Daniel Birnbaum

The former director of the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm makes his literary debut with this dramatic and riveting novel of book publishing, émigrés, spies, and diplomats in World War II Sweden based on his grandfather’s life In 1933, after Hitler and the Nazi Party consolidated power in Germany, Immanuel Birnbaum, a German-Jewish journalist based in Warsaw, is forbidden from writing for newspapers in his homeland. Six years later, just months before the German invasion of Poland that ignites World War II, Immanuel escapes to Sweden with his wife and two young sons. Living as a refugee in Stockholm, Immanuel continues to write, contributing articles to a liberal Swiss newspaper under the name Dr. B. He becomes increasingly entangled with British intelligence agents who plan several acts of sabotage on the orders of Winston Churchill. But when the Swedish postal service picks up a letter written in invisible ink, clearly by Dr. B. himself, the Allied plotters are exposed. But could a Jew living in exile and targeted for death by the Nazis have wanted to tip them off? Illuminated by the wartime experiences of the author’s grandfather, Dr. B. is a riveting story of émigrés, spies and diplomats that shines a light on a forgotten corner of World War II history. ‘A superb thriller, a cross between Tom Stoppard’s Travesties and The Thirty-Nine Steps … You can’t put it down. This is an astonishing debut and Daniel Birnbaum is clearly a talent to look out for’ The Jewish Chronicle ‘If you’re looking for a ridiculously brilliant story, you can stop looking … He’s got the world’s best story – he’s got Dr B’ Svenska Dagbladet ‘An astonishing thriller-novel … reminiscent of both Hjalmar Söderberg’s Doctor Glass as well as the dreamy melancholy in The Rings of Saturn by W.G Sebald’ Aftonbladet ‘A moving evocation of a life beset by conflicts in a troubled time’ Kirkus Reviews

The former director of the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm makes his literary debut with this dramatic and riveting novel of book publishing, émigrés, spies, and diplomats in World War II Sweden, based on his grandfather’s life In 1933, after Hitler and the Nazi Party consolidated power in Germany, Immanuel Birnbaum, a German-Jewish journalist based in Warsaw, is forbidden from writing for newspapers in his homeland. Six years later, just months before the German invasion of Poland that ignites World War II, Immanuel escapes to Sweden with his wife and two young sons. Living as a refugee in Stockholm, Immanuel continues to write, contributing articles to a liberal Swiss newspaper under the name Dr. B. He becomes increasingly entangled with British intelligence agents who plan several acts of sabotage on the orders of Winston Churchill. But when the Swedish postal service picks up a letter written in invisible ink, clearly by Dr. B. himself, the Allied plotters are exposed. But could a Jew living in exile and targeted for death by the Nazis have wanted to tip them off? Illuminated by the wartime experiences of the author’s grandfather, Dr. B. is a riveting story of émigrés, spies and diplomats that shines a light on a forgotten corner of World War II history. ‘A superb thriller, a cross between Tom Stoppard’s Travesties and The Thirty-Nine Steps … You can’t put it down. This is an astonishing debut and Daniel Birnbaum is clearly a talent to look out for’ The Jewish Chronicle ‘If you’re looking for a ridiculously brilliant story, you can stop looking … He’s got the world’s best story – he’s got Dr B’ Svenska Dagbladet ‘An astonishing thriller-novel … reminiscent of both Hjalmar Söderberg’s Doctor Glass as well as the dreamy melancholy in The Rings of Saturn by W.G Sebald’ Aftonbladet ‘A moving evocation of a life beset by conflicts in a troubled time’ Kirkus Reviews

The former director of the Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm makes his literary debut with this dramatic and riveting novel of book publishing, emigres, spies, and diplomats in World War II Sweden based on his grandfather's life

I början av 1960-talet skapade Ulla Wiggen en svit målningar föreställande elektroniska komponenter och datorer. Hon utforskade denna motivvärld då knappast någon kunde förutse hur den digitala teknologin skulle revolutionera våra dagliga liv. Kort därefter, 1966 deltog hon i föreställningarna 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering i New York då hon assisterade Öyvind Fahlström, vars radikala konstsyn varit av stor betydelse för henne. 1969 började hon måla människor och gjorde därefter också en serie porträtt. Hon utbildade sig även till legitimerad psykoterapeut som sedan blev hennes huvudsakliga yrke fram till 2013 då hon efter en utställning med hennes tidigare verk på Moderna Museet, beslöt att återuppta sitt konstnärsskap efter ca. 30 års uppehåll. Sedan dess har hennes fokus på datorernas inre och människans yttre flyttats till insidan av människokroppen och alltmer kommit att inriktas mot hjärnan och ögats iris.In the early 1960s Ulla Wiggen created a suite of paintings depicting electronic components and computers. She explored this world when hardly anyone could predict how digital technology would revolutionize our daily lives. Shortly afterwards, in 1966, she participated in the performances 9 Evenings: Theatre & Engineering in New York assisting Öyvind Fahlström, whose radical view of art was of great importance to her. In 1969 she started painting humans and then made a series of portraits. She also became a licensed psychotherapist, which became her primary vocation until 2013 when she after an exhibition with her previous paintings at the Moderna Museet decided to resumed her artistry after 30 years break. Since then, her focus on the computer's interior and the human exterior has shifted to the inside of the human body and increasingly focused on the brain and iris of the eye.

