Typologies for Big Words is a collection of projects redesigning traditional building and landscape types as openings within the interiority of the current politico-economic global system.
Architecture’s original project was the invention of interiority, an enclosed area delimited from its context and made available for a narrowly defined public, function, and meaning. This original project was expanded during the Enlightenment with the invention of type to establish architectural and social institutions for molding subjectivities. The quest for interiority has reached its completion with world capitalism and its associated complexes, the ultimate interior without any possible or imaginable outside. In response to this condition, this book proposes a collection of projects reinventing traditional building and landscape types as openings within the interiority of the current politico-economic global system. Typologies for Big Words presents new types of spaces as holes within society’s big words. Each project is an inseparable pairing of a design proposal and a theoretical essay, and it is named after a spatial type and a big word: Factory of Ecology, Infrastructure of Intimacy, Mausoleum of Humanity, Waiting Room of Democracy, Media Lab of Safety, Office of Diversity, and Museum of Capitalism.
Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, exhibition catalogue on the internationally renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei (b. 1957, Beijing) in which new and existing work will be shown alongside historic Chinese objects. The exhibition will explore notions of truth, authenticity and value, as well as globalisation, the coronavirus pandemic and the current geopolitical crisis. Ai Weiwei will reflect upon the liberty in the West, in contrast to China and other authoritarian regimes, to question truth and authority, express doubt and seek transparency in political matters. However, in relation to art appreciation, the Chinese have a long tradition of a more fluid and less fixed view in relation to authenticity than is the case in the West, often valuing the act of copying.
Situated at around 3,300 ft above sea level in the mountains of the Swiss Jura region, the town of La Chaux-de-Fonds experienced significant economic development towards the end of the 19th century, which went hand in hand with much building activity. There are few other places in Switzerland in which the influence of art nouveau is so clearly visible. Significantly inspired by the painter and architect Charles L’Eplattenier (1874-1946), and his art and decoration course at the local school of applied arts in 1905, a local variant of art nouveau developed, the so-called Style sapin or “fir style.” Protagonists of this movement accorded special importance in their works to the use of symbolic motifs that reflect the nature of the Jura landscape and especially its fir forests.
This book offers a comprehensive survey of the Style sapin and builds bridges into the 21st century. It places the “fir style” within the international context of art nouveau and also addresses in detail the local facets of this movement, which has left traces that are still visible today in watchmaking, applied arts, and architecture. Moreover, it draws attention for the first time to the previously scarcely acknowledged female artists of the Style sapin.
Text in French.
From the opening of The Louvre to the launch of Tate Modern and beyond, this accessible and succinct publication traces the development of the museum concept – encompassing curatorial, scholarly, political and cultural spheres – and its evolving role within society.
In the first section, Schubert looks at the complex history of the museum in specific cities at critical moments, for instance New York between 1930 and 1950 as the Metropolitan Museum of Art expanded and the Museum of Modern Art was founded. The second section focuses on the success and unprecedented development of the museum in the 1980s and 1990s in Europe and the United States, highlighting the need for cities and institutions to revise their programmes in response to a surge of interest in the arts.
The final section looks at the museum’s predicament nearly a decade after The Curator’s Egg was originally published in 2000, exploring the museum’s evolution in a post-9/11 environment.
The novelist, writer, curator and cultural commentator Michael Bracewell has written extensively for museums and galleries, along with art publications as diverse as Frieze and The Burlington Magazine, approaching visual art through its cultural context, the lens of the recent past and prolonged looking.
Bracewell’s art writing focuses on detailed descriptions of works of art, expanding their interpretation to include media, politics, music, poetry and other areas of cultural production. By exploring connections between the visual arts, pop music, modern iconography and subcultures, while appraising the vision and ideas of individual artists, he relates their work to its broader cultural context.
This collection of texts reads like a history of British art (and the UK itself) from the 1950s to the 2010s, featuring artists such as Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Gilbert & George, John Stezaker, Wolfgang Tillmans, Leigh Bowery, Glenn Brown and Damien Hirst. Each essay is accompanied by an illustration selected by Bracewell, and the publication concludes with a body of autobiographical writings.
