Mondo Cane
Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys
Published by the Belgian Pavilion, Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Brussels, 2019, exhibition guide, 22 pages, (b/w ill.), 10.4 × 15 cm, English
Price: €6

Mondo Cane presents itself as a local folkloric museum that displays the human figure. Silent, pale and frightened, the pavilion’s inhabitants appear as aestheticized shells, stuck in a loop of formal activity that the visitor perceives as odd and out of touch with contemporary reality.

Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys have the habit of distilling fictions out of a reality that is, sometimes, ‘too real.’ Both willingly concede that they feel attracted to the psychotic state of contemporary societies, a state that they simultaneously dread and disseminate in their work.

Designed by Boy Vereecken and Antoine Begon.

#2019 #antoinebegon #boyvereecken #ephemera #josdegruyterandharaldthys
The Music of Color
Sam Gilliam
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2018, 192 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 24 × 30.5 cm, English
Price: €80

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition The Music of Color, Sam Gilliam, 1967–1973, 9 June–30 September, 2018, Kunstmuseum Basel, Basel. Texts by Sam Gilliam, Jonathan P. Binstock, Lynette Yiadiom Boakye, Larne Abse Gogarty, Josef Helfenstein, Rashid Johnson and Rafael Squirru.

Sam Gilliam emerged from the Washington, D.C. scene in the mid 1960s with works that elaborated upon and disrupted the ethos of Color School painting. A series of formal breakthroughs would soon result in his canonical Drape paintings, which expanded upon the tenets of Abstract Expressionism in entirely new ways by suspending stretcherless lengths of painted canvas from the walls or ceilings of exhibition spaces. For an African-American artist in the nation’s capital at the height of the Civil Rights Movement, this was not merely an aesthetic proposition; it was a way of defining art’s role in a society undergoing dramatic change.

#2018 #painting #samgilliam #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
Isa Genzken: Caroline Van Damme
Published by Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Deurle, 1998, 64 pages (b/w ill.), 19 × 25 cm, English
Price: €45 (Out of stock)

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition Isa Genzken: Caroline Van Damme at the Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens in Deurle, 17 May–5 July, 1998. Curated by Luk Lambrecht. Designed by Studio Luc Derycke.

#1998 #isagenzken
Work in Progress
Charlotte Posenenske
Published by Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, 2020, foldout poster, 10.5 × 21 cm (folded) 42 × 38 cm (unfolded), English / German
Price: €3

Produced on the occasion of the survey exhibition, Charlotte Posenenske: Work in Progress at the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, 30 May–2 August, 2020.

In the 1960s, parallel with American Minimalism and the emerging Conceptual Art, Charlotte Posenenske (1930–1985) developed an impressive body of minimalist works within just twelve years, thus demonstrating her innovative understanding of art. Although the artist, who worked in Frankfurt am Main, exhibited during her lifetime together with artists such as Carl Andre, Donald Judd, and Sol LeWitt, and, in 1967, had an exhibition in the gallery of Konrad Fischer in Düsseldorf, which had opened only shortly before, her contribution to the discourse of Minimalism and Conceptual Art remained largely ignored for a long time.

#2020 #charlotteposenenske #ephemera
Interview With Fabienne Dumont
Nil Yalter
Published by Manuella Editions, Paris, 2019, 96 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 13 × 21 cm, English
Price: €17

Nil Yalter’s works emerge from current polit­ical si­tu­a­tions such as the sen­tenc­ing to death of a Turk­ish ac­tivist, dai­ly life in a wo­m­en’s pri­son, or the liv­ing con­di­tions of il­lit­er­ate “guest work­ers.” Language plays an im­por­tant role for her, along with cul­tu­r­al in­flu­ences from the Mid­dle East, Turkey, and West­ern Eu­rope. She sen­si­tive­ly in­te­grates the voic­es of the people de­pict­ed in her works. Us­ing a quasi-an­thro­po­log­i­cal metho­d­ol­o­gy, she re­flects the life si­t­u­a­tion of th­ese in­di­vi­d­u­als and makes margi­nal­ized groups of peo­ple vis­i­ble.

In this first volume of interviews with artists awarded by the AWARE Outstanding Merit Prize, Nil Yalter speaks about her childhood, her formative years, her political, feminist and artistic commitment, and the context of creation of her main works.

#2019 #nilyalter
The Unexpected Subject: 1978 Art And Feminism In Italy
Published by Flash Art, Milan, 2019, 216 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 18 × 24 cm, Italian / English
Price: €33 (Out of stock)

Produced on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at FM Centre for Contemporary Art, Milan, from 4 April–26 May, 2019. The Unexpected Subject. 1978 Art and Feminism in Italy recounts the Seventies as a key phase in the history of Italian art of the 20th century, during which the spread of feminist thinking stimulates a new critical awareness that encourages many female artists, curators and art historians to rethink their role in society, life and art.

With works by Tomaso Binga, Irma Blank, Hanne Darboven, Agnes Denes, Chiara Diamantini, Amelia Etlinger, Maria Ferrero Gussago, Simone Forti, Sanja Iveković, Joan Jonas, Ketty La Rocca, Katalin Ladik, Maria Lai, Marisa Merz, Carol Rama, Mira Schendel, Carolee Schneemann, Eleanor Schott, Mariuccia Secol, Mary Ellen Solt, Biljana Tomić amongst others.

#2019 #agnesdenes #carolrama #caroleeschneemann #irmablank #joanjonas #katalinladik #kettylarocca #marialai #marisamerz #maryellensolt #miraschendel #sanjaivekovic #simoneforti #tomasobinga