor required; yet more importantly, they also explore the historical framework in which the work is inscribed. For History Makes a Young Man Old (2008) Beier and Lund asked the exhibition curators to purchase a crystal ball at a local occult shop and to roll it to its final destination in the museum. Positioned on the gallery floor, the installation is comprised of the dulled object atop a square of black fabric. The scuffs on the surface of the ball are an indication of the production required to create the piece. The prolonged activity simulates and facilitates a reading of time and use, which occlude clarity. Not unlike the art of scrying, seeing images in crystals, the marred surface invites the viewer to stop, slow down, contemplate and stutter over the sleight of hand that complicates the relationship between artwork, exhibition space, artist and curator. In asking the exhibition curators to complete their work, the artists emphasize the co-authorial power of the curators, who ensconce the artwork within the larger matrix of a group exhibition. Such a process renders opaque the division of labor on one hand, and the means by which art is ordained as such on the other. A source point for questions regarding creation and origin, the attrition of the ball is a rich point of departure. Allegorical in nature, here destruction is dem-onstrated as an artistic strategy to counter the burden of production within a contemporary atmosphere that demands “the new.”

MARIE LUND1975 BORN IN HUNDESTED, DENMARK

LIVES IN LONDON, UK

11

PIPER MARSHALL

NACHFOLGEND / FOLLOWING: HISTORY MAKES A YOUNG MAN OLD,2008COURTESY CROY NIELSEN, BERLIN

NINA BEIER &MARIE LUND

Das vorwiegend aus performativen Interventionen bestehende Werk von Nina Beier und Marie Lund untersucht den Kontext, in dem eine künstlerische Arbeit funktioniert. Nicht selten bitten die Künstlerinnen Mitarbeiter, sich grossen Anstrengungen zu unterziehen, um ein Kunstwerk zu vollenden. Man könnte die frühe Institutions-kritik von Mierle Laderman Ukeles als Vorläufer betrachten. Wie Ukeles’ Performances thematisieren auch die Aktionen von Beier und Lund die Instandhaltung des Ausstellungsraums. Dieser körperliche Einsatz suggeriert, dass die theore tischen und physischen Bedingungen eines Kunstwerks von der Kunst an sich nicht zu trennen sind. In Autobiography (If these Walls Could Speak) (2009) wurde die Belegschaft einer Galerie aufgefordert, alle vergangenen Ausstellungsspuren – die durch Nägel und Schrauben verursachten Löcher in den Wänden – offen-zulegen. Dieses Konzept zeigt sich in einem politisch reflektierteren Extrem auch in Beiers Projekt für die Zoo Art Fair 2008, für das sie Messearbeitern auftrug, immer dann die sozialistische Arbeiterhymne zu pfeifen, wenn sie körperlich höchst anstrengende Arbeit verrichteten. Das gemeinschaftliche Kunstwerk beinhaltet Arbeitsbedingungen, die nicht auf den White Cube begrenzt sind, sondern auf einen grösseren Raum ausgedehnt werden, in dem der Arbeiter und die Kunst operieren. Diese Aktionen beziehen die unmittelbaren Gegebenheiten mit ein: die Arbeiter, die Wände, die zu erfüllenden Aufgaben; und fast noch wichtiger untersuchen sie die historischen Rahmenbedingungen, die das Werk konstituieren. Für History Makes a Young Man Old (2008) haben Beier und Lund die Kuratoren gebeten, in einem lokalen Esoterikladen eine Kristallkugel zu kaufen und diese an ihren Bestimmungsort im Museum zu rollen. Dort wird das nunmehr blinde Objekt auf dem Boden (auf einem Stück schwarzem Fliess liegend) präsentiert, wobei die oberflächlichen Abnutzungen und Sprünge der Kugel von der Anstrengung zeugen, derer es bedurfte, um das Kunstwerk zu schaffen. Diese ausgedehnte Entstehungsgeschichte bedingt und erleichtert die Lesart von Zeit und Gebrauch, die die Klarheit des Objektes zunichte gemacht haben. So ähnlich wie die Kunst des Wahrsagens, Bilder im Kristall zu sehen, hält dessen beschädigte Oberfläche den Betrachter dazu an, langsamer zu werden, zu stoppen, nachzudenken und zu verstummen angesichts des Kunstgriffs, der die Beziehung zwischen Kunst-werk, Ausstellungsraum, Künstler und Kurator problematisiert. Mit der Bitte an die Kuratoren, ihre Arbeit zu vollenden, betonen die Künst lerinnen deren Ko-Autorschaft sowie Macht, sind sie es doch, die das Kunstwerk in der grösseren Matrix einer Gruppenausstellung verorten. Solch ein Prozess verschleiert einerseits die Einteilung der Arbeit und andererseits die Kriterien, mit denen Kunst zur solchen erhoben wird. Als Ausgangspunkt für Fragen nach Gestaltung und Originalität ist die Abnutzung der Kugel eine wichtige Referenz. Von Natur aus alle-gorisch, wird Destruktion hier als eine künstlerische Strategie verstanden, um der Last der Produktion innerhalb einer zeitgenössischen Atmosphäre, die „das Neue“ fordert, zu begegnen.