“Bookended by a highly personal dialog between the two, we are treated with insights into collaboration, process, the rise of technology, and the joys of teaching.” — Fast Company
This autobiographical monograph presents a retrospective of the 40-year innovative graphic design practice of husband-and-wife team, Nancy Skolos and Thomas Wedell. The two have seamlessly merged the boundaries between graphic design, photography and typography, fusing two-and three-dimensional space through overlapping type and image. Long-time influential designers and educators, and 2017 AIGA medalists, Skolos-Wedell’s work has been widely exhibited and published in the US and internationally. The book has been written as a series of interviews between Skolos and Wedell, and beautifully designed by the artists themselves. The result is a work of total design that showcases their unique way of thinking and working.
Prototypes, iterations, and studio set-ups shed light on the process behind the finished work which unfolds in chronological order, subdivided in decades: ’80s, ’90s, ’00s, ’10s, ’20s, with each section beginning with a timeline of notable events. While a time-based taxonomy may seem unimaginative, it was critical for presenting the evolving working methods. To provide the most direct view of the studio’s collaborative design process, much of the text unfolds as a series of interviews with each other.
Southern California, blessed with an enviable climate, progressively discerning individuals, talented craftspeople, and impassioned artisans, sets the stage for this lushly illustrated volume of work. The book features the work of the renowned Los Angeles–based firm, Studio William Hefner, a practice that integrates architecture, interior design, and landscape. The studio’s impressive portfolio is distinguished by an aesthetic sensibility that merges an elegant simplicity with a luxury of details and materials. Hefner’s signature airy, light-filled spaces effortlessly embrace California’s natural beauty.
This richly illustrated monograph on Hefner’s work showcases beautiful homes, from contemporary to traditional, each conveying the details and depth of design character that make Studio William Hefner’s oeuvre so unique. Studio William Hefner is a master architect whose California-based luxury residential designs are richly detailed and bright, with private views of abundant landscapes and lush gardens.
Contemporary media artist Claudia Schmitz (b. 1975) explores the limits and paradigms of media translation, both as a solo artist and through collaborative projects. Her work focuses on identity in virtual, expanded and real spaces, reactivity and interactivity, intermediality and transmediality, machine learning and artificial intelligence. She also examines issues of sustainability and synaesthetic experience and questions socio-urban structures and hegemonial perceptions. Tracing these boundaries, she develops spaces for transmedial experiences; pneumatic sculptures; multidimensional drawings. She also creates gustatory sculptures that develop their meaning on the viewer’s tongue.
Invisyllables is the first volume in her monograph, which is based on the concept of an open archive. The three volumes in the archive, entitled Moving Space, Moving Air, Moving Line each convey alternative phenomenological depictions while reciprocally integrating the others. Invisyllables is dedicated to Moving Space and shows current series of work and collaborations of this internationally acclaimed artist.
With texts by: Ana María Romano G., Bruno Besana, Chris Chafe, Dong Yeon Koh 고동연, EfeCeEle, Felipe Cesar Lodoño, Geroco, Ingo Reulecke, Jorge Barco, Kim Alpert, Kisso Kim 김기수, Laetitia Sonami, Lee YOO 유리, Liana Zanfrisco, Maria Colusi, Mariela Yeregui, Mikyung Song 송미경, Mimi Jeong, Nicola L. Hein, Rebekkah Palov, Sabine Ercklentz, Sarah Weaver, Seth Cluett, Silke Lisek, Susanna Schoenberg, Stefanie Stallschus, Sue-C, Tatiana Durán
Text in English, German and Spanish.
Challenging the hegemony of museums and yearning to communicate with a larger diverse audience, trailblazing conceptual artists and land artists found support in newly developed and expanded programs of the NEA and the GSA. This book foregrounds critical questions about public art, the policies that govern it, and the processes that realise it. What makes art public? What makes good public art? Why is there so much bad public art? How can the overall standard of public art be improved? What professional practices sponsor the best art for architecture and the environment? How can the artist selection process ensure that only superior artists are commissioned? Aesthetic judgments are implicit in museums exhibitions and acquisitions. Why should art in public places be held to a lesser standard? How can myriad interests of the community and individuals be harnessed to the higher goal of choosing the best artists for a project.
It is a central contention of the book that despite the numerous constraints encountered in any commission, the most excellent public art expresses and even accentuates the personal, innovative vision of the artist. Approaches that compromise that vision, especially those that try to be all things to all people, inevitably diminish the dynamism and uniqueness of the final work. In the best public art, imagination, originality, passion, and even impulsiveness characterises the work of those artists who, while reaching out to a broader public, paradoxically search for new ideas often antithetical to the rules, materialistic culture, and social practices of the community. Many projects have demonstrated that art that seems different, difficult, and provocative can, in time, become familiar and comprehensible in a public setting and resonate more effectively than conventional solutions.
