The work of the Norwegian artist Bård Breivik unfolds over more than 1,000 pages in a stunning presentation of a career in sculpture and Conceptual art encompassing more than forty years. Thematically arranged source material, including interviews, sketches, anecdotes and reviews, elucidate the phenomenon that is Bård Breivik. The sheer volume of his oeuvre is also reflected in his choice of materials: he switches as if by sleight of hand between sand and snow, wood, rock and steel. In a series that has continued to evolve since 1986, he has persisted in working on vertically arranged forms 120 cm in length, which have been designed with the means of differing cultural traditions, thus retaining their uniqueness. Volume I: I’d Love the Key to the Master Lock
Volume II: The Life and Art of Bård Breivik

The Vessantara Jataka is the tale of Buddha’s last life, before he was reborn as the historical Buddha 2,500 years ago. In this earlier existence as Prince Vessantara he demonstrated evidence of the highest virtue that constitutes an enlightened man: generosity. Vessantara gave away everything dear to him – in the climactic scene of the story, even his wife and children. In North-East Thailand the Vessantara tale is celebrated annually as Bun Phra Wet. Pha Phra Wet – ‘Vessantara cloths’ – form the visual framework for this festival; they are hand-painted scrolls, which can reach lengths of up to one hundred meters.

Devotion presents, for the very first time, a selection of six full-length Vessantara scrolls and explores a contemporary multimedia celebration of an ancient Buddhist text.

Pressure exerted by America in 1854 caused Japan to open its doors after 260 years of isolation. Wide receptiveness to everything Western was the driving force behind the modernization of Japan initiated by the Meiji government, yet it also induced a rapid rediscovery of indigenous cultural values. At early Paris and London international exhibitions, the Japanese decorative and applied arts sparked off the Western fascination with all things Japanese japonisme. In Japan, on the other hand, new technologies were eagerly adopted the government realized that increasing production for export would be an excellent means of promoting Japanese economic growth and thus enhancing Japan’s status worldwide. Meiji Ceramics represents the first in-depth study of the development of Japanese export porcelain against a highly charged background of political, economic and cultural factors. Includes 180 artists’s signatures.

Beginning with the renaissance of gemstones in jewelry design since the 1970s, Ute Eitzenhöfer, Theo Smeets, Lothar Brügel (ret. 2014) and Eva-Maria Kollischan (since 2014) successfully established the Hochschule Trier in Idar-Oberstein as a creative European jewelry centre. To mark the exhibition in the Stadtmusem Simeonstift in Trier on thirty years of the Gemstone and Jewellery Department, the publication shows an exciting selection of works from the last ten years. Works in creative design and photography accompany diverse approaches that exemplify the contemporary use of a reputedly ‘outmoded’ raw material. In exploring the aesthetic characteristics of the material and the experimental confrontation with its physical qualities, the gemstone’s potential for design comes entirely into its own. Within current discourse it comments ironically, on the one hand, on the unilateral societal ascription as a luxury item; on the other, it functions as a charming and noble object of nature.

Text in English and German.

Tsha-tsha are terracottas, or unfired earthenware figures, in the form of cast-sculptured stupas/chörten (reliquaries) or reliefs, which are decorated in a variety of religious motifs in bas-relief or half-relief. These votive offerings in earth or loam are produced by hand by believers or monks with models (casts) and serve many different purposes in every day religious life. With the depiction of over 360 objects, this book offers an outstanding review of the diverse manifestations and the extensive iconography of these exceptional ritual objects from the Buddhist cultural sphere. Text in German.

Gathering representative works from mature and experienced design studios and designersaround the world. As the second edition of the 70 Ideas From Global Best Interior Design II series, this book continues to presents a large number of high-quality projects to readers, with diverse cultures and styles. Reading the book, traveling the world, grasping the design trends in Eurasia, North America, South America, Australia, Southeast Asia and experiencing the unique cultural.

This is a beautiful compilation of a hand-picked selection of interior architecture and design projects from around the world. With an attention to the overall character of a space, down to the details that breathe life into the skin of a building or space, it provides its reader with an enjoyable insight into each project.

