Documents 

This volume comprises of five sections. The Interview is a discussion between author and artist and their influences and motivations, the Survey looks at the artist's work in historical and contemporary context, Focus is an analysis of a single piece of the artist's work, Studio Visit brings you into the artist's creative space and Artist's Writing gives further insight into the artist themselves.

In the Interview Hou Hanru discusses the artist's influences and motivations, and the dramatic changes that affected contemporary Chinese art over the past two decades. Wu Hung's Survey offers a deep insight into the historical context in which Yin's work developed, from painting to her public actions in the streets of Beijing and the second-hand clothes sculptures that would eventually become her signature pieces. Stephanie Rosenthal focuses on Collective Subconscious (2007), a minivan commonly referred to as xiao mian ('little loaf of bread') that the artist stretched out and converted into a place for conversation and discussion. For the Studio Visit, Yin's practice is documented by fellow artist and partner Song Dong. Artist's Writings include a selection of Yin's previously unpublished texts, including About Clothes (2000-02), One Sentence (2011), as well as a conversation with Song Dong and Lilly Wei (2011).

This lavishly illustrated monograph is the definitive publication on the internationally renowned Canadian artist Marcel Dzama. Characterized by an immediately recognizable cast of fanciful and frightening characters, Dzama’s work draws from a diverse range of influences, including Dada and Marcel Duchamp. While the artist is best known for his delicate psychosexual drawings, his work also includes sculpture, painting, and film. More than 500 color images from the late 1990s through the present trace the artistic evolution and tremendous talent of this highly acclaimed young artist. Textual contributions include a foreword by the contemporary artist Raymond Pettibon, three original short stories inspired by Dzama’s work by Dave Eggers, an essay by the art historian Bradley Bailey, and an interview with Dzama by the filmmaker Spike Jonze. [editor summary]

Faisant appel à l’éventail complet des techniques de la sculpture – du moulage à la fonte, de la taille au modelage, de l’assemblage au bricolage -, Valérie Blass explore des territoires entre formes animales, humaines et inanimées, créant d’étranges objets hybrides. L’impact du travail de Valérie Blass tient précisément à sa capacité de naviguer de façon anachronique entre deux traditions sculpturales. Elle crée des sculptures autoportantes, verticales à une échelle humaine, qui la positionnent décidément dans la tradition classique de la sculpture figurative. [résumé de l'éditeur]

Ai Weiwei's work is an audacious blend of old and new, Western and Eastern, serious and irreverent. He has translated the readymade into a new artistic language, fusing neolithic pottery, fourteenth-century doors and seventeenth-century temple beams into surprising, at times shocking sculptures. He has documented his disdain for authority by giving the finger to the Tiananmen in Beijing, the Reichstag in Berlin and the White House in Washington. And he has captured the mundane urban sprawl of his home city in a 150-hour video (Beijing 2003) that even dwarfs Andy Warhol's notorious eight-hour Empire. What marks Ai as a truly twenty-first-century artist is precisely this multiplicity of roles: not just artist, designer and architect, but also curator, publisher, Web blogger and compass for an entire generation of Beijing artists. His outsize public persona is an integral part of his art. Although his outspoken views have brought him unwanted attention from the State, they have also generated excitement far beyond China's borders. Karen Smith's Survey traces the artist's remarkable career from his early days in Beijing to his discovery of the Western avant-garde in New York and his recent emergence as a celebrated sculptor and architect. In the Interview Hans Ulrich Obrist discusses with the artist his father's artistic training and subsequent exile and the effects they had on his own views on art and authority. Bernard Fibicher's Focus looks at the monumental light sculpture Descending Light (2007). Artist's Choice features a poem by Ai Qing, one of China's most important twentieth-century writers. Artist's Writings include entries from Ai's blog, seen by millions of visitors each year and celebrated for its thoughtful and candid remarks on the subjects of art, politics and culture. [editor summary]