On the occasion of their exhibition at the Westfälischer Kunstverein, Slavs and Tatars present Kirchgängerbanger: a new, bi-lingual (Eng/DE) reader on Johann Georg Hamann, the 18th century polemicist, frenemy of Kant, and proto-Postmodernist who critiqued the Enlightenment with an unlikely mix of Lutheran theology and vulgar sexuality, enough to make even Bataille blush: “My coarse imagination has never been able to conceive of the creative spirit without genitalia.” With an introduction by Slavs and Tatars and a selection of Hamann essays including the triple-platinum hits “New apology of the Letter H” and “New Apology of the Letter H by Itself”.

Buy it

Divided into three series, the extensive collection of Daniela Keizer’s photographs taken in the winter of 2008/09 in Cairo are combined in this illustrated book. Observed from the inside of a building on the Champollion Road, a picture of the adjacent area unfolds in 296 photographs. Again and again the same buildings, roofs and trees appear in the midday light, at sunset or at night in the reflection of electric lighting. A repetition that sharpens our perception. Slight shifts in perspective, time of day and weather direct the eye to ever new details. The illustrated book is accompanied by a collection of conversations in which, starting with the viewing of the photographs, the focus is on everyday Egyptian life. The acoustic recordings of these observations, Portrayals and narratives provide additional insights into this district. They are accessible as audio sequences online and can be retrieved along with further information on the project website.

English / Arabic / German

296 illustrations in color
thread stitching
3 brochures without cover
256 / 224 / 112 pages
slipcase with dust jacket

28.5 x 19 cm

ISBN: 9783037461990

design: Georg Rutishauser

Buy it

The Romanian Archeological Photography Index was begun three years ago through the exploration, excavation, photographing and recording of objects found in Romania dating from the time of the two world wars. It saw Bogdan Gîrbovan and Michele Bressan set out in the footsteps of the “magnets” – the locals who search for objects dating from the two world wars in order to sell them as scrap.
The project takes place on three levels. First, there is the presentation of the landscape, which is taken to be their working perimeter. Then, the objects are located, dug up and photographed in situ. These are then removed from the environment in which they were found, i.e. they are decontextualized, and photographed in a controlled environment. Through this latter, objective representation of form, they acquire a clear abstract quality that is suggestive of other forms of interpretation. Together, the three layers comprise a series of archaeological episodes in which photography is used as a means of documentation and a tool of study.

A hybrid object, at the crossroads between history book, photography book and family photo album, this is R.A.P.I. in published form. The final product will contain a wide variety of information and texts intended to create a mapping between the published object, the reader, the authors and the wider context of memory. The design and layout is the work of Matei Câlția.

5 booklets, various formats.

Buy it

In Borrowed Territories, Lucian Bran goes to the sites where Hatfield & McCoys was shot, a TV series about two confronting families right after the Civil War, in the second half of the XIXth century. He doesn’t travel to Kentucky, nor West Virginia, but to Brașov, Argeș and Ilfov – because this is where the film shootings took place, borrowing the natural scapes to a history which happened thousands of miles away. Bran brings together in his project images from the movie set and film stills, which alternate with his own photographs taken in the same places which were used as backdrop for the movie.
With contributions by Magda Radu, Augustina Stanciu, Monica Stroe, Bogdan Iancu.

În Borrowed Territories (Teritorii împrumutate), Lucian Bran merge în locurile unde s-a turnat filmul Hatfield & McCoys, despre confruntarea a două familii imediat după Războiul Civil American, în a doua parte a secolului XIX. Nu merge-n Kentucky sau în West Virginia, ci în Brașov, Argeș și Ilfov – fiindcă aici au avut loc filmările, împrumutând cadrul natural unei istorii petrecute la mii de kilometri distanță. Bran adună în proiectul lui imagini de pe platourile de filmare și cadre din film, pe care le alternează cu fotografii făcute de el în locurile care apar ca fundal natural în pelicula americană.

Texte de Magda Radu, Augustina Stanciu, Monica Stroe și Bogdan Iancu.

Buy it

Die vorliegende Publikation erscheint im Rahmen der Ausstellung “Alexander Kluge. Gärten der Kooperation” im Württembergischen Kunstverein Stuttgart: einer umfassenden Einzelausstellung des Schriftstellers, Filmemachers und Theoretikers Alexander Kluge, die auf der gleichnamigen Schau im Kunstzentrum La Virreina in Barcelona basiert. In enger Zusammenarbeit mit La Virreina sowie Alexander Kluge selbst hat der Kunstverein eine Neufassung und Erweiterung von sieben Eizelaspekten dieses Projektes entwickelt.

Entsprechend der Ausstellung setzt sich auch das Buch aus sieben “Inseln” zusammen, die jeweils mit einem Bild und Text aus Alexander Kluges Büchern eingeführt werden. Darüber hinaus versammelt es eine Auswahl ergänzender Texte von Alexander Kluge, die auch ind er Ausstellung zu finden waren.

—-

The publication accompanies the exhibition “Alexander Kluge: Gardens of Cooperation” in the Württembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart: a comprehensive solo exhibition by the writer, filmmaker, and theorist Alexander Kluge, based on the show of the same name at the La Virreina Art Center in Barcelona. In close collaboration with La Virreina and with Alexander Kluge himself, the Kunstverein has developed a new version and expansion of seven individual aspects of this project.
The book, like the exhibition, is composed of seven “islands”, each introduced by a picture and text from Alexander Kluge’s books. In addition, it brings together a selection of complementary texts by Alexander Kluge, also found in the exhibition.

German / English

19 x 12.5 cm

ISBN: 9782940524723

199 pages

Co-published by Motto Books & Würtembergischer Kunstverein Stuttgart

Buy it

Give Up Art is a collection of critical writings by author Maria Fusco. Operating across fiction, criticism, and theory, Fusco’s work forges a contemporary space for critical art writing internationally. Give Up Art brings together nearly two dozen essays, reviews, and smaller pieces published between 2002 and 2017.

Maria Fusco is a Belfast-born writer based in Scotland. Her award-winning writing crosses the registers of criticism, ction, and theory. Her work has been translated into ten languages.

Buy it

A major new look at experimental political writing and publishing
Presenting what he terms “a communism of textual matter,” Nicholas Thoburn explores the encounter between political thought and experimental writing and publishing. He takes a “post-digital” approach to a wide array of textual media forms, inviting us to challenge the commodity form of books—to stop imagining books as transcendent intellectual, moral, and aesthetic goods unsullied by commerce.

Buy it

Showboat: Punk/Sex/Bodies explores sex in punk and punk in sex. Punk is often thought of as an almost asexual movement, in part because of its charged aversion to romance (see Johnny Rotten’s notorious description of love as “2 minutes and 52 seconds of squelching noises”). Yet, its raw street sound triggered an exuberant, primal physical release among its youthful followers.

For many punks, sex was used as a necessary shock tactic against the orthodoxies that held sway in conservative 1970s Britain. The status of punk as a radical subculture meant that it could freely explore sex without mainstream censorship; and this ability to openly express sex and sexuality provided punk with so much of its essential rawness and immediacy.

Beginning in 1972 and spanning right up to the present day, Showboat provides a chronological survey of the relationship between punk and sex as seen through original posters, flyers, record covers, photographs and ephemera drawn from the editor’s punk archive, The Mott Collection. Alongside written contributions from Julie Burchill, Paul Cook, Vivien Goldman, Eve Libertine, Bruce LaBruce, Amos Poe, Richard Prince and Will Self among many others. Designed by Jamie Andrew Reid.