Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber

Autogestion, or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade

Autogestion, an artist book by Bitter and Weber, is structured around an unpublished text written in 1986 by French philosopher and urbanist Henri Lefebvre. The text was part of a proposal with French architects Serge Renaudie and Pierre Guilbaud to the International Competition for the New Belgrade Urban Structure Improvement in Yugoslavia. In his rethinking of the urban vision, Lefebvre rejects the failed formulas embraced by modernist capitalism and urban planning and emphasizes the processes and potentials of self-organization of the people of any urban territory. It is from Lefebvre’s essay that Bitter and Weber pick up the dialogue and formulate their own theoretical ideas for a more successful urban environment.

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Sabine Bitter / Helmut Weber

Right, to the City

An exciting exhibition catalog of recent work by the dynamic duo of Sabine Bitter and Helmut Weber, artists based in Vancouver and Vienna, who, since 1993, have collaborated on projects addressing urban geographies, architectural representations and related visual politics. This book, the most extensive publication so far for these artists dedicated to urban culture and theory, includes photos, collages, drawings and installations from cities such as Belgrade, Vancouver, Paris, Bucharest and Caracas. They authored the recently released “urban re-thinking” manual by Sternberg and FILLIP, Autogestion, or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade. Their photo and video works engage with specific moments and cultural logics of (neo-liberal) globalization, as they are materialized in architecture as a frame for spatial meaning.

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MICHAEL SAILSTORFER

Reaktor

The most comprehensive book to date on contemporary German sculptor Michael Sailstorfer, whose work combines subversive poetry and melancholic humor. His sculptures endure as memories as much as materials: a spinning tire expands beyond the visual, coming to life by giving off an utterly unpleasant smell of burning rubber; in a looped, slowed-down film of an exploding hangar, the building itself seems to be breathing. Includes an artist interview, fiction by Ingo Niermann and Schorsch Kamerun, an art historical text by Jennifer Allen and a philosophical contribution by Franz Xaver Baier. This book shows Sailstorfer’s importance in the contemporary art scene. Number 16 in the Black Pocket Book Series from Sternberg Press.

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More from the Black Pocketbook Series

WORD! WORD? WORD!

Issa Samb and the Undecipherable Form

This comprehensive monograph contains a selection of emblematic works by Sengalese-born artist Issa Samb, aka Joe Ouakam. The publication follows Samb’s first solo exhibition in Europe, curated by Koyo Kouoh, entitled “WORD! WORD? WORD! Issa Samb and the Undecipherable Form,” at the Office for Contemporary Art Norway (OCA).

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JAANUS SAMMA

Not Suitable for Work. A Chairman’s Tale

Eugenio Viola, Rebeka Põldsam & Martin Rünk (Eds.)

Jaanus Samma’s exhibition Not Suitable for Work. A Chairman’s Tale, conceived for the Estonian Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale, tells a harrowing story of discrimination against homosexuality in Soviet Estonia. Drawing on political history through writings, photographs and artifacts to create counter-narratives, the two-volume exhibition catalogs raises questions about power, violence, persecution and the powerlessness of an individual in authoritarian political regimes that curtail human rights. An essay by Eugenio Viola offers perspectives on social restriction issues and the LGBT community’s “problem” in Eastern Europe. Kevin Moss writes about male homosexuality in the Soviet Union from the end of the 19th century to the present. Maarja Kangro composed an aria based on the chairman’s police file and Slava Mogutin tells his own story of homophobic persecution and his eventual exile from Russia in 1995. Rebeka Põldsam and Riikka Taavetti discuss LGBT histories in Baltic region.

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PETER SANDBICHLER

Truth Is the Invention of a Liar

Beate Ermacora

The first publication for this young Austrian artist, this exhibition catalog combines reproductions and installation photos of his innovative and exciting sculptural works and installations. Sandbichler once lived in Tokyo and became fascinated with the way that origami both breaks open and conceals space. One of the artist’s series of origami-pleated works is made out of pages from the highbrow German newspaper Die Zeit, which have been folded into a herringbone pattern that shrinks the printed matter into contour aesthetics. Other pieces use elements of virtuoso craftsmanship, like a portrait made of wood milled in a complicated procedure. A wonderful introduction to an artist on his way to more recognition.

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YORGOS SAPOUNTZIS

A Statue Has Remembered Me

Katja Schroeder & Caroline Eggel (Eds.)

A native of Athens, Yorgos Sapountzis has an intimate awareness of how monuments in public spaces affect both a city’s topography and its residents’ identity formation. The Berlin-based artist creates multimedia installations and performances that deftly engage both public and private spaces by taking as their starting points public monuments— objects representing social, collective memory—and adding theaterical, poetic and ritualistic elements. Sometimes building sculptural works of unexpected materials and haphazard style over the monuments themselves, he creates “parasitic sculptures” that link public display with the private spaces of contemporary art. Features an artist interview with Willem de Rooij and essays by Chris Kraus and others.

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BOJAN ŠARCEVIC

A Curious Contortion in the Method of Progress – L’ellipse d’ellipse

Nathalie Ergino & Friedemann Malsch (Eds.)

The basic principle of Bojan Šarcˇevicˇ ’s work is the open form: “My exhibitions are not the expression of a position, but rather a reflection of the origins of that position.” This long-awaited survey of Šarcevic’s career presents works that meander between monumental sculptures, filigree-embellished murals and multilayered films. Aesthetic questions central to the artist’s multidisciplinary sculptural practice confront us in a deceptively simplistic manner, asking how the divide between art and life can be overcome. Feeding off the work of countless historic forerunners, be it the Moscow Constructivists or the architects Hans Poelzig, Erich Mendelsohn and Hans Scharoun, the artist’s work (from 1999 to the present) is reviewed for the first time in this sensational publication. Essays by Michel Gauthier, Martin Herbert and Christiane Meyer-Stoll.

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AI SASAKI

Landscape Stories

Yoko Mori (Ed.)

Inspired by her encounters with landscapes, myths, and decorative traditions, Japanese artist Ai Sasaki creates immersive mural installations out of white sugar. Her stunning and intricate sugar drawings and a selection of vivid color studies are presented in this handsome publication produced in conjunction with the exhibition Ai Sasaki: Four Songs. Sasaki builds dreamlike images with a remarkable transparency—a fusion of local landscapes and ancient fragments. Trees shrouded in mist, a ship returning to the forest, migrating birds all invoke a sense of forgotten memories. This book is the first—one hopes of many—to record her iconic works of the past decade as Sasaki has moved from artist residencies throughout Japan and abroad, at each location leaving her massive white murals behind. Features a uniquely printed white cover to recreate the essence of the works—along with essays by poet Keijiro Suga, art critic Midori Matsui and notes by the artist.

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Keiko Sato

How To Tell A Story Of My Father

After battling a major illness which corresponded with witnessing the 9/11 attacks in New York, Japanese artist Keiko Sato radically changed her working methods and started to search for new insights into her life and work. She began digging up memories of her father, who served as a kamikaze pilot in World War II, which then prompted a larger project about the history and survival politics of her family and her native land. Featured in this rich artist’s monograph is not only Sato’s new installation-based artwork, but also interviews with cultural and political figures from her father’s generation. A reflective and engaging look into bi-cultural experiences and the effects of war on the collective community.

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