As some American artists began to eliminate people and remove extraneous details from their compositions, they often employed neat, orderly brushwork or close-up, unemotional photography. Artists as diverse as Patrick Henry Bruce, John Covert, Georgia O’Keeffe, Paul Strand and Arthur Dove navigated European and American avant-garde circles, picking and choosing new ideas and methods. Inspiration ranged from cubism and machine parts to new technologies, and they found ways to bring order to the modern world through extreme simplification.

For them, abstraction involved absence and presence – the evacuation of human beings but also the desire to depict something that would not otherwise be visible or to render visible unseen natural processes like the passage of time, sound waves, or weather patterns. Their artworks provide a new context for the precisionist works in the subsequent sections and point to modern ideas about what art could be. How does a crisp painting technique relate to an aesthetic of absence?

The pulsating monochrome of Drago’s 36 Chambers series is met with the iconic street photography and graffiti that defines Maï, JonOne and the alleys of New York. Their eclectic tour of the streets takes the reader through some of New York’s most distinctive neighborhoods as seen through the lens of celebrated photographer Maï Lucas. Meanwhile, JonOne’s unique graffiti writing permeates the pages with vibrant red accents. JonOne’s paintings defy the ‘rules’ of graffiti. With a tremendous sense of movement and color, his compositions combine freestyle, hand-painted aesthetics with a sense of repetition akin to textile patterns. His work has often been compared to that of abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock and French artist Jean Dubuffet. By layering precise strokes and vibrant color, he creates a uniquely balanced yet dynamic visual experience.

“Sumptuous, extra-large coffee-table book with readily understandable texts.” Bild der Wissenschaft
“For those who could never be on site, photographer Peter Ginter provides an impressive and aesthetic look into the World Machine.” Physik Journal
The Large Hadron Collider is the largest particle accelerator in the world, a 27-kilometer ring of superconducting magnets in a tunnel 100 m beneath the Franco-Swiss border at the CERN research laboratory. It was built to answer the most fundamental question of our universe: where do we come from? Peter Ginter, one of the world’s leading photographers, acclaimed author Franzobel and Rolf-Dieter Heuer, Director General of CERN, tackle the subject of this largest and most complex machine ever imagined by man, the ‘World Machine’, a huge underground particle physics experiment, which will offer science insights into the beginnings of our universe. Unique and amazing photographs make the invisible visible. Peter Ginter has documented the making of the LHC over more than 15 years, not only at CERN, but also by visiting locations across the world where significant contributions have been made to the construction of the LHC. The book was published in scientific, editorial and artistic collaboration with CERN and UNESCO. Text in English, German & French.

Archaeological objects offer outstanding opportunities to explore the way people conceived life in past ages. Their study demonstrates that subjects such as fertility, myths, rituals and cosmogony are embedded in all man-made artefacts, as they have always been part of daily human life. Even when creating artefacts for individual use, we have adopted imaginative and ingenious ways to represent and convey a message, a narrative that is a facet of our personal and social identity. That’s why the amulets presented in this outstanding catalogue hold secrets: memories of deeds, lands and sacred representations. Objects used as offerings are full of life: the warrior recalls his heroic condition during his long mortal journey; the deceased person, who travels to the other world equipped with his objects of power, arrives satisfied and disposed to be generous toward his descendants, who receive fertility and well-being in return.

The choice of materials is a fundamental aspect of such objects. The use of metals, for example, is etched into the language of social communication, whereas the vital force that moves the universe is found immersed to a large degree in magical materials like fired clay, the product of extensive chemical transformation, or shell, a product of the sea, its brilliance a sign of spirituality, or imperishable gold, which is the embodiment of the Sun itself, ductile and able to express extraordinary religious ideas.

This catalogue introduces us to this world of magic, life and death.

Text in English and Spanish.

