Olafur Eliasson
Madeleine Grynsztejn et al.
Phaidon Press 2002
ISBN 071484036X
The sculptor, installation artist and photographer Olafur Eliasson is one of the stars of the contemporary art scene. With his penchant for using industrial materials such as steel and plate glass, his works are perceptual representations of natural phenomena: the world will long remember his installation ‘Weather Project’ at the Tate Gallery in London. This book begins and ends in Eliasson’s own words: in a 30-page interview, he discusses the characteristic traits of his art with Daniel Birnbaum while in the open letter ‘Dear Everybody’, he addresses the visitors moving through his installation ‘The mediated motion’, displayed in 2001 at the Kunsthaus Bregenz. This volume is rounded off with an in-depth analysis of his works by Madeleine Grynsztejn and an extract from the writings of the philosopher Henri Bergson.
Superstudio
Life Without Objects
Peter Lang, William Menking
Skira 2003
ISBN 88-8491-569-4
This ‘first great monograph’ (according to the publishers) on the Italian group of architects in Florence in 1966 appeared at the exhibition of the same name in 2003, with the two authors as curators. It combines more than 200 projects and images produced by Superstudio in the 60s and 70s, as well as design objects and the polemic statements that Superstudio published in the form of storyboards. The unforgettable landscape visions of the group, with grid groundplanes stretching to infinity, are naturally a significant part of this book.
Metamorph
K.W. Forster (Editor)
Rizzoli International Publications 2004
ISBN 0847826651 (3 Volumes)
The central theme of last year’s Architecture Biennale in Venice was ‘Metamorph’ – a concept used by Swiss architectural historian and curator of the Biennale, Kurt W. Forster, to examine the transformation of architectural forms in contemporary architecture. The three-volume catalogue, published by Rizzoli in New York, documents not only the main show ‘Metamorph’ with its 200 buildings and projects, but also the various country pavilions and numerous other special shows such as ‘Morphing Lights, Floating Shadows’ (on architectural photography) or ‘Città d’Acqua’ (Cities on Water). The book offers a compact, comprehensive overview of current world architecture.
Content
Rem Koolhaas
Taschen Verlag 2004
ISBN 3-8228-30790-4
It’s cheap (only €9.99 in Europe), looks like a store catalogue and is stuffed full of facts and contentious visions of the future: with his follow-up to ‘S.M.L.XL’ and ‘Shopping’, Rem Koolhaas has turned his attention to a wider audience than ever before, going way beyond mere architecture. Koolhaas and his co-authors take the reader on an encyclopaedic world journey from West to East. The future of the Ruhrgebiet (Ruhr Basin) in Germany, a possible future European flag and the evolution of terror – all are laid out in random style like a collage. ‘Content’ can scarcely be considered a book in the classical sense; it is more similar to a magazine or reference book.