FLUX: Architecture in a Parametric Landscape focuses on the radical evolution of computational and material technologies that, during the last 25 years, have catalysed one of the most creative and prolific periods in architecture since the early 20th century. The book is organised into eight taxonomies—Stacked Aggregates, Modular Assemblages, Pixelated Fields, Cellular Clusters, Serial Iterations, Woven Meshes, Emerging Surfaces and Catenary Systems, and Multi-agent Systems—each of which explores a dominant logic and set of morphological traits transformed through advanced computational and material practices. These themes are theoretically explored and elaborated through the presentation of 140 built works and experimental architectural projects, which are then expanded through analytical and generative diagrams and models that further the design potential of the logics used to create them. Within the book, the architectures presented are considered as a population of objects responsible for the evolution of something that far exceeds the trajectory of a single project. They are thus explored less as autonomous works than as a collection of interrelated and interacting cultural artifacts in flux, whose formation, methods, and tools, as well as their experience, perception, and meaning are necessarily tied to a broader field of cultural production, contributing to the dynamic generation of new architectural and urban models.
A vastly expanded reprint of the 2003 edition, this richly illustrated monograph looks back at the career of Roger Capron (1922-2006), the only French ceramist of his time to have both produced a major body of artistic work and founded a leading one-man business.
After studying under the decorator René Gabriel, Capron set up the Callis ceramics workshop in Vallauris with Robert Picault in 1946, contributing to the renaissance of ceramics and making beauty accessible to all. It was at this time that the emblematic shapes and representations of his work appeared, such as stylised figures, animal inspirations and suns.
In 1952, he bought a disused pottery and began his industrial adventure, producing glazed tiles, occasional furniture and decorative panels. At the end of the ’50s, the commission for a 174 m2 fresco for the Cannes ferry terminal introduced him to architectural ceramics, which he would use in other productions such as the stoneware dance floor at the Byblos hotel in Saint Tropez. Finally, in the 1980s, Capron embarked on a new line of work, producing unique pieces akin to sculpture.
Based on the original text by Pierre Staudenmeyer, this version is enriched by an exclusive interview between Jacotte Capron and Flavien Gaillard, a specialist in the decorative arts of the 20th century, as well as by an abundant iconography.
Text in French.
Hermann Czech, born in 1936, is one of Austria’s most eminent and influential architects and theorists. This influence is based not only on his work as a designing architect, which extends to furniture, interiors, and exhibitions. Czech is also widely admired just as much for his writings on architectural theory and as the editor and translator of classics of architectural history, including texts by Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Josef Frank, and Christopher Alexander, among others.
This book is the long-awaited updated and expanded English edition of the only full monograph on Hermann Czech to date. First published in German in 2018, it goes far beyond a mere presentation of an architecture practice’s buildings and projects. The first part traces what links Czech’s work to the approaches of Viennese modernism. The second part explores Czech’s biography and the trajectory of his career, analysing as well the contemporary influences that shape his thinking and designs. The third part features selected buildings and unrealised projects, setting forth also Czech’s numerous references and underlying reflections. A complete index of his buildings, projects, and writings, an essay by Vienna-based philosopher Elisabeth Nemeth on the relationship between architecture and philosophy in Czech’s work, and an introduction by architectural historian Liane Lefaivre round off this volume.
Founded in 2003 by Laurent Vuilleumier and Paul Humbert, the architectural practice LVPH (Pampigny/Fribourg) primarily works on projects in Western Switzerland. Its tasks range from an autonomous residential building in Treyvaux supported by 14 columns, to larger projects such as the monolith of a sports hall in Geneva with a colourful anodised, expanded steel façade. All of the practice’s works have a poetic character expressed in reduced, radical architecture.
Text in English, German and French.
“This is Blake’s beat, and this fully revised and updated edition of his comprehensive guide to the region will undoubtedly become the foremost guide to its history, geology, winemakers, and delicious wines.” — The Irish Sun
“…This review is really just to reiterate that every Burgundy lover or student who does not have this book should have it. And, I’m sorry to say, if you were wise enough to buy the first edition, you need to complement it with the second edition.” — Jancis Robinson
The Côte d’Or may be small in size but its influence is huge and its reputation alone can intimidate even the most seasoned wine professional. Divided into two halves, the Côte de Nuits and the Côte de Beaune, it is little more than a 30-mile stretch of vineyard but some of the world’s best known – and most expensive – wines are produced here. Of all the world’s wine regions it is here that terroir pushes itself to the fore, explaining the eye-watering prices paid for even the most modest parcels of vineyard.
