Valérie Knoll Books

The volume was published following Tobias Kaspar?s 2018 solo exhibition at Kunsthalle Bern. Titled ?Independence,? it featured teddy bears marching in troops through the galleries and rappelling from the glass ceiling, extras in front of pieces of scenery from a stage version of One Flew over the Cuckoo?s Nest. Just like in the ?lm, where one of the inmates derails the rules of the asylum, Kaspar?in adopting the rules of art and fashion, which he uses, subverts and perverts?asserted independence within the institution?s set of rules. The publication assembles numerous works and exhibitions of the past ten years, including The Street, the blockbuster the artist realized at the Cinecittà Studios in Rome in 2016. Many other texts as well as a roundtable discussion with Anke Dyes, Jakob Schillinger, Tobias Kaspar himself and the editors, Valérie Knoll and Hannes Loichinger, provide a range of different perspectives on Kaspar?s practice.00Exhibition: Kunshalle Bern, Switzerland (22.09. - 02.12.2018).

The New York gallery American Fine Arts whose name today is largely synony mous with that of its gallerist, Colin de Land, stands for a gallery practice in which a decided deviation from conventional models overlaps with successful activities within the institutional frame of the art market. Even today, AFA and de Land prove to be uncontested projection screens for the desire for independence or for bohemian resistance against the dictates of the market. Particularly in retrospect, a consistent image of the gallery just does not present itself. Faced with the obvious risk of romanticization, this publication seeks to understand how AFA actually functioned as a gallery within its specific context. Contributions from artists and academics including Andrea Fraser, Karl Holmqvist and Tobias Kaspar, Christian Philipp Muller, Josef Strau, Axel John Wieder, among others.

A cultural examination of the enigmatically iconic figure of the Dandy, both in history and as a figure for the future.No sooner had the first Dandy entered the scene at the beginning of the nineteenth century than he was declared dead. This enigmatic yet immediately iconic figure would remake an entrance again and again in the decades that followed. Like an elegant harbinger, Dandys arrive in times of crisis when societies are undergoing transformation. Like the hands of a clock, their silhouettes become messengers of change. But they are contours of change that carry no message. While everything is already in flames, they debate the shape of their shoes and sip oysters to combat their depression. For a long time, literature was their playing field. Marcel Duchamp transferred their attitude into the realm art. It is there that Dandyism has to this day run rampant--but as if it were an embarrassing illness to which almost no one wants to admit, yet with which many people are itching to at least flirt.This essay traces out the masked ball of the Dandy and his manner of playing with its rules up to the present day and produces a unique narrative from one that offers a view into the future.

The atmosphere in Jill Mulleady's paintings is one of foreboding; of an underlying tension about to be unleashed. Tragedy lurks in open suitcases, displays of sea creatures, and sinks filled with dirty dishes. Another nightmarish layer lies dormant behind the dream like setting of almost all her compositions. You can't quite put your finger on it: it lies in the future, beyond the painting. It is the feeling of change yet to come. This publication is released following Mulleady's first institutional exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bern and presents the artist's paintings from 2015 to 2021. Philipp Kaiser, John Kelsey and Valérie Knoll provide a variety of perspectives in their essays as they delve into her approach as a painter with a background in theatre.Texts in English and German.