A collection of notes written along the years by Spanish curator and Head of Institut Kunst in Basel Chus Martínez. Aimed at her students, this notebook gathers personal thoughts on artists who inspire Martínez’s ongoing practice.

“I’ve been writing these notes continuously for years but I never thought about publishing them. These pages gather some thoughts on artists who continue to be a source of motivation for me to invest in complexity and who also all possess a rare sense of humor. I write these texts mostly at the end of a working day or in the very early morning, which for me are not the hours for argumentation. They expose no foreseeable line of research or an unequivocal sequence of arguments. However, through continuous exchange with the students at the Institute of Art of the FHNW Academy of Arts and Design in Basel, I came to the conclusion that it would be useful to publish this peculiar research as a strange textbook. Its sole goal is to motivate the students to keep our conversation going and to further open this possibility up to others.

These pages attribute an incredible intensity to certain artistic practices; they entangle personal passages with an interest in artists I would love for you to fall for too: Melquiades Herrera (1949–2003), Pedro Pietri (1944-2004), Federico Manuel Peralta Ramos (1939–1992), Jorge Bonino (1935–1990), and many others who aren’t included, at least not yet…”

After a short period of “unbearable lightness of being,” the social gravitation begins to be felt again. In his book Joshua Simon describes and analyzes the growing weight of the technical, economic, material basis of our society. The author’s sensibility for today’s Zeitgeist is at the same time entertaining and precise.—Boris Groys

Since the so-called dematerialization of currencies and art practices in the late 1960s and early 1970, we have witnessed a move into what Joshua Simon calls an economy of neomaterialism. With this, several shifts have occurred: the focus of labor has moved from production to consumption, the commodity has become the historical subject, and symbols now behave like materials.

Neomaterialism explores the meaning of the world of commodities, and reintroduces various notions of dialectical materialism into the conversation on the subjectivity and vitalism of things. Here, Simon advocates for the unreadymade, sentimental value, and the promise of the dividual as a means for a vocabulary in this new economy of meaning.

Reflecting on general intellect as labor and the subjugation of an overqualified generation to the neofeudal order of debt finance—with a particular focus on dispossession and rent economy, post-appropriation display strategies and negation, the barricade and capital’s technocratic fascisms—Neomaterialism merges traditions of epic communism with the communism that is already here.

Design by Avi Bohbot.

Born in Flames—the publication—is the complete authorised graphic translation of Lizzie Borden’s mythical 1983 film ‘Born in Flames’. Kaisa Lassinaro’s post-facto screenplay captures all the political energy and visual brilliance of Borden’s film, which describes a futuristic society (eerily similar to our own) where the achievements of a past revolution are threatened by reactionary sexist forces. The film suggests various modes of female resistance—from armed struggle to intellectual opposition—without endorsing one strategy over another. The published version of Born in Flames allows for a frame-by-frame analysis of the film’s complex plot and soundtrack, with songs by The Bloods and Red Crayola. Included is an interview with Borden conducted by Lassinaro, in which the filmmaker looks back on the making of the film in late 70s/early 80s New York.

Published by Museum Ludwig, Köln, on the occasion of We Call It Ludwig, 2016. With texts by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Jean-Marie Strauß.

Catalogue for the exhibitions Isa Genzken: Skulpturen, Zeichnungen, Fotografien and Horst Schuler: Bilder held 11 November–20 December, 1979 at Museum Haus Lange, Krefeld.

This catalogue is an extension of the book Giorgio Griffa: Works 1965–2015. Published on the occasion of the cycle of exhibitions dedicated to the work of Giorgio Griffa at Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva; Museu de Arte Contemporanea de Serralves, Porto; Bergen Kunsthall; and Fondazione Giuliani, Rome in 2015 and 2016.

From 1967 through to his most recent works, Giorgio Griffa’s painting studies have been based upon three fundamental areas of enquiry: rhythm, sequence and sign. Griffa uses a similar protocol when creating his works on paper, which have very rarely been exhibited and have remained virtually unknown to the public. One need only look through the critical literature devoted to his work, or at the long list of solo and group exhibitions he has been involved in, to see the extent to which drawing is taken into consideration only very occasionally and marginally, even by his closest commentators. However, it seems clear from the quantity and especially the quality of these works that drawing and watercolour are not just some secondary activity for this artist, or in any way subordinate to painting. As Griffa himself points out in a recent interview with Hans Ulrich Obrist, drawing is not a ‘plan for a painting,’ even though in many cases it does provide ideas for later works. Rather, it is an autonomous aspect of his work and a kind of parallel activity to painting.