Natural Sources
Jochen Lempert
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2024, 272 pp. with 32 pp. insert (b/w ill.), 20 × 27.5 cm, English
Price: €48

“For more than 35 years, Jochen Lempert’s photographs have stood out as a singular oeuvre within contemporary art. The trained biologist’s gaze is marked by constant wonder. At first, and not without irony, at the history and forms (and warps) of our cultural fascination for the inexhaustible potential of plants and animals. He is increasingly interested in the phenomena of perception and how they are translated into images, in the life forms of flora and fauna and their analogies to his own creative process… Following the publication of Phenotype in 2013 by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Natural Sources is Jochen Lempert’s second major artist’s book.” Florian Ebner

#2024 #jochenlempert #photography #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
being alone
Dean Sameshima
Published by Soft Opening, London, 2024, 88 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 30 × 21.6 cm, English
Price: €35

Published on the occasion of Dean Sameshima’s recent solo exhibition at Soft Opening, being alone is edited by Antonia Marsh, designed by Robert Milne, and features a newly commissioned essay from American writer, critic and poet Bruce Hainley.

In each of the twenty-five black and white photographs that comprise Dean Sameshima’s recent series being alone, the outline of a solitary viewer sits bathed in light emitting from the glowing screen of a Berlin porn theatre. These cinemas offer the kind of encounter that has been described as an “anonymous being-together”, a space wherein an individual can project not only his own desire and sexual fantasy onto the screen but disidentify with the confining projections of the external world.

Designed to protect its occupants from judgement and persecution, the artist enshrines these private rooms, continuing his documentation of the architecture and physical characteristics of queer spaces. While Sameshima atypically retains the presence of bodies in these images, with no identifying features revealed, his focus locates more deliberately on the anonymity of these individuals alongside the emptiness that surrounds them.

#2024 #brucehainley #deansameshima #photography #robertmilne #softopening
Supporting Role
Jason Hirata
Published by Reliable Copy, Bangalore, 2024, 136 pp. 12 × 18 cm, English
Price: €18

In his practice, Jason Hirata often demonstrates support, highlighting dependencies and contingencies that are just as inherent in artistic production as they are elsewhere. Supporting Role brings together a collection of the artist’s writings from 2019 to 2024. Comprising checklists, press releases, visual descriptions, exhibition reviews, invoices, and curricula vitae, these are texts built from the supporting documents of an artistic practice, while simultaneously offering further support.

Edited by Nihaal Faizal and Sarasija Subramanian.

#2024 #jasonhirata #reliablecopy
Dis/Identification
Philipp Gufler
Published by Distanz, Berlin & Kunsthalle Mainz, Mainz, 2024, 176 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 21.5 × 30.3 cm, English/German
Price: €38

Philipp Gufler blends art with activism and history education. His research-based artistic work centers on the study of queer life and the aesthetic practices of LGBTQIA+ movements. To investigate them, the artist harnesses pop-cultural and literary references and translates knowledge gleaned from mass media and historical archives into videos, silkscreen prints, installations, and performances. Besides documentary evidence from the media, the materials out of which he makes his works include interviews with contemporary witnesses, artists, activists, and theorists. Gufler’s critical studies draw connections between historic attitudes toward queer identity and their relevance to current debates as well as institutional critique. Designed by Yvonne Quirmbach.

#2024 #philippgufler #yvonnequirmbach
Glass Urinary Devices
Patty Chang
Published by A Tale of a Tub, Rotterdam, 2024, 32 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 17 × 21 cm, English
Price: €12

In 2015, artist Patty Chang (1972) followed the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, the longest aqueduct in the world, which brings water from southern to northern China. While walking, she collected her urine in plastic bottles, drinking their contents before refilling them, in turn drawing a connection between the large-scale infrastructural attempt to control the flow of water and the uncontrollable flows of her own body. Once back in Boston, Chang began making a series of portable urinary devices from discarded plastic bottles, which were then hand-blown in New York by glass-blower Amy Lemaire.

Designed by Sabo Day, this indexical publication is the first book dedicated to depicting the series of sixty-four sculptures in its entirety. It was published on the occasion of Patty Chang’s exhibition at A Tale of A Tub, which ran from September 14–November 3, 2024.

#2024 #ataleofatub #pattychang #saboday
75/75
Isa Genzken
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln & Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, 2024, 330 pp. (colour & b/w ill.), 21.5 × 30 cm, German
Price: €45

This comprehensive catalogue documents the installation of Isa Genzken’s eponymous exhibition at Neue Nationalgalerie Berlin, 13 July–27 November, 2023. Alongside many photographs, the catalogue assembles texts by Dieter Schwarz, Sabine Breitwieser, Manfred Hermes, Tom McDonough, Juliane Rebentisch, Isa Genzken, conversations with Isa Genzken and Wolfgang Tillmans, and Isa Genzken and Diedrich Diederichsen, a preface by Klaus Biesenbach and Lisa Botti, and a new essay by Diedrich Diederichsen. Designed by Julie Peeters, edited by Daniel Buchholz and Christopher Müller.

#2024 #christophermuller #danielbuchholz #diedrichdiederichsen #isagenzken #julianerebentisch #juliepeeters #tommcdonough #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig #wolfgangtillmans