Björn Roth

With the writer Dieter Roth, one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, in the Schimmelmuseum in Hamburg, in the Roth Room in Basel, in Iceland, and at the restaurant Chez Donati in Basel. Four episodes from the lasting friendship between Erika Streit, Beat Keusch, and Dieter Roth reveal the artist’s many and different facets. The book to be issued in October 2021 contains many yet unpublished photographs and documents.

Dieter Roth (1930–1998) was an artist of astonishing breadth and diversity, producing graphics, drawings, paintings, sculptures, assemblages, and installation works involving sound recordings and video. He was also a composer, musician, poet, and writer. Roth was particularly noted for his influential artist's books, including Literaturwurst (1961–74), a series of books made using traditional sausage recipes but replacing the sausage meat with pages torn from other publications. Roth kept diaries and notebooks throughout his life, using and reusing them in his art and writing. The idea of keeping a diary—finding a way to record the passing of time and document his life—is a fundamental theme of his artwork. Illustrations of pages from Roth's diaries and copybooks of his major works, including A Diary (1982), Flat Waste (1975), Solo Scenes (1997–98), and Bar II (1983–97), accompany art historical assessments by contemporary scholars and contributions from his peer Jan Vos and his son Björn Roth. Distributed for The Fruitmarket Gallery Exhibition Schedule: The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh(08/02/12–10/14/12)