En bok om och till Aris Fioretos. Redaktör Cecilia SjöholmRedaktörsassistent Astrid GrelzOmslag Håkan LiljemärkerBegränsad upplaga: 250 exemplar Medverkande:Paul Auster Anna Bengtsson Magnus Bergh Bigert & Bergström Daniel Birnbaum Mirces Cartarescu Love Derwinger Kjell Espmark Magnus Florin Jörgen Gassilewski Durs Grünbein Gunnar D. Hansson Gabriel Itkes-SznapElfriede Jelinek Stefan Jonsson Mara Lee Claudia Lindén Arne Melberg Lothar Müller Ernst Osterkamp Daniel Pedersen Håkan Rehnberg Mikael van Reis Monika Rinck Hans Ruin Cecilia Sjöholm Sophie Tottie Jan Wagner Sven-Olov Wallenstein Ola Wallin Magnus William-Olsson

As museums worldwide shuttered in 2020 because of the novel coronavirus, New York-based cultural strategist András Szántó conducted a series of interviews with an international group of museum leaders. In a moment when economic, political, and cultural shifts are signaling the start of a new era, the directors speak candidly about the historical limitations and untapped potential of art museums. Each of the twenty-eight dialogues in this book explores a particular topic of relevance to art institutions today, and tomorrow. What emerges from the series of in-depth conversations is a composite portrait of a generation of museum leaders working to make institutions more open, democratic, inclusive, experimental and experiential, technologically savvy, culturally polyphonic, attuned to the needs of their visitors and communities, and concerned with addressing the defining issues of the societies around them. The dialogues offer glimpses of how museums around the globe are undergoing an accelerated phase of reappraisal and reinvention. CONVERSATION PARTNERS: Marion Ackermann, Cecilia Alemani, Anton Belov, Meriem Berrada, Daniel Birnbaium, Tom Campbell, Tania Cohen, Rhana Devenport, Maria Mercedes Gonzales, Max Hollein, Sandra Jackson-Dumont, Mami Kataoka, Brian Kennedy, Koyo Kouoh, Sonia Lawson, Adam Levine, Victoria Noorthoorn, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Anne Pasternak, Adriano Pedrosa, Suhanya Raffel, Axel Ruger, Katrina Sedwick, Franklin Sirmans, Eugene Tan, Phil Tinari, Marc-Olivier Wahler, Marie-Cécile Zinsou

The significance of Jean-Fran ois Lyotard's innovative 1985 exhibition Les Immat riaux and the "curatorial turn" in critical theory.Forthcoming from the MIT Press

Efter andra världskriget började Theodor Teto Ahrenberg (1912-1989) att skapa en av de mest ambitiösa och egensinniga privata samlingar av modern konst som funnits; en samling som alltjämt i stort sett är okänd. Den innehöll närmare tusen verk av etablerade mästare som Matisse, Picasso och Chagall, och av banbrytande yngre konstnärer som Kantor, Baertling och Tinguely. Ahrenbergs komplexa och personliga samling formades av hans övertygelse om att han inte bara var samlare utan även katalysator någon som underlättade för utställningar, samarbeten och uppdrag, och använde konsten för att motsätta sig konservatism och självbelåtenhet. Samlingen beslagtogs 1962 av de svenska myndigheterna, under omtvistade förhållanden, och skingrades sedan. Det fanns också långt gångna planer på att skapa ett nytt konstmuseum av världsklass, ritat av Le Corbusier, på vattnet utanför Norr Mälarstrand. Även dessa planer skingrades. Ahrenberg byggde sedan upp en ny och än mer progressiv samling som lyfte fram konstnärer ur 60-talets avantgarde, såsom Christo, Arman, Lucio Fontana och Niki de Saint Phalle. Med hjälp av ett rikt bildmaterial och korrespondens, varav mycket aldrig tidigare har publicerats, utforskar denna bok på ett uttömmande sätt Ahrenbergs fascinerande samlingar och liv.

