Steve Bannon: A Propaganda Retrospective
Jonas Staal
Published by Het Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam, 2018, 96 pages, (colour ill.), 23 × 12.6 cm cm, English
Price: €15

This publication accompanies the eponymous exhibition project by artist Jonas Staal that offers an overview of the artistic, cultural, and political work of Stephen K. Bannon, best known as campaign manager and advisor for US President Donald Trump. Less well known is Bannon’s work as a filmmaker. Between 2004 and 2016 he directed nine documentary films in a style he has termed “kinetic cinema”. Together they sketch a grim profile of a world on the brink of disaster, beset by economic crisis, secular hedonism, and Islamic fundamentalism. The book deconstructs the mechanisms of propaganda, showing how Trumpism was decades in the making through Bannon’s work.

#2018 #jonasstaal
WORPSWEDER LANDSCHAFT: MODELLBUCH PROTOTYPE COMPROMISED
Christopher Williams
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2018, 72 pages (1 colour ill.), 9.6 × 14.8 cm, English / German
Price: €7 (Out of stock)

This book, in the tradition of the famous Reclam book series, documents Christopher Williams’ contribution to the exhibition We Call It Ludwig. The Museum Is Turning 40!. With a text by Christopher Williams.

#2018 #christopherwilliams #museumludwig #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
SECESSION
Christopher Williams
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2005/06, 96 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 21 × 29.5 cm, English / German
Price: €45 (Out of stock)

Christopher Williams precise photographs retain in a paradoxical way what is in the process of vanishing. His photographs, influenced by the advertising aesthetics of the 1960s or 70s tend to become as anachronistic as their motifs. Published as the second volume of the De Rijke / De Rooij catalogue on the occasion of their exhibition at the Vienna Secession, the two volumes are, however, independently conceptualized artist`s books.

#2005 #2006 #christopherwilliams #secession #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
Horses
Yng­ve Ho­len
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2018, 48 pages (colour ill.), clothbound hard cover, 22 × 33 cm, English / German
Price: €25

Produced on the occasion of Yng­ve Ho­len Horses, 1 September–16 September 2018, Kunsthalle Düssseldorf.

The star­ting point of the se­ries Ro­se Pain­ting is the rims of fi­ve dif­fe­rent SUV mo­dels. Their iso­la­ted cores we­re 3D scan­ned, sca­led to a dia­me­ter of two me­ters, and mil­led in cross-la­mi­na­ted tim­ber. The shift in si­ze and chan­ge of ma­te­ri­als, from alu­mi­num to wood, makes the works re­call the wa­gon wheels of his­to­ri­cal hor­se-drawn car­ria­ges or sta­ge­coa­ches. In their de­li­be­ra­te non-func­tio­na­li­ty, they par­ti­cu­lar­ly em­pha­si­ze the or­na­men­tal qua­li­ty and point to an en­t­i­re spec­trum of con­cen­tri­cal­ly de­si­gned ele­ments, from the ro­se pain­ting style to the Go­t­hic ro­se win­dow.

To­ge­ther wi­th the Ja­pa­ne­se pho­to­gra­pher Sa­to­shi Fu­ji­wa­ra (*1984 in Ko­be, Ja­pan, li­ves and works in Ber­lin), Ho­len has pro­du­ced an ar­tist’s book for the ex­hi­bi­ti­on. In it, Ho­len and Fu­ji­wa­ra, who is known for his ex­tre­me clo­seups and sen­si­ti­vi­ty to struc­tu­res, com­bi­ne their in­te­rest in sur­faces and ap­pearan­ces.

#2018 #kunsthalledusseldorf #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig #yngveholen
No Apokalypse, Not Now
Sean Snyder
Published by Kölnischer Kunstverein, Köln, 2013, 36 pages (b/w ill.), loop stitching, 14.8 × 21 cm, German
Price: €4 (Out of stock)

Produced on the occasion of Sean Snyder: No Apocalypse, Not Now, at the Kölnischer Kunstverein, 9 November–22 December, 2013. With texts by Moritz Wesseler and Sven Lütticken.

Sean Snyder takes the global circulation of data as the raw materials for his practice. He experiments with multi-layered signs revealing unexpected layers in an intentionally non-pedagogical way. Refusing to conform to conventions, his practice avoids simple classification. In resistance to contemporary art’s tendency to aspire to a mechanized consumer society, his investigations parody and mirror their processes. More information here.

#2013 #kolnischerkunstverein #seansnyder #svenlutticken
Richard Serra's Tilted Arc
Published by Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 1988, 275 pages (1 b/w ill.), 12.5 × 20 cm, English
Price: €25 (Out of stock)

This book makes available a series of documents concerning the attempt by a United States Government Agency (the General Services Administration) to remove and thereby destroy Richard Serra’s Tilted Arc, a sculpture at Federal Plaza, New York City. A public hearing was held on the subject of the sculpture in March 1985, with 122 people testifying in favour of keeping the piece and 58 in favour of removing it. A jury of five voted 4–1 to remove the sculpture. The decision was appealed by Serra, leading to several years of litigation in the courts, but the sculpture was dismantled and placed in storage by federal workers on the night of March 15, 1989. More information here and here.

#1988 #richardserra #vanabbemuseum