Bøker av Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev

Published on the occasion of the solo exhibition devoted to Otobong Nkanga(Kano, Nigeria, 1974; lives and works in Antwerpen, Belgium), among the most important international contemporary artists of African origin who tackles urgent issues related to the ecological crisis and the environment, the exploitation of resources and sustainability, from a point of view that takes into account the history of colonialism with the consequent inequalities and repercussions on the social fabric. Through a multidisciplinary approach and the use of expressive languages, such as sculpture, tapestry, drawing, video, photography, participatory projects and performances, in her works Otobong Nkanga explores the natural traces and the social and cultural dimensions of the human being, in a network complex of relations with the territory. Her works address urgent issues related to the ecological crisis and the environment, the exploitation of resources and sustainability, exploring the stories of colonialism and new forms of material art. The monograph focuses on a new project, a site-specific installation designed for the five rooms of the third floor of the Castello (approximately 750 square meters). The installation includes two large carpets with irregular shapes inspired by minerals such as quartz and malachite, whose healing properties have been known since ancient times. Long hand-woven ropes branch off from each carpet, crossing the exhibition space. A number of objects and elements, both organic and handcrafted, are tied to the ropes, offering the experience of a relational environment, in which visitors can benefit from the healing and beneficial properties contained in the specific objects, becoming co-authors of new stories who in turn redesign the space.

The works by visual artist and filmmaker Hito Steyerl (Munich, 1966), one of the most influential cultural figures of our time.Steyerl's works are critical reflections on the digital and contemporary age and focus on the pervasive role of technology and the circulation of images in the globalized world. Her installations, which encompass film and visual art, are immersive architectural environments that seek to establish the way in which technology and Artificial Intelligence shape reality and how it is experienced. This catalogue accompanies the exhibition The City of Broken Windows at Castello di Rivoli and features previously unpublished essays by Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev and Marianna Vecellio, the exhibition's curators, and by the feminist art historian Griselda Pollock. It also contains two new texts by the artist entitled The City of Broken Windows (2018) and The City of Unbroken Windows (2018), published here for the first time, and her important essay In Defense of the Poor Image (2009). Richly complemented by an extensive selection of images from the exhibition, the book includes an exhaustive scholarly chronology of the artist's exhibitions, screenings, and lectures and an anthology of critical essays and interviews from 1998 to the present, authored by Anna Altman, Manuela Ammer, Julieta Aranda, Marius Babias, Camila Bechelany, Jochen Becker, Franco "Bifo" Berardi, Fred Camper, Lauren Cornell, T. J. Demos, Thomas Elsaesser, Harun Farocki, João Fernandes, Alwin Franke, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Marvin Jordan, Ann Kaneko, Heinz Kersten, Adam Kleinman, Brian Kuan Wood, Pablo Lafuente, Gil Leung, Maria Lind, Sven Lütticken, Anja Osswald, Trevor Paglen, Laura Poitras, Bert Rebhandl, Isabella Reicher, David Riff, Daniel Rourke, Berta Sichel, Roberta Smith, Kerstin Stakemeier, Anton Vidokle, and Reinhard W. Wolf.

The book investigates the use of colour in art through artistic movements and research that stand apart from canonical histories on colour and abstraction, with multiple accounts relating to memory, politics, spirituality, storytelling, psychology and synesthesia