Published on the occasion of Běla Kolářová: Neznámé Písmo–Fotogramy, derealizace, asambláže 1956–1996, at Galerii U prstenu, Prague, 11–30 March, 1998

Prague-based artist Běla Kolářová (1923–2010) began experimenting with photographic techniques in the early 1960s, creating photograms and X-ray photographs that continued the Bauhaus tradition of photography as an abstract medium. Thus, for a series of photograms she called vegetages, she produced miniature “artificial negatives” by pressing natural materials into soft paraffin and using them for the exposure of the photographic paper instantaneously as “negatives.” In the late sixties Kolářová increasingly began creating assemblages out of found objects including household items such as snap fasteners, needles and safety pins. Kolářová arranged these objects according to conceptual grids, and thus they are somewhat akin to the work of Nouveaux Realistes as well as to various conceptual practices. The work she produced in this way defied the aesthetic canon of Socialist Realism, and Kolářová developed a remarkable conceptual feminist style that was all her own.

In recent years, Kolářová’s work was shown at the documenta 12 (2007), at the Raven Row gallery in London (2010) and in solo shows at the Museum Kampa in Prague (2008) and Muzeum Umění in Olomouc (2007).

Produced on the occasion of Wols: Schilderijen, gouaches, aquarellen, tekeningen at Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, 12 March–24 April 1966; and Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, 29 April–12 June, 1966. Cat nr. 395. Wols was the pseudonym of Alfred Otto Wolfgang Schulze (27 May 1913, Berlin–1 September 1951, Paris), a German painter and photographer predominantly active in France. Though broadly unrecognized in his lifetime, he is considered a pioneer of lyrical abstraction, one of the most influential artists of the Tachisme movement. Designed by Wim Crouwel & Anneke Huig (Total Design).

Hans Bellmer (13 March 1902–24 February, 1975) was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist photographer. Designed by Wim Crouwel and Jolijn van de Wouw.

Produced on the occasion of Inhuman, 29 March–14 June, 2015. Curated by Susanne Pfeffer. Artists include: Julieta Aranda, Dora Budor, Andrea Crespo, Nicolas Deshayes, Aleksandra Domanović, David Douard, Jana Euler, Cécile B. Evans, Melanie Gilligan, Oliver Laric, Johannes Paul Raether, Pamela Rosenkranz, Stewart Uoo, Lu Yang, Anicka Yi.

The artists participating in the exhibition “Inhuman” offer visions of the human being as a socially trained yet resistant body, transcending biologically or socially determined gender classifications, as a digitally immortal entity, or as a constantly evolving self. They visualize the constructs that define what is human and shift existing perspectives on human subjectivity and the body, thereby questioning the primacy of the human being at a fundamental level.

Designed by ZAK Group.

Edited by Helen Hughes, with editorial assistance by Amelia Winata, designed by Robert Milne & Fabian Harb.

Five of the seven essays in this issue are adapted from papers given as part of the TarraWarra Biennial 2016: Endless Circulation lecture series. This series was formulated as an extension of the Biennial, co-curated by Victoria Lynn, Helen Hughes and Discipline, and as a site for delving into its research focuses on the physical, economic, visual, vir­tual and discursive channels through which artworks circu­late today, and the iterative structures of journals and recursive exhibitions (like biennials, triennials and documenta).

Documenting Cadere, 1972–1978 is curated by Lynda Morris and draws on her personal archive and the archives of the Herbert Collection, Ghent, Massimo Minini, Brescia and Barry Barker, London.

André Cadere belonged to a generation of European artists who contested the art object and institutional framework of the art world in which they operated. Best known for carrying his Barres de Bois Rond—Round Bars of Wood—wherever he went. His appearances at the most important private views of contemporary art across Europe became legendary. With his round bar of wood in hand he would intervene in a provocative way on other artists’ exhibitions in galleries and museums.

The publication contains new translations of lectures given by Cadere; an interview with the artist conducted by Morris in 1976; plus new essays by Morris, and two other figures who worked closely with Cadere, British curator Barry Barker and Italian gallerist Massimo Minini. You can see Lynda Morris talking about Cadere here.