The eight volumes in this boxset reveal the manifold creative talents of René Lalique, an exceptional artist, Art Nouveau jeweler, and later Art Deco glassmaker, as well as those of his successors and the many people who perpetuate these skills in the present day. Illustrating previously unpublished works, Lalique retraces the history of Lalique and its founding family. For Lalique is a famous name: René, ‘the inventor of the modern jewel’, as Emile Gallé described him at the close of the nineteenth century. After working from home as a designer for large firms, Lalique opened his own workshop, where he created objects in the round using previously neglected materials, such as horn, semi-precious stones, enamel, and glass. These already featured the themes that would recur throughout his career: Female, Flora and Fauna, with the addition of a fourth ‘F’, Form, with the advent of Art Deco. From a very young age René Lalique enjoyed drawing, observing nature closely and making sketches. Although his most detailed works were undoubtedly his jewelry designs, drawing was to remain an indispensable prerequisite to his creations. Lalique found an outlet for his creative genius in all sorts of everyday objects, including lamps, paperweights and tableware, magnifying their importance and rendering them wholly exceptional today. René Lalique also turned his hand to decoration and the creation of monumental works. Whether designing the stained glass for a chapel, an imposing fountain for the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts held in Paris in 1925, or objects for railway trains or ocean liners, he was always keen to create with glass and to play with light.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum houses an extraordinary collection of ‘prisoners’ objects’. These were made by prison inmates and presented to the ICRC delegates who visited them, as provided for by the Geneva Conventions. For over a century, these objects have borne mute witness to the numerous violent episodes that continue to ravage our planet, from Chile, Vietnam, Algeria and Yugoslavia, to Rwanda and Afghanistan. Made from simple materials – whatever comes to hand in a prison – these objects express the need to escape the world of the jailbird. As a Lebanese inmate puts it, ‘Creating is a way of acquiring freedom of expression, it gives us a means to say what we think while everything we see around urges us to keep quiet and to forget who we are.’ While some of these works touch us through their simplicity, others astonish us with their beauty or ingeniousness. Each bears the imprint of a personal story loaded with emotion, inviting us on a journey through time and collective history.

The most destructive epoch in Japan’s long history of civil strife, the Warring States period began when the dearly won supremacy of the Ashikaga clan was squandered by a weak and indecisive ruler, allowing the jealous rivalry between local warlords to spiral irrevocably out of control. It was a time when thousands upon thousands of warriors either perished on the battlefield, or persevered simply on the strength of their martial skill. In spite of all the mayhem and bloodshed, these were also men with an inextinguishable moral core, who adhered with almost religious devotion to the bushido dictates of duty, fidelity, decorum, indeed, even of benevolence. Two such men were Lizasa Choisai Lenao and Kami Izumi Nobutsuna. Both not only witnessed but actively participated in the dramatic events of the period at hand. Their true stories, told against the greater historical backdrop of ruthless political intrigue and vast military campaigns, is a story of the tragedy of civil war experienced at the personal level. It is a story of sacrifice, of blind devotion, of seemingly insurmountable setbacks, yet it is at the same time a testimony to the kind of perseverance and dedication that can have no equal in times of peace.

One of two seminal texts for understanding the life of Miyamoto Musashi (c.1584-1645), the most celebrated swordsman in Japanese history, completed in 1755 by Toyoda Masanaga, senior retainer to the Nagaoka clan; with the Bushû denraiki (also available from Floating World), the Bukôden stands as the most reliable record of Musashi’s life and exploits outside those from the hand of the master swordsman himself. Now, for the first time in two-and-a-half centuries, Masanaga’s insight into this enigmatic and solitary swordsman has been made available to the English reader. It throws a new and refreshing light on many aspects of Musashi’s life, especially his later life – his adoption of Iori, his return to Kyushu in 1634, and of course the gestation of his great work on the philosophy and art of Japanese swordsmanship, the Book of Five Rings.

Miyamoto Musashi (c. 1584-1645) is the most revered and celebrated swordsman in Japanese history; in Japan alone close to a thousand works have taken the ancient warrior as its subject. Unfortunately, our modern portrait of this folk hero is derived mainly from popular books, comics, and film, with little heed paid to the early denki, chronicles recorded by men who, though they had not known Musashi in his lifetime, faithfully recorded what was passed down by those who had. The Bushû Denraiki is the earliest such record still in existence. Completed in 1727 by Tachibana Minehide, the fifth generation master of Musashi’s Niten Ichi school of fencing, it is the most reliable record of Musashi’s life and exploits outside those from the hand of the master swordsman himself. Now, after three centuries, Minehide’s insight into this enigmatic and solitary swordsman are available to the English reader. His text throws a new and refreshing light on many aspects of especially Musashi’s early life-his troubled relations with his father, his first battle experience during Japan’s period of unification, the sad death of his illegitimate child, and of course his legendary duel on Ganryû island.