Raymond Blake’s companionable Côte d’Or demystifies this notoriously complicated region, explaining succinctly the history of winemaking in this part of Burgundy, the complexity of the subdivided vineyards and the special role played by geology and climate in the creation of these wines. Visiting a selection of notable producers, Blake provides his take on each, along with a suggestion of that winemaker’s most distinctive or interesting wine for readers to try. After a rundown of the characteristics of each vintage from the last 30 years, and notes on some outstanding earlier vintages, Blake considers what the future might hold for the côte, including the challenges posed by premature oxidation, extreme weather and world events. He ends the book by providing some ideas to help those planning a trip to the region get the most out of their visit.
This fresh take on one of the world’s most influential wine regions is an essential addition to the library of any burgundy enthusiast.
Although much has been written about Burmese Lacquerware, this book breaks new ground with essays by the art historians Sylvia Fraser-Lu and Linda McIntosh focusing on the locations and techniques of lacquer production in Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Cambodia and Laos, as well as the form, function and use of these beautiful utilitarian and sacred objects. More than 150 exquisite and diverse objects are beautifully photographed with full descriptions.
“When a new tome by David Bennett and Daniela Mascetti arrives for me to review, I don’t wait. I immediately open it and am completely drawn in by the breadth and depth of their knowledge and the awe-inspiring jewelry featured within their works. Such is the case with their new book …” — NouvelleBox
“… The book is intellectually rich yet warm in its tone, and visually sumptuous, offering a definitive perspective on the Classical, Romantic, and early modern aesthetics that shaped the era. ” — The Jewellery Editor
“… these pages promise to inspire knowledgeable collectors while taking their expertise to the next level.” — Gem and Jewel
“Nineteenth-century jewelry buffs can learn all they ever wanted about the crafts, themes, makers and clients central to the period.” — Wall Street Journal
From the authors of Understanding Jewellery, considered to be one of the most important and frequently referenced books on jewellery ever produced, Age of Grandeur focuses solely on the 19th century, bringing with it over 250 new colour photographs of jewellery from this most celebrated era.
Taking the reader through the history of jewellery over the decades, we learn how and why particular styles came about and then changed. From Napoleonic classicism and Victorian sentimental and memorial jewellery, through the Romantic era and its penchant for naturalism, the Gothic style and recreation of the Renaissance and, finally, the unique designs of the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau periods, this comprehensive study enlightens and fascinates. With stunning photographs accompanying us on our journey through the decades, creating a rich visual history that brings the text to life, this book remains the essential bible on 19th-century jewellery.
An artist travels to Communist China to learn the secrets of Chinese ink painting
Was it really reasonable to drop everything overnight and go off alone into the depths of Communist China in search of the forgotten secrets of ancient Chinese art? Fabienne Verdier never stopped to ask herself: in the early 1980s, the brilliant young Beaux-Arts student thought of nothing else but her desire to learn the art of painting and calligraphy – something that had been devastated by the Cultural Revolution.
And when, a foreigner in the province of Sichuan, she found herself in an art school run by the Party, she was determined to adjust to the situation: the language and the mistrust of the Chinese, the unbearable lack of privacy, the poverty and disease and an inquisitorial administrative system. Blocking the West from her mind, Fabienne Verdier became the pupil of great artists working at the margins of society, who introduced her to the secrets and techniques of an age-old art form.
This unique experience amounted to a true adventure story, leading eventually to Verdier’s fascinating artistic practice that combines east Asian inspiration with contemporary painting. Passenger of Silence, an autobiographical travel journal by turns gripping and wholly moving, is an expanded English edition of the original French language text published by Albin Michel in 2005. New colour photographs supplement the already richly illustrated volume, with over 100 images alongside a newly written glossary of aesthetic terms.
