Institutions

Alexander Kluge
News from Ideological Antiquity.
Marx – Eisenstein – Capital

Alexander Kluge was invited by Okwui Enwezor to participate in the 56th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia 2015. On this occasion German author and filmmaker Kluge has made a new montage of his text miniatures. Kluge’s method of text processing refers to Sergei Eisenstein’s method of story telling / dramaturgy. «Eisenstein says there is a second kind of linkage, which he calls spherical dramaturgy.» Institutions published this small book about references in form and content, a small book for those curious about Eisenstein, Marx and Marx’ «Capital». For the first time in english!
Munich 2015, 112 pp., with 12 illustrations, softcover.
ISBN 978-3-00-068897-3

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Jonathan Meese
Zahnbürste Zahnpasta Cowboy

Jonathan Meese experimented with the publication format in the 1990s. For Zahnbürste Zahnpasta Cowboy («Toothbrush Toothpaste Cowboy»), he folded photocopies of his toothbrush, modified them with colored pencils and added toothpaste with a black felt-tip pen. Swantje Grundler selected this unique, stapled work from 1994 from the artist’s archive and published it as a facsimile.
Facsimile. Munich, 2013. 12 pp., stapled, 500 copies.
ISBN 978-3-00-061372-2

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Jonathan Meese
Cowboys, Tüten und Kakteen

Jonathan Meese experimented with the publication format in the 1990s. For «Cowboys, Tüten und Kakteen» («Cowboys, Bags and Cactuses»), he folded photocopies of a cowboy figure, added drawings of cactuses and bags, and let the cowboys shoot with golden bullets. Swantje Grundler selected this unique, stapled work from 1994 from the artist’s archive and published it as a facsimile.
Facsimile. Munich 2014. 16 pp., stapled, 500 copies.
ISBN 978-3-00-061373-9

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Jonathan Meese
Die Monosau

More than 20 years after its creation, Jonathan Meese’s «Episodic Novel on the Rocks» is available in bookshops for the first time. This edition is a scaled-down facsimile of the artist’s own 556-page version dating from 1996, and is based on one of ten original copies. The artist compiled photocopies in a binder, using predominantly German (but also a number of English) texts, most of which were in the form of typescripts. These texts were meticulously hand-typed by Brigitte Meese, the artist’s mother. Also included are photographs by Stefan Thater showing Meese in his early installations. Meese sent draft copies of the book to prestigious German-language publishers. After consistently negative replies, he decided to instead turn this draft copy into an object. The back of this original reads «1789 d’END»: Meese planned to revolutionize the genre of the literary novel, and created an artist's book. Now, the editors have embraced the artist’s original idea and turned the book into a paperback. They and the author, «JONATHANERO...Z....MEESE», suggest: flip through and read aloud!
Facsimile. Edited by Swantje Grundler & Thomas Mayfried. Munich 2018. 16 x 22,5 cm. 560 p., 556 ill., softcover.
ISBN 978-3-00-061121-6

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Jonathan Meese
Marshall Marshallson IV

On the reverse of the original copy, the words «JONATHAN MEESE IS BACK» can be found. 436 pages, dated «1995 to 1997», work on the theme of the series. It is for this reason that the editors Swantje Grundler and Thomas Mayfried have presented the facsimile of artist’s book as an independent sequel to the simultaneously published volume The Monosau. Some parts of Marshall Marshallson IV are repeated. A scene still from Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey is consciously duplicated. Repetition, one of the author’s artistic techniques, hints at the performative character of the texts. Typescripts and sketches in particular are combined in this unique work from the artist’s collection. The texts were originally handwritten in German and English and were later carefully typed up by Brigitte Meese, the artist’s mother. The drawings show figures, some of which seem to originate from the stories themselves. The majority of the material was photocopied in DIN A4 format, glued onto DIN A3 pages to form a double page, sandwiched together, and then bound with a gold-coloured cord. For Marshall Marshallson IV, the artist exploited the creative potential of the copying process: black surfaces, gradients, and imperfections become compositional elements. For this somewhat downsized but faithful reproduction, the same applies as before: browse the pages and read aloud!
Facsimile. Edited by Swantje Grundler & Thomas Mayfried. Munich 2018. 16 x 22,5 cm. 440 p., 436 ill., softcover. ISBN 978-3-00-061122-3