History of Animals: An Essay on Negativity, Immanence and Freedom. Oxana Timofeeva. Jan van Eyck Academie.

“The question of the animal is the question of subjectivity and power. It provokes a particular tension between philosophical ontology, politics and psychoanalysis, and it is interesting to track how in the unstable field of the ‘human’ animality produces itself in a radical way. Gainsaying the fact that animality has traditionally been consigned to non-historical nature, animals have a history. But the logic of this history does not conform to the optimism of the humanistic discourse of progressive liberation and emancipation of animals that would finally secure their rights. Quite the contrary; it seems rather that from ancient totemism, through the sequence of exclusions and inclusions, to the present tragedy and farce that combine slaughterhouses, pet shops and global touristic safaris, animals have had a bad ‘career’. Historically, they failed. But this point of failure
is at the same time a point of departure – for the new history of metaphysics, for the new materialist politics of nature, for the new horizon of the human animal.”

Foreword by Slavoj Žižek
Designed by Luisa Lorenza Corna

Pages: 168
ISBN: 978-90-72076-72-4

D 18€

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Über Peter Friedl. Dirk Snauwaert (Ed.). WIELS / Motto Books.

Vielgestaltig, heterogen und schwer zu fassen erscheint das künstlerische Werk von Peter Friedl (geb. 1960), einem der wichtigsten Künstler seiner Generation. Als konzeptuelle Akte und ästhetische Modelle sind seine Arbeiten beschrieben worden, die sich aus dem Fundus unterschiedlicher Formen, Genres und Denkfiguren bedienen. Wie kaum ein anderer Gegenwartskünstler lädt er dazu ein, den darin verborgenen und wirksamen Bezügen aus der Ideen- und Kulturgeschichte sowie ihren globalen Gegengeschichten, offenen Enden und Anschlüssen nachzuspüren. Die zehn hier erstmals auf Deutsch versammelten Essays sind zwischen 2001 und 2012 entstanden, vier davon eigens für diesen Reader. In ihren interdisziplinären Deutungen verorten die Autorinnen und Autoren Friedls Arbeit in der Kunst- und Mediengeschichte, in Literaturwissenschaft, politischer Theorie, Philosophie und kuratorischer Praxis.

Mit Essays von:
Mieke Bal, Roger M. Buergel, Jean-François Chevrier, Norman M. Klein, Bartomeu Mari, Maria Muhle, Eva Schmidt, Marco Scotini, Dirk Snauwaert, Hilde Van Gelder, Leire Vergara

Language: German
ISBN: 9782940524044
Pages: 230

D 19.80€

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With contributions from // Mit Beiträgen von: Bradley Alexander, John Beeson, Anatoly Belov, Mitya Churikov, Sarah Elliott, Ulrike Gerhardt, Lizaveta German, David Goodman, Friedemann Heckel, Susanne Husse, Thomas Jeppe, Tina Kämpe, Wilhelm Klotzek, Martin Kohout, Burk Koller, Wojciech Kosma, Florine Leoni, Raphael Linsi, Isabelle Lumpkin, Laura McLardy, Anna Möller, Konrad Mühe, Jenny Nachtigall, Jörn Schafaff, Flavia Spichtig, Something Fantastic, Alexandra Stähli, Pedro Wirz

Documentation Launch:
Saturday // Samstag, 06 April, 7pm // 19 Uhr
Motto, Skalitzer Straße 68, Berlin (U1 Schlesisches Tor)

POST-STUDIO TALES was a residency-as-exhibition, in which eighteen artists participated, that took place at District Kunst- und Kulturförderung Berlin in April 2012. Now, one year later, we will be releasing documentation of the project on the website of the Berlin-based bookstore Motto: http://www.mottodistribution.com/site/
//
POST-STUDIO TALES war eine Residency-Ausstellung, die im April 2012 in der District Kunst- und Kulturförderung Berlin stattfand und an der achtzehn Künstlerinnen und Künstler teilgenommen haben. Jetzt, ein Jahr später, veröffentlichen wir die Dokumentation des Projektes auf der Webseite von Motto in Berlin: http://www.mottodistribution.com/site/

(Download link available soon!)

http://district-berlin.com/

New Stationery Department. Sara Mackillop.
Motto Berlin. 30.03-19.04.2013

La Città Infinita. Paolo Ventura. Gevaert Editions.

Thirty prints in a cardboard box. Silkscreen printing on 700g Sirio Black paper. Each print: 15.7 x 12 cm, box: 24.8 x 16.1 x 2.5 cm. Printed by Serigrafia Kroma, Città di Castello.

Edition of 100 copies + 15 A.P.’s signed and numbered by the artist.

[2013]

D 180€

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New Stationery Department. Sara MacKillop. Motto Books.

A book by Sara MacKillop.

Published by Motto 2013.

Edition of 500 copies.

D 10€

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New Stationary Department + Limited Edition Print.

By Sara MacKillop.

Edition of 30.

D 40€

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Dreaming the Mainstream. Mark von Schlegell. Merve Verlag Berlin.

