Karsten Lund

Considers two parts of a project by artist Jill Magid that centers around flows of currency. Conceived as a story in multiple chapters, this book focuses on two parts of a larger project by artist Jill Magid in which she explores the circulation of pennies against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through Tender, a public artwork in New York City produced by Creative Time, and Tender: Balance, an exhibition at the Renaissance Society in Chicago, Magid both observes intimate financial and social transactions and delves into economic systems that are harder to see, intervening in the flows of currency in subtle, poetic ways. Along with visuals from these two parts of the project, the book offers insights into Magid’s extensive research process and three new essays that provide greater social and art historical context for her work. In their contribution, Claire Bishop and Nikki Columbus consider how Magid’s process makes wide-ranging connections to create a constellation of ideas. Jamilah King addresses the ongoing shift toward a cashless economy and who is left behind, and Aden Kumler explores histories of modifying currency. The book culminates in a conversation between the artist and curators Justine Ludwig and Karsten Lund, in which they reflect on the project’s conceptual touchstones and on events contemporary to the work.

A monograph and double LP offering an expansive and collaborative look at the practice of artist Kevin Beasley. The most ambitious publication devoted to American artist Kevin Beasley’s work to date, A view of a landscape consists of a monograph and a double LP record, designed and conceived by the artist as equal, integrated elements. A view of a landscape is a wide-ranging presentation of Beasley’s work in sculpture, sound, and performance. It illuminates how his practice is grounded in his family’s land in Virginia, a place that he considers here in connection to larger American histories. Along with texts by nine writers, this substantial book features an array of images that present Beasley’s work and related material from his research collection of images. The double LP gathers newly recorded tracks by musicians and artists from Beasley’s close creative circles, produced in partnership with London-based record label Hyperdub. Each musician’s tracks are uniquely their own, but they all sample recordings that Beasley made, some of them on his family land, reflecting an ongoing spirit of collaboration. The book includes essays by Andy Battaglia, Kevin Beasley, Daphne A. Brooks, Adrienne Edwards, Leon Finley, Mark Godfrey, Thomas Lax, Ralph Lemon, Tiona Nekkia McClodden, and Fred Moten, and an introduction by Karsten Lund and Solveig Øvstebø.

Catalog for an exhibition of Matthew Metzger’s paintings at the Renaissance Society. Published on the occasion of Matthew Metzger’s exhibition Heirloom at the Renaissance Society, this is the first book dedicated to the artist’s paintings, which echo and explore various kinds of abstraction. Anchored by the new paintings Metzger made for this exhibition—a set of works conceived as an installation for the Renaissance Society’s space that also serve as the subject of an essay by curator Karsten Lund—the book also features four other series of paintings by the artist, each of which further charts his evolving aesthetic and conceptual strategies. For this publication, Metzger has also invited six writers—including Kris Cohen, Fumi Okiji, Hamza Walker, Jan Verwoert, and Anna Zett—to reflect on how abstraction functions more broadly, whether as a psychological tendency, a social phenomenon, or a technological side effect, among many other possibilities.

Unthought Environments brings together art influenced by the forces that are integral to our daily lives, yet are easily forgotten or overlooked, such as the ancient elements of air, fire, water, and earth; weather systems; geopolitics; and the hidden physical components of our virtual world. Informed by media studies, ecology, and philosophy, these multi-media artworks explore the elemental sphere as it intersects with the human-made. This exhibition catalog brings together images from the exhibition alongside texts that engage directly with the works as well as the larger issues that drive them. Essays by Karsten Lund, John Durham Peters, Keller Easterling, Ina Blom, Marissa Lee Benedict, Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen, and Peter Fend are included, as well as a conversation with Lund, Nicholas Mangan, Robin Watkins, and Nina Canell.

I året 1905 bliver Jens Emil Hansen, en syttenårig knægt fra Endelave i Kattegat, forvist fra sin fødeø for en bagatelagtig forseelse. Det første års tid sejler han på må og få rundt i verden, indtil han lander på den amerikanske vestkyst. Her møder han en landsmand, Einar Jensen. De kommer i snak, og de bliver enige om at følges ad til Alaska, hvor der igen er fundet guld. De slår sig ned i en bjælkehytte uden for guldgraverbyen Fairbanks. Og de graver efter guld; men Jens Emil er også en fremragende skytte, og han ernærer sig i første omgang især som pelsjæger og bliver en holden mand. Han finder også guld, masser af guld, og forelsker sig i Moya. Men så forsvinder Jens Emil sporløst. Ingen ved, hvor han er blevet af, ingen vil i hvert fald sige noget om, hvor han er blevet af. Mange år efter, i 1982, sætter Moya og Jens Emils barnebarn, Catherine, sig for at finde ud af, hvad der egentlig skete – og det lykkes. Historien er inspireret af virkelige begivenheder.

Skagen 1902. Ane og Jens Peter har været gift i snart fire år, men har ingen børn. Efter et havari på Vesterhavet reddes en sømand i land i live, og Ane får ham bragt til sit hus. Dagen efter er sømanden væk, og ni måneder senere føder Ane en søn, der ikke ligner Jens Peter. Hvad skete der den nat, og hvad blev der af sømanden? Det sætter Ane og Jens Peters oldebarn sig for at opklare hundrede år efter.