Eva Respini

Lebanese artist Walid Raad is an influential voice in art from the Middle East. Published for his first comprehensive exhibition in the US, this catalogue surveys three decades of Raad's practice in photography, video and performance. Beginning with his groundbreaking project The Atlas Group (1989-2004), to his recent work on the history of art in the Arab world (2007-ongoing), it offers an overview of Raad's career and features his most momentous bodies of work. Raad explores the ways we represent war and history, casting doubt on the veracity of photographic and video documentation. Essays by scholars place Raad's art in the context of contemporary photography and video, as well as art made in Lebanon since the 1960s; provide an overview of Raad's performance lectures; and examine Raad's most recent bodies of work made in the Islamic galleries at the Louvre and Metropolitan Museum of Art, which explore the history, collecting and display of historical and modern art and artifacts from the Arab world and Iran. A special contribution by Raad presents a fictional interview with multiple artists, curators and writers.Walid Raad was born in 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon, and moved to Beirut as a child. In 1983, at age 16, Raad left Lebanon for the US. He enrolled at the Rochester Institute of Technology to study photography, and earned his PhD in Visual and Cultural Studies from the University of Rochester. Raad currently lives in New York and Beirut, and has been an Associate Professor of Art at The Cooper Union since 2002.

Robert Heinecken (1931-2006) was a pioneer in the postwar Los Angeles art scene who described himself as a para-photographer because his work stood ‘beside’ or ‘beyond’ traditional ideas of the medium. Published in conjunction with the first museum exhibition of the artist’s work since his death in 2006, this publication covers four decades of his remarkable and unique practice, from the early 1960s through the late 1990s, with special emphasis on his early experimentations with technique and materiality, which destabilized the very definition of photography. Culling images from newspapers, magazine advertisements, and television, Heinecken re-contextualized them through collage and assemblage, double-sided photograms, photolithography and re-photography. Although he was rarely behind the lens of a camera, his photo-based works question the nature of photography and radically redefine the perception of it as an artistic medium. As the most comprehensive survey of Heinecken’s oeuvre, this book sets his work in the context of twentieth century history of photographic experimentation and conceptual art. An illustrated essay by conservator Jennifer Jae Gutierrez about the artist’s experimental techniques, which ranged from photograms to photolithography to collage, contributes to the sparse scholarship on Heinecken’s working methods.

Photography's Image of the American West.

Since the 1990s, parallel to his stage productions, Forsythe has developed a body of work he calls “Choreographic Objects”. These experimental, interactive works invite the viewer to engage with the fundamental ideas of choreography and extend Forsythe’s choreographic explorations beyond the stage and skilled professionals to public spaces and the layperson. This volume considers the full breadth of his oeuvre and features contributions from leading scholars, critics, and theorists in the disciplines of visual arts, choreography, and dance. Forsythe’s highly engaging voice shines through in his own writing, which enriches and deepens the scholarly essays in the book. In addition, the book features an illustrated chronology of The Forsythe Company (2005–15), the artist’s dance troupe that followed his legendary tenure at Ballett Frankfurt. Generously illustrated, this volume is certain to become a reference book for Forsythe’s many fans as well as an invaluable resource for students of visual art, dance, and interdisciplinary practice.

The Museum of Modern Art has one of the greatest collections of 20th-century photography in the world. As one of three volumes dedicated to a new history of photography published by the Museum, this publication comprises a comprehensive catalogue of the collection post-1960s and brings much-needed new critical perspective to the most prominent artists working with the photographic medium of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. At a moment when photography is undergoing fast-paced changes and artists are seeking to redefine its boundaries in new and exciting ways, Photography at MoMA serves as an excellent resource for understanding the expanded field of contemporary photography today. The book begins with an in-depth introduction followed by eight chapters of full-color plates, each introduced by a short essay. Over 250 artists are featured, including Diane Arbus, John Baldessari, Jan Dibbets, Rineke Dijkstra, William Eggleston, Lee Friedlander, Louise Lawler, Zoe Leonard, Helen Levitt, Sigmar Polke, Cindy Sherman, Wolfgang Tillmans, Jeff Wall, Carrie Mae Weems, Hannah Wilke and Garry Winogrand, among many others.

Published to accompany the first major survey of Cindy Sherman’s work in the United States in nearly 15 years, this publication presents a stunning range of work from the groundbreaking artist’s 35-year career. Showcasing approximately 180 photographs from the mid-1970s to the present, including new works made for the exhibition and never before published, the volume is a vivid exploration of Sherman’s sustained investigation into the construction of contemporary identity and the nature of representation. The book highlights major bodies of work including her seminal ‘Untitled Film Stills’ (1977–80); ‘Centerfolds’ (1981); ‘History Portraits’ (1989– 90); ‘Headshots’ (2000); and two recent series on the experience and representation of aging in the context of contemporary obsessions with youth and status. An introductory essay by curator Eva Respini provides an overview of Sherman’s career, weaving together art historical analysis and discussions of the artist’s working methods, and a contribution by art historian Johanna Burton offers a critical re-examination of Sherman’s work in light of her recent series. A conversation between Cindy Sherman and filmmaker John Waters provide an enlightening view into the creative process.