MARIE LUND1975 GEBOREN IN HUNDESTED, DÄNEMARK

LEBT IN LONDON, GROSSBRITANNIEN

NINA BEIER 1976 BORN IN AARHUS, DENMARK

LIVES IN BERLIN, GERMANY

NINA BEIER1976 GEBOREN IN AARHUS, DÄNEMARK,

LEBT IN BERLIN, DEUTSCHLAND

Under.Destruction.Blad.101020.indd 8-9 10/21/10 10:51 AM Under.Destruction.Blad.101020.indd 14-15 10/21/10 10:51 AM

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If nothing can be created, then something must be destroyed.In 1960, the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely was asked to build a sculpture to be installed in the Sculpture Garden of New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In collaboration with other artists and engineers, he constructed the self-de-structive machine Homage to New York, which operated for 27 minutes dur-ing a public happening. It paid homage to the energy of a city that keeps rec-reating itself. To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Tinguely’s action, the Museum Tinguely in Basel and the Swiss Institute in New York will mount a group show entitled Under Destruction, presenting today’s aesthetic poten-tial of destruction, in which 20 international artists will investigate the role of destruction in contemporary art. Reflected from different angles, destruc-tivity can be anything ranging from a creative act to a memento mori of the environment, from prosperity trash to a poetic transformation. Fifty years

ago, the focus was the vision of an apocalypse through atomic wars. Today, the many different works are primarily inspired by critical evaluations of con-sumerism and surplus production.

Artists: Nina Beier + Marie Lund, Monica Bonvicini, Pavel Büchler, Nina Canell, Jimmie Durham, Alex Hubbard, Alexander Gutke, Martin Kersels, Michael Landy, Liz Larner, Christian Marclay, Kris Martin, Ariel Orozco, Michael Sailstorfer, Arcangelo Sassolino, Jonathan Schipper, Ariel Schlesinger, Roman Signer, and Johannes Vogl.

Texts: Barbara Casavecchia, Boris Groys, Martin Herbert, Justin Hoffmann, Gianni Jetzer, Piper Marshall, Chris Sharp, Roland Wetzel, and Michael Wilson.

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€ 34.90 (D) £ 32.50 $ 55

full color, hardcover, bilingual: English / German

December 2010release

new

24

Eberhard HavekostAusstellung

AUSSTELLUNG

EBERHARD HAVEKOST

Distanz

264

isbn

21 × 31 cm

978-3-942405-14-0

92 Plan Flatscreen 2 3/3, B10 2010 oil on canvas 110 x 70 cm 43 1⁄3 x 27 ½ in 93 Plan Kissen, B10 2010 oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm 47 ¼ x 31 ½ in 94 Plan Wand, B09/10 2009 –2010 oil on canvas 150 x 100 cm 59 x 39 1⁄3 in 95 Plan Print, B10 2010 oil on canvas 190 x 120 cm 74 ¾ x 47 ¼ in 96 Plan Solitude, B09/10 2009 –2010 oil on canvas 120 x 80 cm 47 ¼ x 31 ½ in 97 Plan Tier, B08 2008 oil on canvas 110 x 170 cm 43 1⁄3 x 67 in 98 Plan Soundsystem, B09 2009 oil on canvas 100 x 150 cm 39 1⁄3 x 59 in 99 Plan Wald 1/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in 100 Plan Wald 2/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in 101 Plan Wald 3/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in 102 Plan Wald 4/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in 103 Plan Wald 5/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in 104 Plan Wald 6/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in