När Daniel Birnbaum rensar i vindsutrymmet hemma hittar han en smutsbrun papplåda som det står hans farfars namn på. Inuti ligger en hel epok bevarad. Det visar sig handla om några av de av de mest spänningsfyllda åren i svensk nittonhundratalshistoria, 1939-1943. Det var då Stockholm blev ett centrum för världspolitiska krafter, hotellreceptionerna fylldes av hemlighetsfulla män och kvinnor med viktiga uppdrag och vardagslivet präglades av osäkerhet och rädsla. Plötsligt kunde vad som helst hända. Hösten 1939, efter att Tyskland invaderat Polen, anländer den tysk-judiska journalisten Immanuel Birnbaum till Stockholm. Han har tvingats fly med sin fru och sina två barn från Warszawa där han arbetat som korrespondent för några tyska tidningar. I Stockholm kommer han i kontakt med den tyska bokförläggaren Bermann Fischer och får jobb på det förlag som han driver i exil. Immanuels signatur är Dr. B. Han hjälper brittiska spioner med att sprida propaganda i Tyskland. Men i ett brev skrivet i osynligt bläck röjer han deras planer att spränga malmhamnen i Oxelösund för att tvinga in Sverige i kriget. Han försvinner in i fångenskap men dyker upp som en skugga i en novell av Stefan Zweig.Daniel Birnbaum har skrivit en roman om sin farfars märkliga upplevelser i Sverige under en kaotisk och skrämmande tid. Han framkallar skickligt och omsorgsfullt den atmosfär som råder i ett osäkrat Stockholm där varje felsteg kan kosta dig livet.

”Prins Eugen deltog. Och min vän Grünewald, trots att han är jude. Ändå är det idag som om utställningen aldrig ägt rum.” Året är 1942. Kriget rasar, men likväl ska Sverige medverka vid den komprometterade Venedigbiennalen och en svärmisk konsthistoriker får uppdraget att frakta de svenska bidragen till den beramade utställningen. Av en slump träffar han den gåtfulle tyske officeren Walter Schellenberg, som har oanade kopplingar till Sverige. Dörrar öppnas till ljusskygga sällskap, till historiens hemligheter.Daniel Birnbaum har skrivit en skarp kortroman av klassiskt snitt – om konst och makt, om blindhet och insikt – där verklighet och fantasi korsas på ett svindlande vis.

A definitive and timely monograph celebrating the work of ground-breaking conceptual artist Cerith Wyn Evans Cerith Wyn Evans is one of today's most respected and acclaimed sculptors. Born in Wales and educated through his first language of Welsgh, his work reflects his fascination with literature, film, music, and philosophy. Evans is an artist interested in language and how this can be perceived in spatial terms. Originally an experimental filmmaker, in the 1990s Evans started creating sculptures and installations defined by poetic conceptualism and elegant aesthetic forms. Often made of neon light, his pieces subtly disrupt existing systems of communication, either through the subversion and alteration of given spatial forms or by adopting a communal rather than a singular, authoritarian voice. In 2003 Evans represented Wales at the country’s inaugural pavilion at the 50th Venice Biennale. This book, the first comprehensive study dedicated to his work, includes contributions by luminaries such as the former Guggenheim Chief, Nancy Spector and the 2011 Venice Biennale director, Daniel Birnbaum, together with a previously unpublished text by Evans himself.

Sara-Vide Ericson arbetar med ett måleri som bottnar i personliga och kroppsliga erfarenheter. Minnet av platsen, ögonblicket och den nedärvda historien överförs genom konstnärens process i en kamp med och mot materialen till en koncentrerad ny verklighet. Sara-Vide Ericson förekommer ofta själv i sina målningar men ser det inte som självporträtt utan snarare som att hon spelar olika roller och lånar sin kropp till målningarna. Den nya boken, den mest heltäckande publikationen hittills, innehåller ett urval av Sara-Vide Ericsons arbeten från 2013 fram till idag, samt texter av Sara Arrhenius, chef för Institut suédois i Paris, Daniel Birnbaum, chef för Acute Art i London och konstkritiker och Sinziana Ravini, författare och psykoanalytiker baserad i Paris. Publicerad i samarbete med Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm, i samband med Sara-Vide Ericsons omfattande utställning Desire of the Tail på Institut suédois i Paris (17 oktober 2023 18 februari 2024). Sara-Vide Ericson s paintings are rooted in personal and bodily experiences. Memories of places, moments and inherited experiences are, through the artist s work process and the characteristics of the material, transformed into a concentrated new reality. Sara-Vide Ericson often depicts herself in her work but doesn t think of them as self-portraits, rather as if she plays different roles and lends her body to the paintings.The new book, the most comprehensive publication to date, includes a selection of Sara-Vide Ericson s oeuvre dating from 2013 to the present, with texts by writer and curator Sara Arrhenius, director of Institut suédois in Paris, writer and curator Daniel Birnbaum, director Acute Art in London and Paris based writer, critic, and psychoanalyst Sinziana Ravini. Published in collaboration with Galleri Magnus Karlsson, Stockholm, in conjunction with Sara-Vide Ericson s major exhibition Desire of the Tail at Institut suédois in Paris (17 October 2023 18 February 2024).

