Pawel Althamer Collector's Edition - Softcover

Unknown Author

Softcover

ISBN 10: 071486403X ISBN 13: 9780714864037

Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd

Synopsis

Perhaps the most notable development in the art of the past decade has been 'relational aesthetics' -- social, collaborative, participatory art that is concerned less with producing objects than with composing human interactions. Although most critical attention has focused on its development in Western Europe and the United States, relational art has flourished in regions with less developed art economies --decommodified contemporary art scenes being a natural habitat for dematerialized artworks. Although Pawel Althamer (b. 1967) was originally trained as a sculptor, his work bears many of the marks of relational art. Often dematerialized to the point of invisibility, this work also increasingly enlists human participants in what the artist describes as 'reality directed'. For Motion Pictures (2000) Althamer choreographed actors to perform everyday actions in a public square (greeting a friend, feeding pigeons) at the same time every day for three weeks. Viewers who did not know what to look for or who did not return a second time could not know whether they had seen the artwork at all. Another major element of Althamer's work is institutional critique. For a 2003 exhibition at his Berlin gallery, Neugerrieumschneider, he transformed the high-design space into a litter-strewn shell -- essentially returning the gallery to its dilapidated pre-gentrification state. Invited to show at Paris's Centre Pompidou this autumn, he has rounded up fifteen local artists who have never exhibited in a major public space in their home city to create an ongoing project in the museum for the duration of his show. Althamer belongs to a vanguard that is freeing art from a single dominant culture (both art historical and pop cultural), creating works that are as much at home in a square in Ljubljana as they are on a sidewalk in Pittsburgh. His work has been included in Documenta X (1997) and numerous international biennials, including Berlin (2006), Istanbul (2005) and Venice (2003). In 2004 he won the prestigious Vincent van Gogh Award for Contemporary Art in Europe.

About this title

About the Author

Roman Kurzmeyer is a curator and art historian based in Switzerland. His books include Harald Szeemann: With Through Because Towards Despite (2007), a major monograph on the influential Swiss curator. Adam Szymczyk is the Director of Kunsthalle Basel. Formerly Curator at the Foksal Gallery Foundation, Warsaw, he was co-curator of the 5th Berlin Biennial (2008) and one of the ten curators of Phaidon's Creamier (2010). Suzanne Cotter is Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation Curator, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Project. From 2002 to 2010 she was Senior Curator at Modern Art Oxford, where her exhibitions included 'Mike Nelson: Triple Bluff Canyon' (2004), 'Out of Beirut' (2006) and 'Pawel Althamer: Common Task' (2009). In 2011 she co-curated the Sharjah Biennial.

Review

On the Contemporary Artists Series "The boldest, best executed, and most far-reaching publishing project devoted to contemporary art. These books will revolutionize the way contemporary art is presented and written about."-Artforum "The combination of intelligent analysis, personal insight, useful facts and plentiful pictures is a superb format invaluable for specialists but also interesting for casual readers, it makes these books a must for the library of anyone who cares about contemporary art."-Time Out "A unique series of informative monographs on individual artists."-The Sunday Times "Gives the reader the impression of a personal encounter with the artists. Apart from the writing which is lucid and illuminating, it is undoubtedly the wealth of lavish illustrations which makes looking at these books a satisfying entertainment."-The Art Book

Edition details

• Publisher: Phaidon Press Ltd
• ISBN 10: 071486403X
• ISBN 13: 9780714864037
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English