92 93 94 95

96 97 98

99 100 101 102 103 104

105 Plan Wald 7/7, B09 2009 oil on canvas 90 x 60 cm 35 ½ x 23 2⁄3 in 106 Plan SECRETS(of Success) 1/4 (Carpet), B10 2010 oil on canvas 180 x 120 cm 70 ¾ x 47 ¼ in 107 Plan SECRETS(of Success) 2/4 (Projection), B10 2010 oil on canvas 190 x 120 cm 74 ¾ x 47 ¼ in 108 Plan SECRETS(of Success) 3/4 (Forever Unfinished) 2010 oil on canvas 30 x 50 cm 11 ¾ x 19 2⁄3 in 109 Plan SECRETS(of Success) 4/4 (German Window) 2010 oil on canvas 160 x 100 cm 63 x 39 1⁄3 in 110 Plan We are Ocean, B08 2008 oil on canvas 200 x 340 cm 78 ¾ x 133 ¾ in

105 106 107 108

109 110

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€ 58 (D) £ 50 $ 88

full color, flexicover,trilingual: English / German / French

Januaryrelease

Paintings that question the pictures’ claim to reality.Thanks to the almost complete absence of figurative elements, Eberhard Havekost’s recent works mark a visible caesura vis-à-vis his previous oeu-vre. He questions the authenticity of pictures, broaching the issue within the medium of painting. This is where means that were developed earlier get con-nected: reflective or matte areas of projection, frontal views and changes in perspective, or the examination of culturally standardized design. The focus of Eberhard Havekost’s artistic practice is the critical reflection of our image-saturated present.

He uses photographs as his model—images from TV and video recordings, from magazines and pages torn from cataloges, as well as pictures he takes himself. He chooses matter-of-fact motifs, sometimes he only selects de-tails and turns them into inkjet prints with the aid of the computer. They then serve as points of departure for his painting. However, his works are not de-pictions of reality but “a reconstruction of the complexity of the real,” as he states himself. In his purposeful investigations, he examines the visual rhet-oric of media images and the typical contemporary image types that condi-tion our everyday consumption of images.

Eberhard Havekost was born in Dresden in 1967. From 1991 until 1996, he studied painting at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Dresden. Today he is one of the most important artists of his generation. In October 2010, he began his tenure as professor at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

This book shows all the paintings from Eberhard Havekost’s last five exhibitions: Entrée (2008), Style & Still (2009), Le maniement nonchalant d’accessoires chers (2009), Retina (2010), Guest (2010) as well as his latest show entitled Ausstellung (2010) at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden.

The authors of the texts are Ulrich Loock (deputy director, Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Serralves, Porto), Barry Schwabsky (editor, Artforum, New York), and Jean-Charles Vergne (director, FRAC Auvergne, Clermont-Ferrand).

new

25

Veit Görner, Martin Germann, Philippe van Cauteren, Ellen Seifermann

Michael Sailstorfer: S

SMichael Sailstorfer

Distanz isbn

978-3-942405-24-9

200

Waldputz – 2000

34 35

12 Zwischen der Metropole Köln und der Kölner Bucht gelegen, wird ei

Wagen wir den Blick in eine mögliche Zukunft: In einem Wohngebiet in zentraler Randlage in der Stadt Pulheim, zwischen der Metropole Köln und der Kölner Bucht gelegen, wird ein verrotteter Briefumschlag zu Tage kommen. Darin steckt ein kleiner Goldbarren. Es kommt erneut die Diskussion auf, ob nicht doch noch mehr davon unter der Erde lagert. Der Mythos, dass seinerzeit nicht alles gefunden wurde, hält sich stetig. Folgendes hatte sich ereignet: Der Bildhauer Michael Sailstorfer wurde 2009 zum jährlich stattfindenden Projekt Stadtbild.Interventionen eingeladen. Die Hälf-te des Ausstellungsbudgets für seinen mit Pulheim gräbt betitelten Beitrag hatte er im Sommer in 28 Goldbarren im Gesamtwert von 10.000 getauscht, in Briefumschlä-ge eingetütet und auf einer ungenutzten Fläche nahe der Pulheimer Stadtmitte vergraben, wie auch unzählige Metallstücke, um die Suche nicht zu einfach zu gestal-ten. Anschließend wurde das knapp 300 qm große Grundstück mit Senfsaat überzogen, die zur öffentli-chen Bekanntgabe des Projektes in prächtiger Herbst-blüte stand. In den folgenden Wochen wurde der Ort zum Schauplatz einer Goldsuche mit unzähligen Teil-nehmern. Neben einigen handfesten Beweisen für Fun-de kursierten laufend Gerüchte um weitere Erfolgsmel-dungen, exakt protokolliert wurden diese indes nirgends. Nachdem die Euphorie ihren Höhepunkt er-reicht hatte, leerte sich der Schauplatz wieder und die kurzfristig entflammte mediale Berichterstattung flau-te ab. Es wurde immer kälter. Mitte November blieb schließlich ein notdürftig gesichertes Stück Land, des-

36 37

Schlagzeug, Polizei – 2007

140 x 200 x 135 cmStahl eines PolizeiautosSteel from a police car

Wagen wir den Blick in eine mögliche Zukunft: In einem Wohngebiet in zentraler Randlage in der Stadt Pulheim, zwischen der Metropole Köln und der Kölner Bucht gelegen, wird ein verrotteter Briefumschlag zu Tage kommen. Darin steckt ein kleiner Goldbarren.