Teise maailmasõja esimestel kuudel tahtsid inglased õhku lasta Rootsi Oxelösundi rauasadamat. Kui see oleks neil õnnestunud, oleks Rootsi tõenäoliselt kistud suurde sõtta. Daniel Birnbaum jutustab tõestisündinud loo oma vanaisast, kelle nähtamatu tindiga kirjutatud kiri ajas luhta Churchilli spioonide plaani. Kui Daniel Birnbaum kodus pööningut koristab, leiab ta eest määrdunud pruuni pappkasti, millel on vanaisa nimi. Sees on dokumendid, mis puudutavad põnevamaid aastaid Rootsi 20. sajandi ajaloos - 1939-1943. Neil aastail sai Stockholmist maailma poliitiliste jõudude kohtumispaik, hotellides korraldati vastuvõtte tähtsatele ja salapärastele seltskondadele, samal ajal kui igapäevaelu iseloomustas ebakindlus ja hirm. Turvaliselt ei saanud sõja tõttu tunda end keegi. 1939. aasta sügisel, pärast seda, kui Saksamaa tungis Poolasse, saabub Stockholmi saksa-juudi ajakirjanik Immanuel Birnbaum. Ta pidi koos naise ja kahe lapsega põgenema Varssavist, kus ta töötas Saksa ajalehe korrespondendina. Stockholmis puutub ta kokku Saksa kirjastaja Bermann Fischeriga ja saab tööd kirjastuses, mida ta paguluses juhib. Immanuel kirjutab endiselt artikleid, kuid on varjunud pseudonüümi Dr B. taha. Põhitöö kõrval aitab ta Briti spioonidel levitada natsivastast propagandat. Kuid nähtamatu tindiga kirjutatud kirjas paljastab ta inglaste plaani lasta õhku Oxelösundi rauasadam, et takistada raua eksporti Saksamaale. Sõjaajaloolased on avaldanud arvamust, et kui sabotaazh oleks teoks saanud, oleks neutraalne Rootsi sõjategevusse haaratud. Kunstiteadlane ja Stockholmi Kaasaegse Kunsti Muuseumi endine direktor Daniel Birnbaum on kirjutanud romaani oma vanaisa kummalistest kogemustest Rootsis, kus valitses kaos ja hirm. Ta taasloob oskuslikult õhkkonna, mis valitses sõjaaegses Stockholmis, kus iga vale samm võib maksta sulle elu.

For a long time, few people knew about spiritualism’s impact on the birth of abstract art. But when the Swedish art historian Sixten Ringbom’s book The Sounding Cosmos was published in 1970, the writing of history changed forever. Through his research on Wassily Kandinsky, one of the pivotal figures in modern art, Ringbom could show, among other things, how theosophy and esoteric teachings were absolutely essential to the development of non-figurative painting. This discovery generated great debate, and the book was both celebrated and controversial. To this day, it is an art history classic that continues to be discussed, especially since people’s views of both art and religion are continuously changing. In recent years, the attention given to Hilma af Klint has increased interest in the significance of the spiritual, and in turn has focused new light on Kandinsky and others in the first generation of abstract painters. The Sounding Cosmos is now being published for the first time in a new edition with a new design that gives space to Kandinsky’s colourful paintings. The original text has been supplemented with a new foreword by Daniel Birnbaum and Julia Voss.