In the seventh century the great T’ang nation was obliged to reconquer the southern most portion of what had been considered Chinese territory for many centuries. The region had in fact remained largely an unassimilated wilderness, whose heavily forested marshes – monsoon lands with fringes of the true tropics – corresponded roughly with modern North Vietnam, along with the Chinese provinces of Guangxi and Guangdong. The Vermilion Bird attempts to recover the actual character of the monsoon realms of T’ang: a scattering of palisaded garrisons, isolated monasteries, and commercial towns, all surrounded by dark, haunted woods. The soldiers, administrators, colonists, and political exiles who lived there were constantly threatened by hostile inhabitants, disease, wild animals, and supernatural powers. On the other hand there were new and beautiful flowering plants and luscious fruits for the delectation of the connoisseur, enchanting limestone grottoes ready to be explored, and every sort of ravishing image available for the exploitation of poets. Professor Schafer examines the thoughts, emotions, imaginations, and daily lives of the men.

Although China is the colossus of our times economically, its equally prodigious output of contemporary poetry is relatively unknown. In this anthology, work of the so-called Fourth Generation of poets is selected and introduced by a scholar and former dissident, and translated by a distinguished international team of poets and writers. It offers for the first time in bilingual format the outstanding poetry emerging from a vibrant and rapidly developing cultural scene, and also introduces some of China’s hottest visual artists and their work. An introduction provides an historical and critical framework, while textual commentary and notes, biographical sketches, bibliography, and notes make this a necessary addition to any library of Chinese literature.

Founder of Superstudio and initiator of the so-called ‘Radical Architecture’ movement (one of the most important avant-garde movements of the sixties and seventies), Adolfo Natalini describes years of designed and constructed architectural projects through his preferred media: drawings and sketches shown in his Black notebooks (Quaderni Neri). This book contains many of his numerous designs and constructed projects, witness to almost fifty years of his career, collected in four new Notebooks.

The first section describes the experiences shaping Natalini’s education, including his studies and work at Superstudio and the ‘Pistioia school’. The other chapters present his designs and completed projects, divided by geographic area and then in chronological order. The Italian, German and Dutch sketchbooks show the work he considers the best representations of his career, told through images, technical drawings and original sketches from his famed sketchbooks.

Many excerpts from interviews with the Natalini are interspersed throughout, complementing and tying everything together. This significant book helps us understand a key player in Italian architecture, his career, how his ideas evolved, and how he sees and understands his work and designs.

Sir Robert Walpole’s collection of Old Masters, and the building and furnishing of Houghton, the great Palladian house he built in Norfolk, have been the focus of extensive study in recent years, but his silver has not received the same attention. However, the discovery of inventories in the National Archives has allowed a picture to be built up of the sheer scale of Walpole’s silver holdings, which were, like everything else about the man, larger than life. What silver that survives includes some of the most celebrated pieces of Georgian silver, such as the square seal salver made by Paul de Lamerie and engraved by William Hogarth. Walpole probably had more silver than any of his contemporaries with the exception of the king, and the scale of his entertaining at court, in Downing Street and at Houghton was gargantuan.

Contents:
Chronology of Sir Robert Walpole’s life
Sir Robert Walpole’s Silver
Appendices (including plate in the Strawberry Hill sale, 1842)

Instagram is a simple, fun and creative way to capture and share photos, videos & messages with friends & family with over 80 million new photos posted daily. The Insta Grammar series steers clear of all clichés and shows you the most interesting corners of the best photography inspired by graphic design. Each photo is a hand-picked thematic selection of the best and most inspiring photos Instagram has to offer accompanied by inspirational quotes. Now you can bring the best of Instagram your coffee table, office or share a creative gift with a friend in this beautiful gift book series Bound in a unique ‘lay flat’ format for optimal viewing pleasure. Insta Grammar: Green celebrates all of the ways green colors our lives, from moody forests and desert cacti to still life paintings and abstract photography in this collection of nature favorites from Instagram. Over 100 images are paired with wisdom from Khalil Gibran, Lao Tzu, and Henry David Thoreau. An ideal gift book for the green-thumbed, the nature-lover, outdoor enthusiast or just about anyone for whom green equals life!