Atelier Van Lieshout
Jennifer Allen, Aaron Betsky, Rudi Laermans, Wouter Vanstiphout
Atelier Van Lieshout (AVL) was established in 1995 by Joep van Lieshout (b. 1963). The contrarian applied art by the Rotterdam-based AVL collective is presented all over the world at dozens of exhibitions each year. Often produced using polyester, the objects, furniture, machines and luxuriously appointed 'mobile homes' are not only intriguing in form and ingeniously constructed, but they are also surprisingly multifunctional.
This richly illustrated publication provides an overview of AVL's new, serious and often provocative work: from items of furniture and mobile architecture to wholly self-sufficient 'survival campers', autonomous communes and surrealistic art projects. One of the highlights is AVL's biggest project so far: AVL-Ville (2001), a 'free state' that Atelier Van Lieshout created in Rotterdam's port, complete with its own flag, its own constitution and its own currency.
The most important projects by AVL, the collective's sources of inspiration and its members' reflections on art, architecture and design in a social context are described in an essay by the art critic Jennifer Allen. In his essay, Aaron Betsky approaches AVL's work from his expert perspective as an architecture and design critic. An essay by the sociologist Rudi Laermans examines the functioning of urban society in relation to AVL's projects.

Bound / 340 pages / text English / 2007

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Bik Van der Pol / With Love from the Kitchen
Joke Jean Attali, Wouter Davidts, Charles Esche, May Jan Jacob, Arno van Roosmalen, Sven Lütticken, Jan Verwoert
The Rotterdam artists Liesbeth Bik and Jos van der Pol have been making work together for ten years. Proceeding from their engagement with the immediate surroundings they create installations, often architecturally inspired, which they fill with a specific programme. They thus confront the public with a specific place and force people to think about the history and future of that place, but also about the city in general.
This publication is the first overview of projects by Bik Van der Pol over the last decade. Seven essays by leading authors draw attention to the breadth and significance of their methodology. The projects are thus placed within a critical framework and can serve as a source of inspiration for artists, architects, designers and theorists.

Paperback / 224 pages / tekst English / 2005

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aRt&D / Research and Development in Art
Joke Brouwer, Arjen Mulder, Anne Nigten (red.)
aRt&D: Research and Development in Art lays open a new investigative field of art that emerged in the last few decades as a result of media and technology influences. aRt&D introduces the diversity of this new art domain to a broader audience. It is the first book that is entirely dedicated to artistic research and development.
aRt&D: Research and Development in Art not only provides a unique insight in the art practice through essays in which artists write about their personal experiences, it also develops a theoretical framework for these projects. The book contains contributions by the award-winning performance group Blast Theory, media artist Thecla Schiphorst, art critics Josephine Bosma and Rudolf Frieling, media theorist Andy Cameron, curators Mark Hansen and Inke Arns, philosopher Andrew Benjamin, and many others

Paperback / 288 pages / text English / 2005

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Typologies of Industrial Buildings
Bernd Becher, Hilla Becher
Bernd and Hilla Becher's photography can be considered conceptual art, typological study, and topological documentation. Their work can be linked to the Neue Sachlichkeit movement of the 1920s and to such masters of German photography as Karl Blossfeldt, August Sander, and Albert Renger-Patzsch. Their photographs of industrial structures, taken over the course of forty years, are the most important body of work in independent objective photography. A keynote of their contributions to "industrial archaeology" has been their creation of typologies of different types of buildings; this book, which accompanies a major retrospective exhibition, collects all known Becher studies of industrial building types and presents them as a visual encyclopedia.
Each chapter is devoted to a different structure--water towers, coal bunkers, winding towers, breakers (ore, coal, and stone), lime kilns, grain elevators, blast furnaces, steel mills, and factory facades. These are organized according to typologies, most of which are presented as tableaux or suites of about twelve images each. The book contains close to 2000 individual images. The accompanying text by Armin Zweite is an essential art historical consideration of the Bechers' work. This ultimate Becher book stands as a capstone to the Bechers' unique body of work.

Hardcover / 228 pages / text English / 2004

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Dutch Dare / Contemporary Dutch Photography
Frits Gierstberg
Dutch Dare is an up-to-date overview of 16 photographers and visual artists from the Netherlands; some world-famous, others from younger generations and not (yet) globally renowned. This publication reveals the outspoken and peculiar character of contemporary Dutch photography and video, presenting in the process a fascinating artistic vision of Dutch society.
Dutch Dare demonstrates that the Netherlands is no longer the country of tulips, cheese and clogs in a fresh survey of contemporary Dutch photography.
The photographs that the compiler Frits Gierstberg has selected for the book offer a new perspective on contemporary Dutch society. The book includes work by Gerco de Ruijter, Marnix Goosens, Roy Villevoye, Hans van der Meer, Elspeth Diederix, Gertjan Kocken, Julika Rudelius, Jaap Scheren, Anouk Kruithof, Martine Stig, Viviane Sassen, Marike Schuurman and Useful Photography.

Paperback / 136 pages / text in English / 2006

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Artificial Arcadia
Bas Princen
New connoisseurs take the opportunities offered by the typically Dutch phenomenon of landscape being continuously adapted to changing demands, always with temporary leftovers awaiting their turn for utilitarian recycling. New ways of thinking about landscape design originate from this specialist landscape use. Bas Princen's arguments take the form of superb photography. The pictures produce awareness about the complex qualities that construct contemporary landscape, such as accessibility, wind direction, water currents and communication networks. In addition the use of certain products, such as kites, mountain bikes and GPS monitors has a bearing on the way in which landscape is understood. Bas Princen enters these landscapes with the slowness, sharpness and precision of a large-format view camera. Although he has a keen eye for user interpretations and has produces over 40 awesome and puzzling pictures, Artificial Arcadia is mainly a book about landscape and its design. Texts by Lars Lerup, Bart Lootsma, Wim Cuyvers, Jeff Derksen and Dirk Sijmons reflect on the photographs and present different views on landscapes in transition.

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