»Wir, die wir im 21. Jahrhundert leben, sind nicht die ersten Generationen, die es mit einer veralteten Moderne zu tun haben. Unsere ehemals kritische Obsession für den Modernismus hat sich in ein Begehren verwandelt, denn als Moderne sehnen wir uns danach, modern zu sein, um das wiederherzustellen, was der Modernismus niemals war, aber doch endlich werden muss. Selbst darin sind wir noch Erben einer Tradition.« Mit dem Realometer (Berlin 2009) – als ästhetischem Instrument zur Erzeugung unwahrscheinlicher Wirklichkeiten – hat MVS eine amerikanische Fissur im Modernismus des 19. Jahrhunderts nachgezeichnet.

In Dreaming the Mainstream verfolgt er die Weiterentwicklung des Realometers im kulturellen Mainstream des 20. Jhs. Texte von Emily Dickinson, H.P. Lovecraft, Patricia Highsmith, Bob Dylan, Raymond Roussel und David Hume zeigen Anspruch und Scheitern des Mainstreams, seine fantastischen Versprechen einzulösen. Schlegells fiktiv-kritische Methode macht sich die Möglichkeitsformen zeitgenössischer Kunstkritik zu eigen, und erzeugt so einen futuristischen, textlichen Aktivismus, der die Schranken von Anstand, Plagiarismus, Genre, Gelehrsamkeit und Fantum weit hinter sich lässt.

Mark von Schlegell (*1967), schreibt Science-Fiction Romane (Mercury Station (2009) und Venusia (2005) bei Semiotext(e)), Essays und Kunstkritiken.
[www.sff.net/people/schlegell]

Mit Illustrationen von Manuel Gnam und Sergej Jensen.

Übersetzt von Petra Porsche.

IMD 345
2013
German / English
152 Seiten.
ISBN: 978-3-88396-283-2

D 14€

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Disappears. A New House in a New Town. Sleeperhold Publications.

Sleeperhold #5.3.

“Disappears” with their release called “A New house in a New Town”. Chicago’s Disappears are Brian Case (also of the Ponys and 90 Day Men), Jonathan van Herik, Damon Carruesco and Noah Leger. Their latest album “Pre-Language”, released on Kranky records, features Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley on the drums. Disappears’ druggy, rythmic rock music has often been compared to Neu!, Spacemen 3 or Jesus and Mary Chain at their noisiest.

This output features the demo versions of 2 new songs and a rework of “Love Drug”, from their acclaimed last album “Pre-Language”, recorded in a single track at their rehearsal space The material could not be more unpolished and this rawness only adds to the magic of the songs. The blown-open sound and potential of these versions is enormous. Brian’s barked, deadpan vocals remind of The Fall’s Mark
E. Smith, while the music shivers on. The drumming on this release is taken care of by a drumcomputer, adding a dry rhythm to underline the repetitive nature of the 3 songs. Disappears’ haunting basslines, monotone singing and shivering guitar sound are just enough to convey the mood of 21th century suburbia, with its nihilism and loneliness, the perfect soundtrack for hazy nights. In a unique blend of krautrock, minimalism and garage the group evocates desolation, despair and catharsis. This record seems to build up to an explosion that never seems to arrive. Their smoggy, narcotic sound makes everything come to a stop and builds up in a dynamic thrust, only to stop again. This is truly a thrilling release. Disappears’ interplay between tention and release is seamless and compelling.

——

The etched artwork on the b-side of this vinyl was done by Belgian photographer Stine Sampers. The diptych she created, captures the mood of the music so perfectly one could see it as the 4th song of the album.

Sampers’ pictures seem to dissect the beauty of the empty, simple moments within the human lifespan. Her pictures capture the hidden self of her subject. It seems as if the spectator is allowed to gaze into a world that’s completely indifferent to his/her presence. Her work is highly personal, helping her cope with love, loss and regret.

But Sampers doesn’t just register. By taking a picture Sampers builds a visual narrative around the subject, similar to a diary entry. They often speak of despair or disillusion, as often as they evoke happiness. There is no in-between in Sampers’ work.

Listen to a sample here.

D 17€

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Fotografie. Zbigniew Libera. Raster.

The streets of a city steeped in martial law, the flat of a suicide victim, a mental hospital, a prison, the pages of fictitious newspapers, the camp of the last of the Europeans… Zbigniew Libera was there with his photo camera. 169 photographs collected for the first time in a single volume are an effect of an uncompromising, 30-year journey through the ashes of modern civilization.

Language: Polish / English
Pages: 192
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-83-927804-7-2

D 30€

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Temporary Yours (1995-2012). Dan Perjovschi. Idea Editura, Zavod P.A.R.A.S.I.T.E.

“I am in the flow and I respond to the flow. That is my basic practice that collaterally produces durable things, objects or drawings (on paper, in newspapers, as newspapers, as video projections, in notebooks or at the National Technical Library in Prague). From time to time, I lay down my repertoire somewhere, somehow. But the great show passes with me. I am its sole director and actor.”

Dan Perjovschi

bw offset print, hard cover, 23 x 16 cm
edition: 500

D 10€

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