Rainer Ganahl`s thoughts circle around the bicycle as an object. It is a means of transportation; it is fetish and form. The artist delves deep into the spectrum of associations and makes them the subject of new artworks. A highly complex oeuvre incorporating elements of aesthetics, politics, sociology, literature and psychoanalysis evolves from a single object. The bicycle is also the springboard from which the artist reinvents his own autobiography. In the piece written especially for this book, Rainer Ganahl describes how he combines life and art and how his favorite means of transportation becomes a cognitive model and an instrument of perception for political, social and aesthetic phenomena.

Ed. by Marion Ackermann and Simone Schimpf in conjunction with the exhibition »Use a bicycle. Rainer Ganahl. Der Lehrling in der Sonne« at the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart from 17.03. until 17. 06. 2007
Texts by Rainer Ganahl, Simone Schimpf, Marion Ackermann

96 p. with 143 col. ill.
German/english, 22,5 x 16,5 cm, softcover, 25 €
ISBN 978-3-86588-386-5

Willi Baumeister, Oskar Schlemmer and the architect and artist Franz Krause worked for the Wuppertal paint factory, Dr. Kurt Herberts & Co. between 1937 and 1944. During this time, they researched into different painting techniques. They had their professor titles withdrawn at an early date by the National Socialist regime and were not allowed to paint or exhibit their art. In the Wuppertal working group, they tested different ways of creating surfaces with paint and created more than 160 test plates.

In the catalogue to the exhibition »Lacquer Laboratory« these historical important test plates are compared to the artwork of Max Ernst, Oscar Dominguez, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Mark Tobey, Jackson Pollock, Sigmar Polke and Andy Warhol.

Edited by Kunstmuseum Stuttgart

Texts by Marion Ackermann, Angela Matyssek, Cara Schweitzer, Daniel Spanke, Barbara und Richard Wörwag, Friedrich Weltzien

128 pages with 70 coloured pictures
18 x 24 cm. Hardcover. In German language
Price: 24 EUR - SOLD OUT

At the center of Josephine Meckseper’s work are critical observations of consumerism and the aesthetization of politics. Fascinated by the direct contrast of advertising and political reports in newspapers, her works also criticize the classic categories of high and low culture. Born in Germany in 1964, and now based in New York, Meckseper turns her observations into popular political culture in films of anti-Bush demonstrations and protest marches in Berlin. In her shop-windows installations and hand-sewn fabric works, which combine such things as Palestinian shawls and other left-wing insignia with fashion accessories, she questions the meaning of these things: consumer article or political symbol? Featuring films, collages, paintings, sculptures, and installations, this publication presents a concise overview of the artist’s different visual worlds.

Edited by Marion Ackermann
Foreword by Marion Ackermann
Interview with the artist by Simone Schimpf
Texts by Okwui Enwezor, Christian Höller,

German/English
2007. 168 pp., 140 ills., 112 in color
24,90 x 30,50 cm, hardcover
Museum price: 29 €, regular: 39,80 €

ISBN 978-3-7757-1986-5

Willi Baumeister (1889-1955), a painter and typographer who came to be known as one of the most important representatives of abstract painting, designed his first stage set for the »Deutsche Theater Stuttgart« in 1919. Up until the outbreak of World War II he was able to realize another eight stage sets, followed by nine more stage projects after the war had ended. The projects included stage-, and costume designs for example »Transfiguration« by Ernst Toller for the spoken theater, »Love the Magician« by Manuel de Falla for the ballet, and »Ariodante« by Georg Friedrich Händel for the opera. The exhibition will show expressive sketches and striking designs for a range of theatre productions. Photos of theater rehearsals and performances, press reviews, and correspondence containing humorous, private sketches will supplement the exhibition material.

Edited by Marion Ackermann
Foreword by Marion Ackermann
With texts by Reinhard Ermen, Hadwig Goez, Constanze Klementz and Cara Schweitzer

German/English
2007. 308 pp., 299 ills., 191 in color,
19,5 x 25 cm, hardcover,
Museum price: 24 €, regular: 29,90 €

ISBN 978-3-7757-1986-5

Nothing captivates so strongly as the sight of other people. Artists, too, have always been fascinated by the human image. The core of this book is the extensive portrait oeuvre of Otto Dix. Sixty-four portrait paintings—twenty-four works from the Kunstmuseum’s collection and forty-one from museums such as the Metropolitan in New York and the Kunstmuseum Basel—are combined with another eighty-eight portrait works by important artists from Lucas Cranach to Andy Warhol.

Match. Otto Dix and the Art of Portraiture
Ed. Marion Ackermann, Text: Daniel Spanke
German / English, 2007
416 pp., 172 pict., 34 x 25 cm, € 39,90
ISBN 9783832190576