Since the early 1990s Peter Hagdahl has worked with new media and is one of Sweden s most acclaimed artists within the field. Hagdahl s art grows out of an interactive process that involves dialogue and collaboration in diverse fields such as cultural theory, informatics, science and urbanism. Change, influence and transformation are key concepts for Hagdahl and his work comments on contemporary society as well as fundamental existential questions. He uses and combines a broad range of media including painting, sculpture, text and video uniting the digital and physical worlds in a way to respond to the context and the viewers. Peter Hagdahl: Energy, Liquids, Connections (Sustained) highlights three major works by Hagdahl realized over a period of 30 years. The book includes conversations between Hagdahl and curator and writer Daniel Birnbaum and between Hagdahl and curator Björn Norberg as well as texts by researcher and writer Rebecka Katz Thor and Art Historian, curator and writer Margaretha Thomson.Peter Hagdahl har sedan början av 90-talet arbetat med digital konst/nya medier och är pionjär inom området. Hagdahls konst kommer ur en interaktiv process som involverar dialog och samarbeten inom skilda områden som informatik, kulturteori, urbanism och vetenskap. Förändring, inflytande och transformation är nyckelbegrepp i Hagdahls konst och han uppmärksammar både samtida fenomen och fundamentala existentiella frågeställningar i sitt arbete. Hagdahl s verk kännetecknas av en kombination av medier som måleri, rörlig bild, skulptur och text vilka förenar digital och analog teknik på ett sätt som förhåller sig till kontexten och relaterar till besökare. Peter Hagdahl: Energy, Liquids, Connections (Sustained) lyfter fram tre omfattande arbeten av Hagdahl som har realiserats under en period av 30 år. Boken innehåller samtal mellan Peter Hagdahl och curator och författare Daniel Birnbaum och mellan Hagdahl och curator Björn Norberg samt texter av forskaren och författaren Rebecka Katz Thor och konstvetaren, curatorn och författaren Margaretha Thomson.

Hilma af Klint is now regarded as a pioneer of abstract art. Her work from the early 20th century predates the first purely abstract paintings by Kandinsky, Mondrian and Malevich. Now, for the first time, af Klint’s works, some 1,600 in all, have been collected in a Catalogue Raisonné. Af Klint’s work should be seen and appreciated in the series of paintings often depicting specific themes and this ground-breaking publication, divided into seven volumes, allows for this. Throughout her life af Klint used research-oriented methods trying to understand the spiritual contexts of the world. She investigated plants and other objects in their geometrical form. Nature was perfect; we humans just needed to look at it more closely. This concept is investigated in Volume V. Produced with the permission of the Hilma af Klint Foundation and featuring introductions by Daniel Birnbaum and Kurt Almqvist, a separate slip cased edition containing all seven volumes will be available in autumn 2021.

A comprehensive monograph on the work of KAWS, one of the most sought-after artists and creative forces of our time Drawing from Pop art traditions, KAWS’s work straddles the line between fine art and popular culture, crossing the mediums of painting and sculpture, along with fashion, merchandise, vinyl toys, and, most recently, augmented reality. This book, made in close collaboration with the artist, features his most well-known works alongside sketches, preparatory drawings, and never-before-seen images of KAWS at work, revealing the meticulous process behind his iconic artworks. Accompanying a major retrospective exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, it captures the artist’s unique ability to reshape the ways we think about contemporary art and culture today.

Hilma af Klint is now regarded as a pioneer of abstract art. Her work from the early 20th century predates the first purely abstract paintings by Kandinsky, Mondrian and Malevich. Now, for the first time, af Klint’s works, some 1,600 in all, have been collected in a Catalogue Raisonné. Af Klint’s work should be seen and appreciated in the series of paintings often depicting specific themes and this ground-breaking publication, divided into seven volumes, allows for this. Volume VI focuses on the time after her mother’s death in 1920 when Hilma af Klint gave up her geometrical works and began to paint with watercolours, as in the series On the Viewing of Flowers and Trees, from 1922. Produced with the permission of the Hilma af Klint Foundation and featuring introductions by Daniel Birnbaum and Kurt Almqvist, a separate slip cased edition containing all seven volumes will be available in autumn 2021.

Hilma af Klint is now regarded as a pioneer of abstract art. Her work from the early 20th century predates the first purely abstract paintings by Kandinsky, Mondrian and Malevich. Now, for the first time, af Klint’s works, some 1,600 in all, have been collected in a Catalogue Raisonné. Af Klint’s work should be seen and appreciated in the series of paintings often depicting specific themes and this ground-breaking publication, divided into seven volumes, allows for this. Volume IV, within the series Parsifal she explored her inward self through the journey of a boy and a girl and their various levels of consciousness. In her Atom series, af Klint explored the inner parts of our existence through what scientists then considered the smallest particles in the world. Produced with the permission of the Hilma af Klint Foundation and featuring introductions by Daniel Birnbaum and Kurt Almqvist, a separate slip cased edition containing all seven volumes will be available in autumn 2021.