Isabelle Malz - Böcker

Desire, eroticism, playing with gender – these qualities in the works of queer artists are not regarded here as external to the creative process, but rather as foundational. By approaching the art through a perspective of queer aesthetics, the aim is to discover the visual worlds of hitherto little-known figures of international Modernism, from Eastern and Western Europe and from North and South America. Experimenting with alternative lifestyles is reflected in new visual languages, perspectives, and a different aesthetic. “Modern utopias of abolishing the gender binary,” “Queer avant-gardes” and “The potential in queer readings of abstraction” are only some of the compelling topics presented in this volume, which also recounts the history of queer lives during war, persecution, and resistance. Artists: Natalie Clifford Barney, Richmond Barthé, Rosa Bonheur, Romaine Brooks, Til Brugman, Paul Cadmus, Claude Cahun, Heinrich Campendonk, Jean Cocteau, Ithell Colquhoun, Nils Dardel, Beauford Delaney, Leonor Fini, Gluck, Hannah Hoch, Ludwig von Hofmann, Valentine Hugo, Robin Ironside, Lotte Laserstein, Marie Laurencin, George Platt Lynes, Maria Martins, Marcel Moore, Marlow Moss, Ismael Nery, Richard Bruce Nugent, Meret Oppenheim, Milena Pavlovic-Barili, Glyn Warren Philpot, Gregorio Prieto, Anton Prinner, Sonja Sekula, Florine Stettheimer, Pavel Tchelitchew, Toyen, Paule Vezeley, Ethel Walker, Nicolaas Warb, Gerda Wegener, Irene Zurkinden.

In thirteen chapters, the exhibition and the accompanying catalogue offer profound insight into the cosmopolitan thinking of Joseph Beuys, as manifested in his actions, which are presented in the form of video projections and photographs. For it is in this capacity—as an acting, speaking, and moving figure—that Beuys examined the central, radical idea of his expanded concept of art: "Every human being is an artist." The goal of his universalist approach was to renew society from the ground up. To this day, his influence can be felt in artistic and political discourses. In this exhibition, contemporary artists and representatives from various areas of society enter into a multilayered, transcultural dialogue with Beuys. From today’s perspective, they confirm, question, and expand upon his theses about the possibilities of a future conceived via art.With B-Town Warriors, Phyllida Barlow, Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stepanian, Fatou Bensouda, Huma Bhabha, Dineo Seshee Bopape, Angela Davis, Dusadee Huntrakul, Charles Foster, Nuria Güell, Donna Haraway, Raphael Hillebrand, Jenny Holzer, Michel Houellebecq, Mierle Laderman Ukeles, Zoe Leonard, Goshka Macuga, Tuan Andrew Nguyen, Milk Tea Alliance, William Pope.L, Tejal Shah, Vandana Shiva, Santiago Sierra, Patti Smith, Edward Snowdon, Christopher D. Stone, Suzanne Lacy, The Otolith Group, Thich Nhat Hanh, Greta Thunberg, Malala Yousafzai

As one of the key figures of Brazil’s Neo-Concrete movement of the late 1950s and early 1960s, Lygia Pape developed a specific understanding of geometric abstraction that resulted in a radical new conception of concrete-constructivist art, challenging an overly rigid rationalism by moving toward more subjective, multi-sensorial modes of expression. Marking Pape’s first solo exhibition in Germany, this richly illustrated book presents the artist’s unusual creative power in all its breadth, drawing on a body of documents that is being published for the first time.Against the backdrop of the tension between Brazil’s vibrant avant-garde and the growing political repression through the military dictatorship (1964–1985), Pape’s work reflects ethical and socio-political issues and harnesses experimental explorations of not just metaphorical geometric but social space to create poetic manifestations of subtle resistance. Emphasizing the primacy of the sensorial experience of the viewers, Pape went as far as to declare them to be the actual creators of her works.

Visualizing Hidden Structures in Art and Society In her artistic practice, Andrea Buttner combines art history with social and ethical issues. Since the early 2000s, she has been exploring a wide range of themes such as work, poverty, shame and care in monastic forms of coexistence, but also arts and crafts as a political field. Examining the ambivalent tension between aesthetics and ethics, the internationally renowned artist uses various conceptual methods. Best known for her large-scale woodcuts, Buttner has since used a variety of media, including etching, painting, photography and video installations, glass art and textiles. For her publications and exhibitions, Buttner composes her works thematically to create site-specific installations that can be experienced as gradually unfolding narratives.