Wagen wir den Blick in eine mögliche Zukunft: In einem Wohngebiet in zentraler Randlage in der Stadt Pulheim, zwischen der Metropole Köln und der Kölner Bucht gelegen, wird ein verrotteter Briefumschlag zu Tage.

Wagen wir den Blick in eine mögliche Zukunft: In einem Wohngebiet in zentraler Randlage in der Stadt Pulheim, zwischen der Metropole Köln und der Kölner Bucht gelegen, wird ein verrotteter Briefumschlag zu Tage kommen. Darin steckt ein kleiner Goldbarren. Es kommt erneut die Diskussion auf, ob nicht doch noch mehr davon unter der Erde lagert. Der Mythos, dass seinerzeit nicht alles gefunden wurde, hält sich stetig. Folgendes hatte sich ereignet: Der Bildhauer Michael Sailstorfer wurde 2009 zum jährlich stattfindenden Projekt Stadtbild.Interventionen eingeladen. Die Hälf-te des Ausstellungsbudgets für seinen mit Pulheim gräbt betitelten Beitrag hatte er im Sommer in 28 Goldbarren im Gesamtwert von 10.000 getauscht, in Briefumschlä-ge eingetütet und auf einer ungenutzten Fläche nahe der Pulheimer Stadtmitte vergraben, wie auch unzählige Metallstücke, um die Suche nicht zu einfach zu gestal-ten. Anschließend wurde das knapp 300 qm große Grundstück mit Senfsaat überzogen, die zur öffentli-chen Bekanntgabe des Projektes in prächtiger Herbst-blüte stand. In den folgenden Wochen wurde der Ort zum Schauplatz einer Goldsuche mit unzähligen Teil-nehmern. Neben einigen handfesten Beweisen für Fun-de kursierten laufend Gerüchte um weitere Erfolgsmel-dungen, exakt protokolliert wurden diese indes nirgends. Nachdem die Euphorie ihren Höhepunkt er-reicht hatte, leerte sich der Schauplatz wieder und die kurzfristig entflammte mediale Berichterstattung flau-te ab. Es wurde immer kälter. Mitte November blieb schließlich ein notdürftig gesichertes Stück Land, des-

36 37

Heimatlied, 2001

140 x 200 x 135 cmStahl eines PolizeiautosSteel from a police car

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title

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features

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, hardcover, cloth bound,bilingual: English / German

Between shooting stars and tires: an overview of Michael Sailstorfer’s spectacular works.Michael Sailstorfer (born 1979 in Velden/Vils, lives and works in Berlin) fo-cuses primarily on the relationship between motion and stillness and the ob-ject’s pure physical condition, which he enriches using his ideas and modes of operation. His works go far beyond visual perception and speak through sound, vibrations, and even smells that address the viewer’s other senses. Transformation and dematerialization are recurring focal points in his work process. Sailstorfer removes the most ordinary objects from their original context, dissecting and deforming, and then reassembling them, thus cre-

ating powerful installations and sculptures; he transforms street lamps into falling stars, makes popcorn in a cement mixer, or he turns a police car into a drum kit.

This comprehensive monograph features Sailstorfer’s oeuvre in chronologi-cal order with many color illustrations. The contributing authors include Birgit Sonna, Martin Germann, Kristin Schrader, and Ellen Seifermann, as well as Thomas Caron, who interviews the artist.

category

Artrelease

January

16.5 × 24 cm

new

2626

Neues Rheinland

Die postironische Generation

Distanz

Markus Heinzelmann, Stefanie Kreuzer

244

isbn

978-3-942405-20-1

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title

about the book

An overview of the Rhineland’s young art scene. Neues Rheinland: Die postironische Generation (The New Rhineland: The Post-Ironic Generation) assembles works by 30 artists who were born in the late 1960s or the 1970s. They grew up during the 1980s in an era during which Communist regimes collapsed, East-West relations changed radically, and globalization was a dominant feature. In this dissolving world, a provocative inclusion of irony as an integral part of art was indeed the thing to do.

