“George Washington” at the Art Institute of Chicago, 1979 and 2005
Michael Asher
Published by Yale University Press, New Haven, 2006, 96 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 17.5 × 24 cm, English
Price: €29

In a 1979 exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago, American conceptual artist Michael Asher, known for his site-specific work that investigates the relationship between a piece of art and its place of display, relocated a 20th-century bronze cast of Jean-Antoine Houdon’s famous marble George Washington (1785–91) from the museum’s front steps to an interior gallery. In placing the work in a new context, Asher sought to make the viewer aware of usually invisible institutional practices–the categorisation of works of art, methods of installation, and the criteria for assigning aesthetic value.

#2006 #michaelasher
We Must Become Idealists or Die
Gustav Metzger
Published by Fundacion Jumex, Mexico City, 2016, 536 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 17.5 × 26.7 cm, English/Spanish
Price: €30

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Gustav Metzger, We Must Become Idealists or Die at Fundacion Jumex, Mexico City, 9 July – 25 October, 2015.

This catalogue compiles in four sections archival material, photographs and texts in order to know in depth the contribution of Metzger to the critical thinking from the art for the social change. Among the key pieces within his artistic production are the manifestos that Metzger developed from 1959 to 1966, the Destruction in Art Symposium of 1966, and his public call Three Years Without Art 1977-1980.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.

#2016 #gustavmetzger
Brother - Sister (card)
Sophie Calle
Published by pOI DOi, Paris, 2003, card (b/w ill.), 14.9 × 10 cm, English
Price: €12

Part of a large cycle comprised of different series of polyptychs with the subject matter of marble graves without any reference to dates, places or names, Sophie Calle encourages a reflection on those relationships that, in their presence or absence, define each person’s identity. Even though anonymous, each tomb in the series contains a real body that was once a person and remains alive as a memory and as a site allowing the opportunity to worship that memory by the survivors.

*Please note this publication is secondhand and has some traces of previous ownership.

#2003 #ephemera #invitecard #sophiecalle
Re-Materialization of Language. 1978–2022
Published by Nero Editions, Rome, 2024, 254 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 22 × 24 cm, English/German/Italian
Price: €35

Re-Materialization of Language. 1978–2022 represents the first attempt at a philological reconstruction of the seminal exhibition Materializzazione del linguaggio, while simultaneously re-activating and re-contextualizing its historical themes in the present.

Long overlooked, the 1978 exhibition, curated by Mirella Bentivoglio and dedicated to the verbo-visual explorations of eighty international women artists across diverse materials and practices, both individual and collective, marked a belated reintegration of women’s and feminist art practices within an edition of the Biennale di Venezia that was not yet fully aware of their significance.

Featuring Annalisa Alloatti, Mirella Bentivoglio, Cathy Berberian, Tomaso Binga, Irma Blank, Monica Bonvicini, Irma Boom, BRACHA (Bracha L. Ettinger), Blanca Calparsoro, Françoise Canal, Matilde Cassani, Paula Claire, Rochella Cooper, Betty Danon, Sonia Delaunay, Agnes Denes, Chiara Diamantini, Neide Dias de Sá, Lia Drei, Janie Van Den Driessche, Anna Esposito, Amelia Etlinger, Sylvie Fauconnier, Maria Ferrero Gussago, Mona Fillières, Gisela Frankenberg, Luisa Gardini, Ilse Garnier, Rimma Gerlovina, Natalia Goncharova, Pat Grimshaw, Bohumila Grögerová, Shasha Guiga, Elisabetta Gut, Micheline Hachette, Ana Hatherly, Annalies Klophaus, Janina Kraupe, Christina Kubisch, Ketty La Rocca, Katalin Ladik, Maria Lai, Liliana Landi, Sveva Lanza, Paola Levi Montalcini, Laura Marcheschi, Lucia Marcucci, Benedetta Marinetti, Silvia Mejía, Gisella Meo, Aurèlia Muñoz, Giulia Niccolai, Anna Oberto, Anésia Pacheco e Chaves, Anna Paci, Anna Paparatti, Jacqueline Phanelleux, Jennifer Pike, Marguerite Pinney, Betty Radin, Regina (Cassolo Bracchi), Ol’ga Rozanova, Giovanna Sandri, Anne Sauser-Hall, Evelina Schatz, Mira Schendel, Greta Schödl, Eleanor Schott, Berty Skuber, Mary Ellen Solt, Marlise Staehelin, Varvara Fyodorovna Stepanova, Wendy Stone, Chima Sunada, Jacqueline Tarkieltaub, Salette Tavares, Biljana Tomić, Jean Trevor, Nora Turato, Carla Vasio, Tatiana Vladimirova Vechorka, Patrizia Vicinelli, Florence Villers, Simona Weller, Francine Widmer.

#2024 #agnesdenes #christinakubisch #concretepoetry #ilsegarnier #katalinladik #kettylarocca #marialai #maryellensolt #miraschendel #neroeditions #noraturato #tomasobinga
Your Best Interest Is My Priority, So Stop Ignoring Me, You Can’t
Koenraad Dedobbeleer
Published by Keijiban, Kanazawa, 2022, edition of 77 numbered copies, twelve postcards in a paper folder and wrap-around band (colour & b/w ill.), 14 × 18.3 cm (folded), 32 × 24.2 (unfolded), English
Price: €76

Dedobbeleer is known for his sculptures and installations in which everyday objects (such as lamp, key holder, door knob, or plant pot) are modified, assembled, and recontextualized with a distinctive tongue-in-cheek—and at times even burlesque—spirit. Adorned with absurd (randomly chosen) titles, his works can be seen as joyful collisions of language and matter. Yet, this approach is not merely an act of formal entertainment. Nourished by an in-depth knowledge of art history and (seemingly) inexhaustible technical resources, the artist’s work establishes an ongoing dialogue with a broader tradition of sculpture, including its relation to architecture, industrial design, DIY culture, images, and book making.

#2022 #artistbook #keijiban #koenraaddedobbeleer
Radio Play
Christopher Williams
Published by Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, 2024, vinyl record with insert (colour & b/w ill.), 31 × 31 cm, English/German
Price: €40 (Out of stock)

Inklusive is a play written by Bavarian playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz.

It is part of a trilogy of radio plays from 1971 titled Trilogie Münchener Lebens. The play was first broadcast as a radio play in former West Germany on Südwestfunk in 1972. A second version was broadcast in former East Germany on Rundfunk der DDR in 1974. The West and East German broadcasts are the basis for two radio play adaptations by artist Christopher Williams. Both adaptations are recorded in German using the same technology used to produce the original broadcasts of 1972 and 1974.

#2024 #christopherwilliams #lprecord