Even if you know Doug Hall’s work, you don’t know “this” Doug Hall: the little boy afraid of bears in Boston who became the love-smitten art student who grew into a fearless Conceptual artist challenging many of our most beloved assumptions. Although lavishly and beautifully illustrated, this is not a book only to be looked at but one to be thoroughly read and enjoyed. In an account at once intimate and historical, Doug Hall writes eloquently about his development as a person and an artist. He situates his story within the broader conflicts of the latter part of the twentieth century and shows how these often absurd forces influenced a generation of artists to adopt radical art practices — video, performance, and installation — as a counter to the modernist aesthetics that preceded them. From his hilarious and troubling descriptions of the Altamont Free Concert (1969) and his disorienting confrontation in Berkeley with an LSD-tripping Indian Saddhu to his thoughts about teaching, making art, and the thinking behind some of his most important projects, Hall’s writing is generous and instructive for all those interested in our humanity and how it is nurtured through the arts.
What Denis Rouvre admires about Sâdhus is the way they are in the world, the way they respond to the world, and the way they carry the burden of parallel paths. In non-identity toward extinction, they resist the necessity of their birth. They are born to die, to no longer exist. Every day, individuals defy their common destiny. Among the people whose portraits are exhibited by photographers, we are referring to those who, by their own will and courage, place themselves among the gods.
In a former shipyard of 8,000 square metres at the ultra-hip NDSM Wharf in Amsterdam, you will find Europe’s largest street art museum: STRAAT. Yearly an impressive 200,000 visitors admire their collection of over 180 works by around 170 artists, many of which were specially created for this location. As STRAAT’s collection is constantly refreshed and expanded, it’s time for a second catalogue featuring only new works by about 80 artists. Divided into chapters by genre—muralism, art and activism, native/nature, abstract graffiti, and installations—and interspersed with essays by experts like Steven P. Harrington, Carlo McCormick, Charlotte Pyatt and Christian Omodeo, this book is a wonderful anthology of the key figures in the contemporary street art scene.
Adored by kings and queens, a symbol of the manufacture of ancient civilizations and the counter-cultures of the young, a constant inspiration for artists, stylists and designers, the chain is one of the most loved jewellery items of material culture and the most worn in the history of costume.
With an authoritative critical essay and large selection of photographs, this book – updated with expanded illustrative material – retraces the symbolic and aesthetic evolution of the chain from early history to modern day and its intersections with art, fashion, design, manufacture and new technologies.
A fascinating and skillfully illustrated journey that shows how extraordinary jewellery, able to link the past to the future in the name of creativity, beauty and innovation, can be generated from such a simple functional element.
Text in English and Italian.
A collaboration with the world’s most powerful NGOs, including UNESCO’s GEM Report, Mother Nature in the Bardo explores the impact between art, culture, and the environment. The book illuminates the innate connections between creativity and nature and inspires crucial conversations about humanity’s relationship with nature, sustainability and climate change. Bringing together historical and contemporary artworks from over 100 renowned international artists, galleries, institutions, estates and foundations, Mother Nature in the Bardo speaks to the most critical global dialogues of our time.
Green is the new black according to Belgium-based garden architects Bart Haverkamp and Pieter Croes. It’s been more than 30 years now since they turned their love for nature into a business. During this time, they’ve completed countless and diverse garden projects, built up an enormous amount of experience and expanded their knowledge. Their method and philosophy evolved accordingly, resulting into their sought-after signature style. Their gardens – many of them on small plots, terraces or rooftops in the city – are anything but clean and fixed: rough outlines and plant selections are made beforehand, but they trust their intuition to make spontaneous decisions on the spot.
In this carefully curated and thoughtfully designed photo book, Bart and Pieter reflect on their work. Their aim is to share their vision and experience and to inspire all gardeners by showing how much is possible when you’re willing to let nature take its course. In this book, Bart and Pieter put their philosophy into words, as an introduction to 20 extensive and inspiring photo reports of their favourite or most important garden projects so far. The third part of the book holds short descriptions of these projects and useful advice on, for example, how to make your garden heat-resistant.
“This is not a book for those who are only interested in cars. It is a compelling, sometimes uncomfortable journey through our fascination with speed, status and mortality…” — NL Magazine
Cars have a talismanic quality. No other manufactured object has the same disturbing allure. More emotions are involved in cars and car design than in any other product: vanity, cupidity, greed, social competitiveness and cultural modelling. But when all this perverse promise ends in catastrophe, these same talismanic qualities acquire an extra dimension.
The car crash is a defining phenomenon of popular culture. Death Drive is both an appreciative essay about the historic place of the automobile in the modern imagination and a detailed exploration of the circumstances of 24 celebrity car crashes, from Isadora Duncan in an Amilcar, in 1927, to Helmut Newton in a Cadillac, in 2004. The author concludes by confronting the imminent demise of the car itself.