The quite diverse post-ironic positions included in this exhibition reveal that the cutting edge of irony appears to have lost its momentum and that “new old” artistic strategies, which formulate a changed attitude, seem to have taken its place. Using diverse media, the post-ironic standpoints reflect the multifaceted and highly exciting panorama of the Rhineland’s contemporary art production.

The book will introduce the individual post-ironic artistic attitudes and dif-ferent essays will place them within the larger social context of the early twenty-first century.

It features Jan Albers, Alexandra Bircken, Eli Cortiñas, Katja Davar, Björn Dressler, Luka Fineisen, Manuel Graf, Gesine Grundmann, Tobias Hantmann, Diango Hernández, Markus Karstieß, Konsortium (Lars Breuer, Sebastian Freytag, Guido Münch), Andreas Korte, Matthias Lahme, Vera Lossau, Rosilene Luduvico, Ulrike Möschel, Elke Nebel, Martin Pfeifle, Michail Pirgelis, Anne Pöhlmann, Cornelius Quabeck, Martina Sauter, Jan Scharrelmann, Christoph Schellberg, Gregor Schneider, Felix Schramm, Monika Stricker, Gert and Uwe Tobias, and Paloma Varga Weisz.

Artcategory

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 60

full color, softcover,bilingual: English / German

December 2010release

21.5 × 28 cm

new

27

Katharina GrosseEat, Child, Eat!Katharina Grosse

Eat, Child, Eat!

Eat, Child, Eat!

Distanz

112

isbn

22 × 32 cm

978-3-942405-19-5

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bytitle

about the book

Sprayed color explosions.German artist Katharina Grosse is one of the internationally most important representatives of contemporary painting. For more than a decade now, she has been working on a picture type that nullifies all borders and hier-archies between painting and space. In doing so, she replaces the brush with airbrush and compressor, the canvas with floors, walls, ceilings, as well as found, deliberately arranged or specially fabricated objects. The viewer finds himself in the middle of the picture, within a painting spreading into all directions that appears to fall off the walls or where the ground below one’s feet seems to falter. At the same time, Katharina Grosse continued the fur-ther developing of her canvas paintings in her studio. They will be published here for the first time. Whereas these pictures’ method of production and

their approach are directly tied to Katharina Grosse’s extensive installation works, in their treatment of volume, they appear to be almost diametrically opposed to them. Ulrich Wilmes, chief curator at Haus der Kunst, Munich, wrote the essay.

Katharina Grosse was born in 1961 in Freiburg. She lives and works in Berlin. She studied at the Münster and Düsseldorf art academies with Norbert Tadeusz and Gotthard Graubner. Since the summer 2010, she has been pro-fessor for painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

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pages size

price

€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 65

full color, hardcover, bilingual: English / German

Februaryrelease

new

28

Uta Grosenick, Alexander Ochs

Yin Xiuzhen

Universes in My Universe

Distanz

Èds.Uta GrosenickÀlexander Ochs

Distanz isbn

978-3-942405-23-2

25 × 32 cm200

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€ 39.90 (D) £ 37.50 $ 65

full color, hardcover,bilingual: English / German

“What is gentle is not weaker …”Yin Xiuzhen is one of the most prominent contemporary artists from China, where it is still much more difficult for women to achieve acceptance in the art scene than for their male colleagues. Thanks to prestigious exhibitions, among them at the Museum of Modern Art, New York (2010), and her partici-pation at the Venice Biennale (2007), Yin Xiuzhen attained international rec-ognition. The artist deals with the political, social, historic, economic, and human conditions that surround her by turning old clothes and used textiles into sculptures. For the artist, the worn pieces of clothing possess an aura that conjures memories, preserves human experiences, and can convey no-tions of time and space. Among her most important works are Collective Sub-conscious from 2007, wherein Yin Xiuzhen sawed up a minibus and inserted cloth extensions at the front and back, transforming it into an almost 40 foot

long vehicle; and the series Portable Cities, begun in 2003, with moveable models of large cities fitted into suitcases. Popular landmarks, which make it easy to identify the cities, are all sewn from clothing once owned by people of the respective places. The aspects of commemoration and perishable-ness are juxtaposed with the modern requirements of flexibility and inten-tional change.

Born in Beijing in 1963, Yin Xiuzhen received her formal training as painter in the mid-1980s at Beijing’s Capital Normal University. In the early 1990s, she began creating sculptures and site-specific installations. She lives and works in Beijing.

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May

new