Unbecoming Forms, Works 1967–1974
Joachim Bandau
Published by Kunsthalle Basel, Basel & Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, date, 192 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 21 × 21 cm, English
Price: €38

Joachim Bandau’s early sculptural works from the years 1967–1974 remain as strange and singular today as when he first made them. At once technoid and bodily, minimal and monstrous, often with couplings or hoses that resemble weirdly organic orifices and tentacles, these works address questions of agency, control, technology, and history in a way that is increasingly relevant to the present.

With texts by Joachim Bandau, Alexandra Bircken, Elena Filipovic, Martin Herbert, Renate Wagner. Designed by Petra Hollenbach.

#2021 #alexandrabircken #elenafilipovic #joachimbandau #kunsthallebasel #martinherbert #petrahollenbach #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
The Happy End of Franz Kafka's "Amerika"
Martin Kippenberger
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2021, 292 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 22 × 28 cm, English
Price: €60

The Happy End of Franz Kafka’s ‘Amerika’ is Martin Kippenberger’s (1953–1997) largest and most complex work. The artist spent several years preparing, researching and producing it. The installation, set out on a stylised football pitch, is made up of 50 table and chair ensembles. Alongside classic design icons and found pieces, it also includes furniture especially produced by Kippenberger as well as pieces by numerous befriended artists, including Cosima von Bonin, Tony Oursler, Ulrich Strothjohann, and Jason Rhoades.

This publication examines the work from various perspectives. It is the first time, thanks to extensive research, that the ‘biographies’ of the individual objects and the contexts of their creation and collection have been documented in such a detailed way, offering a new way to approach Martin Kippenberger’s life and oeuvre.

Produced on the occasion of the exhibition at Museum Folkwang, Essen (2021).

#2021 #jasonrhoades #martinkippenberger #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
Ein Western für den SDS
Günter Peter Straschek
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2021, 248 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 20 × 27 cm, German w. English translation insert
Price: €29

The Austrian Günter Peter Straschek belonged to the very first cohort of students at the Deutschen Film- und Fernsehakademie in West Berlin – alongside Hartmut Bitomsky, Harun Farocki and Helke Sander. He and many of his fellow students participated in the New Left movement, recording demonstrations and supporting campaigns. Straschek’s Western für den SDS (1967/68, cinematography: Holger Meins) depicts the development of the left as a learning process for women, whose consciousness grows through the movement, but who continue to have no say in it. It was seized by the governing body of the film school in 1968, never screened and consequentially became legendary. Western für den SDS was finally given its premiere in 2018 at Museum Ludwig, as part of an exhibition dedicated to Straschek. This book publishes previously unreleased work material related to the film, which is a key work of the student movement and of Günter Peter Straschek’s oeuvre. Includes a photo gallery from the Christopher Williams class, Köln, 2019.

#2021 #christopherwilliams #gunterpeterstraschek #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
Rope/Fire/Water
Howardena Pindell
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2021, 120 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 16.5 × 23.5 cm, English
Price: €24

Produced on the occasion of Howardena Pindell’s exhibition Rope/Fire/Water at the Shed, New York, 16 October, 2020–28 March, 2021.

Howardena Pindell is an American artist, curator, and educator. She is known as a painter and mixed media artist, her work is often political, addressing the intersecting issues of racism, feminism, violence, slavery, and exploitation.

#2021 #howardenapindell #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
Stage Play
Christopher Williams
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2021, 240 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 16 × 23.9 cm, English
Price: €45 (Temporarily out of stock)

This four-volume set of publications focuses on Christopher Williams’ theatrical work Stage Play, first presented in 2017 at Miller’s Studio in Zürich. Housed in a slipcase, it contains documentation and the playscript for his eponymous play, related publicity and research documents, the artist’s series of open letters, and a related interview he conducted with historian Markus Krajewski on the ceramic tile façades of post-war architecture in Cologne. In addition to two critical essays by McDonough, this publication is largest collection to date of Williams’ writing.

Contributions by Christopher Williams, Tom McDonough, Markus Krajewski, Petra Hollenbach, Fredi Fischli, Niels Olsen & Oskar Rindlisbacher.

#2021 #christopherwilliams #petrahollenbach #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig
Collected Comics 2011–2020
Amelie Von Wulffen
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln & KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, 2020, 208 pages (b/w ill.), 19 × 26 cm, English
Price: €18 (Temporarily out of stock)

This is an anthology of the artist’s collected comics from 2011 to 2020, only allegedly a casual branch of her practice. It includes November (2011) and At the cool table (2013) as well as lesser known, shorter comics of the last few years. Von Wulffens comics address the social codes of the art world, the daily life of being a female artist, and nightmare-like, surreal psychogeographies. They poignantly and parodically observe fears of failure, loneliness, competition, so-called good taste, and sexual affairs, while questioning a clear cut distinction between high and low, artistic genius and amateurism.

Designed by Marc Hollenstein.

#2020 #amelievonwulffen #kwinstituteforcontemporaryart #marchollenstein #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig