Barbara Preisig | Zurich University of the Arts (original) (raw)

Papers by Barbara Preisig

Third Text, 2024

This interlude follows the AAH conference, when all of the authors who contribute to the special ... more This interlude follows the AAH conference, when all of the authors who contribute to the special journal edition are present. Their wide-ranging conversation covers the idea and possibilities of a polyphonic history of art. This interlude is a starting point, a jumping off point from where a group of authors, researchers and artists reflect on new ways of thinking about, and new ways of presenting, art history. Their conversation develops an ambition to move away from the well-trodden and often reductive methodological frameworks of art history, as they debate ideas around transnationalism, globalism, artist-centric art histories and the idea of artist as author. This interlude is about collective endeavours, both by the subjects being discussed in each paper, and by the authors who are writing about them.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2018

Dynamiken des Werks? Robert Barry versandte 1969 eine Einladung, die dem Publikum mitteilte, die ... more Dynamiken des Werks? Robert Barry versandte 1969 eine Einladung, die dem Publikum mitteilte, die Galleria Sperone sei während der Ausstellung geschlossen: »During the exhibition the gallery will be closed.« Die Galerie schloss tatsächlich vorübergehend ihre Türen. Auf und mit dieser unscheinbaren Karte, die heute längst Sammlerstatus hat, verschmelzen das Kunstwerk und seine rahmenden Elemente. Die Einladung, die traditionell die Ausstellung bewirbt, tritt hier nicht nur an deren Stelle, sondern ersetzt auch das objekthafte Werk. Barrys Werk steht stellvertretend für künstlerische Praktiken, die auf Bereiche der Vermittlung und Werbung übergreifen. Das Beispiel verdeutlicht, dass der kunsthistorische Werkbegriff heute über die materielle Herstellung etwa eines Bildes oder einer Skulptur hinausgeht. Es provoziert aber auch die Frage danach, inwiefern wir überhaupt noch von einem Werk sprechen können. Wo hört ein Kunstwerk auf und wo beginnt sein Kontext? Lässt sich diese Grenze beliebig festlegen? Und wer legt sie fest? Kunst kann heute oftmals nicht klar von ihrer Rahmung getrennt werden. In Kunstwerken, aber auch bei der Gestaltung und Konzeption von Einladungskarten, Werbeanzeigen, Ausstellungskatalogen und-displays, Zeitschriften, Vortragsreihen oder Webseiten verschränken sich künstlerische, kuratorische und theoretische Praktiken. Diese Tendenz setzte spätestens in den 1960er Jahren ein, als KünstlerInnen begannen, mit ihrer Praxis auf Bereiche des Ausstellens, der Vermittlung und der

Third Text, 2004

What if an art work changes its shape and sense with every encounter? Is there such a thing as po... more What if an art work changes its shape and sense with every encounter? Is there such a thing as polyphonic meaning, resulting from the interactions with an art work? Barbara Preisig’s semi-fictional play brings the reader to a scene at Kunstmuseum Bern. It tells the story of a guided public tour through El Anatsui’s Solo exhibition Triumphant Scale. The curator, eager to provide key information about the works, finds herself in a vivid discussion around Anatsui’s work Gravity and Grace. Does the art work’s shape resemble an elephant? Should the patterns remind us of the colorful Ghanaian fabrics or, in contrast, do they depict nothing but light, form, transparency and physicality? May El Anatsui be called an African artist or not?
The audience – among them a protestant pastor, a musician, the artist, five year old Emma – gathers on stage, observed by the narrator, who listens closely to their interpretations. When suddenly five historical busts, part of the neo-classical staircase, get involved in an argument with the art work, the discussion threatens to get out of hand.

Brand-New-Life, 2023

The wooden chair sits hard under my bones, my neck is tense. My view is partly obstructed by the ... more The wooden chair sits hard under my bones, my neck is tense. My view is partly obstructed by the heads of students. The projection field is small compared to the size of the art space in Zurich West, where the public event takes place. On view is Andrea Fraser’s 2022 video performance This meeting is being recorded. The artist reenacts parts of Group Relations meetings she had held with other white- and female-identifying people about manifestations of internal racism in the U.S. I am following this well-tempered conversation. And while I analyze the group dynamics in the film from a certain distance, my chair suddenly begins to tremble.
This piece is a field report on the collapsing boundaries between art work, audience and class room, on confused speakers-positions, shared silences and monophonic discussions.

1 p.m. Becoming Grid I did not want to miss the day-long screening of her new film, This meeting ... more 1 p.m. Becoming Grid I did not want to miss the day-long screening of her new film, This meeting is being recorded (2022), at the Luma Foundation in Zurich, nor the subsequent discussion between Andrea Fraser and curator and psychotherapist Jamie Stevens. And I decided to attend the event together with students of my BA Fine Arts class. I always liked Fraser's work for its use of everyday gestures and role play to interrogate the institutional conditions in which art comes into existence. And because the artist never limits herself to pointing fingers, but willingly gets herself into trouble as well. In Fraser's work, the social conditions being criticized are never just out there, but always part of ourselves and the institutions that we ourselves constitute. Fraser has radicalized this relational selfquestioning in recent years by increasingly applying her experiences from Group Relations conferences to her artistic practice. Group Relations is an experiential learning and research method that developed in the 1950s out of the work of British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion. Group Relations is sually practiced in the format of a multiday gathering, with individuals BARBARA PREISIG Barbara Preisig is an art historian and art critic whose research focuses on contemporary artistic practices and their social and political contexts. In exploring translocal, transdisciplinary, and nonacademic ways of writing and thinking, she addresses a range of subjects including artistic research, feminism, institutional studies, and the politics of authorship. Barbara Preisig is co-editor of Brand-New-Life.

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are...

After a five-year run, the magazine Frieze d/e will be discontinued. As a result of this, the Ger... more After a five-year run, the magazine Frieze d/e will be discontinued. As a result of this, the German-speaking world is losing an influential art critical voice. Barbara Preisig talked to Mareike Dittmer, co-publisher of Frieze d/e, about Frieze's consequential decision to from now on confine itself to English-language reporting.

Barbara Preisig More Publicity for Less Feminism Why has feminism become so popular in the arts i... more Barbara Preisig More Publicity for Less Feminism Why has feminism become so popular in the arts in the last few years? How can recent references to early feminist positions of the 1960s and 1970s, which have been updated and restored from a contemporary point of view through exhibition projects and events, be interpreted? “Performance Saga – Encounters with Pioneers of Performance Art” is an example of the renewed approval of gender-related topics in the arts. In their eight-DVD collection, Katrin Grogel and Andrea Saemann assemble interviews with Valie Export, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas, and Carolee Schneemann, among others. In so doing, they contribute to feminist art history of the twentieth century. Talking to the editors of “Performance Saga”, I was particularly interested in the reasons for the big media coverage of the project and in their marketing and self-marketing strategies. We will discuss their seemingly paradoxical decision to deny feminist concerns in the media and th...

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are...

Brand-New-Life, 15.12.2017, online: http://brand-new-life.org/b-n-l/learning-to-speak-2/, 2017

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are an attempt to reflect on the ways in which issues of blackness may be discussed in Switzerland-in art and with art. In passages, we even demonstrated such a way of speaking.

Brand-New-Life, 29.11.2017, online: http://brand-new-life.org/b-n-l-de/sprechen-lernen-teil-1/, 2017

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are an attempt to reflect on the ways in which issues of blackness may be discussed in Switzerland-in art and with art. In passages, we even demonstrated such a way of speaking.

Paratexte. Scharnier zwischen Produktion, Vermittlung und Rezeption, hrsg. von Lucie Kolb, Barbara Preisig und Judith Welter, Zürich/Berlin: Diaphanes 2018, S. 83–100, 2018

Transdisziplinarität in Kunst, Design, Architektur und Kunstgeschichte, hrsg. von Kornelia Imesch, Karin Daguet, Jessica Dieffenbacher und Deborah Strebel, Oberhausen: Athena, 2018, S. 85–97. , 2018

The Air Will Not Deny You. Zürich im Zeichen einer anderen Globalität, 2016

Books by Barbara Preisig

Trading Zones. Camera Work in Artistic and Ethnographic Research, ed. by Barbara Preisig, Laura von Niederhäusern, and Jürgen Krusche, Berlin: Archive Books 2022, 2022

This book introduces camera-based practices at the intersections of artistic and ethnographic res... more This book introduces camera-based practices at the intersections of
artistic and ethnographic research that critically examine the means
of their own production and social embeddedness. In shared practices
such as recording in the field, editing in post-production and modes
of presentation, the camera is involved as an agent rather than an innocent
device. How does the camera grapple with the invisible and how
does it reveal what the camerawoman is unable to see? How do films,
videos and photographs provide access to vulnerable knowledges
and what presentation formats can extend the linearity of narration?
Taking account of their own situatedness and the limits of representation,
many of this book’s contributors attempt to speak with — rather than
about — the other. These negotiations appearing in the featured projects
open up a shared field of artistic and ethnographic inquiry, whose
potential — for experiments and reflections — is far from exhausted.

Contributions by Sepideh Abtahi, Shirin Barghnavard, Laura Coppens, Louis Henderson, Heidrun Holzfeind, Mina Keshavarz, Daniel Kötter, Jürgen Krusche, Bärbel Küster, Bina Elisabeth Mohn, Laura von Niederhäusern,
Uriel Orlow, Barbara Preisig, Rani al Raji, Nahid Rezaei, Anette Rose,
Sahar Salahshoori, Christoph Schenker, Amira Solh, Lena Maria
Thüring, and Zheng Mahler

Paratexte, 2018

In der zeitgenössischen Kunst entstehen Werke, die in der paratextuellen Form von Einladungskarte... more In der zeitgenössischen Kunst entstehen Werke, die in der paratextuellen Form von Einladungskarten, Ausstellungskatalogen, Zeitschriften, Webseiten und ähnlichem in Erscheinung treten oder die, scheinbar losgelöst vom Werk, nur noch in Form von Erzählungen weiter bestehen. Heute können Kunstwerke nicht mehr unabhängig von ihrem Rezeptionskontext gelesen werden, und Formen der Vermittlung selbst sind in die künstlerische Produktion eingegangen. An der Schnittstelle von Rezeption, institutioneller Rahmung und künstlerischem Format angesiedelt, verschränken sich in ihrer Gestaltung und Konzeption oftmals künstlerische, kuratorische und theoretische Praktiken. Im vorliegenden Buch werden paratextuelle Phänomene in der Kunst diskutiert; gleichzeitig wird dieser von Gérard Genette entlehnte Begriff auf die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen seiner Verwendbarkeit für die Untersuchung zeitgenössischer künstlerischer Praxis hin untersucht.

Mit Beiträgen von Beatrice von Bismarck, Annette Gilbert, Eva Kernbauer, Lucie Kolb, Antje Krause-Wahl, Rachel Mader, Barbara Preisig und Judith Welter.

Third Text, 2024

This interlude follows the AAH conference, when all of the authors who contribute to the special ... more This interlude follows the AAH conference, when all of the authors who contribute to the special journal edition are present. Their wide-ranging conversation covers the idea and possibilities of a polyphonic history of art. This interlude is a starting point, a jumping off point from where a group of authors, researchers and artists reflect on new ways of thinking about, and new ways of presenting, art history. Their conversation develops an ambition to move away from the well-trodden and often reductive methodological frameworks of art history, as they debate ideas around transnationalism, globalism, artist-centric art histories and the idea of artist as author. This interlude is about collective endeavours, both by the subjects being discussed in each paper, and by the authors who are writing about them.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2018

Dynamiken des Werks? Robert Barry versandte 1969 eine Einladung, die dem Publikum mitteilte, die ... more Dynamiken des Werks? Robert Barry versandte 1969 eine Einladung, die dem Publikum mitteilte, die Galleria Sperone sei während der Ausstellung geschlossen: »During the exhibition the gallery will be closed.« Die Galerie schloss tatsächlich vorübergehend ihre Türen. Auf und mit dieser unscheinbaren Karte, die heute längst Sammlerstatus hat, verschmelzen das Kunstwerk und seine rahmenden Elemente. Die Einladung, die traditionell die Ausstellung bewirbt, tritt hier nicht nur an deren Stelle, sondern ersetzt auch das objekthafte Werk. Barrys Werk steht stellvertretend für künstlerische Praktiken, die auf Bereiche der Vermittlung und Werbung übergreifen. Das Beispiel verdeutlicht, dass der kunsthistorische Werkbegriff heute über die materielle Herstellung etwa eines Bildes oder einer Skulptur hinausgeht. Es provoziert aber auch die Frage danach, inwiefern wir überhaupt noch von einem Werk sprechen können. Wo hört ein Kunstwerk auf und wo beginnt sein Kontext? Lässt sich diese Grenze beliebig festlegen? Und wer legt sie fest? Kunst kann heute oftmals nicht klar von ihrer Rahmung getrennt werden. In Kunstwerken, aber auch bei der Gestaltung und Konzeption von Einladungskarten, Werbeanzeigen, Ausstellungskatalogen und-displays, Zeitschriften, Vortragsreihen oder Webseiten verschränken sich künstlerische, kuratorische und theoretische Praktiken. Diese Tendenz setzte spätestens in den 1960er Jahren ein, als KünstlerInnen begannen, mit ihrer Praxis auf Bereiche des Ausstellens, der Vermittlung und der

Third Text, 2004

What if an art work changes its shape and sense with every encounter? Is there such a thing as po... more What if an art work changes its shape and sense with every encounter? Is there such a thing as polyphonic meaning, resulting from the interactions with an art work? Barbara Preisig’s semi-fictional play brings the reader to a scene at Kunstmuseum Bern. It tells the story of a guided public tour through El Anatsui’s Solo exhibition Triumphant Scale. The curator, eager to provide key information about the works, finds herself in a vivid discussion around Anatsui’s work Gravity and Grace. Does the art work’s shape resemble an elephant? Should the patterns remind us of the colorful Ghanaian fabrics or, in contrast, do they depict nothing but light, form, transparency and physicality? May El Anatsui be called an African artist or not?
The audience – among them a protestant pastor, a musician, the artist, five year old Emma – gathers on stage, observed by the narrator, who listens closely to their interpretations. When suddenly five historical busts, part of the neo-classical staircase, get involved in an argument with the art work, the discussion threatens to get out of hand.

Brand-New-Life, 2023

The wooden chair sits hard under my bones, my neck is tense. My view is partly obstructed by the ... more The wooden chair sits hard under my bones, my neck is tense. My view is partly obstructed by the heads of students. The projection field is small compared to the size of the art space in Zurich West, where the public event takes place. On view is Andrea Fraser’s 2022 video performance This meeting is being recorded. The artist reenacts parts of Group Relations meetings she had held with other white- and female-identifying people about manifestations of internal racism in the U.S. I am following this well-tempered conversation. And while I analyze the group dynamics in the film from a certain distance, my chair suddenly begins to tremble.
This piece is a field report on the collapsing boundaries between art work, audience and class room, on confused speakers-positions, shared silences and monophonic discussions.

1 p.m. Becoming Grid I did not want to miss the day-long screening of her new film, This meeting ... more 1 p.m. Becoming Grid I did not want to miss the day-long screening of her new film, This meeting is being recorded (2022), at the Luma Foundation in Zurich, nor the subsequent discussion between Andrea Fraser and curator and psychotherapist Jamie Stevens. And I decided to attend the event together with students of my BA Fine Arts class. I always liked Fraser's work for its use of everyday gestures and role play to interrogate the institutional conditions in which art comes into existence. And because the artist never limits herself to pointing fingers, but willingly gets herself into trouble as well. In Fraser's work, the social conditions being criticized are never just out there, but always part of ourselves and the institutions that we ourselves constitute. Fraser has radicalized this relational selfquestioning in recent years by increasingly applying her experiences from Group Relations conferences to her artistic practice. Group Relations is an experiential learning and research method that developed in the 1950s out of the work of British psychoanalyst Wilfred Bion. Group Relations is sually practiced in the format of a multiday gathering, with individuals BARBARA PREISIG Barbara Preisig is an art historian and art critic whose research focuses on contemporary artistic practices and their social and political contexts. In exploring translocal, transdisciplinary, and nonacademic ways of writing and thinking, she addresses a range of subjects including artistic research, feminism, institutional studies, and the politics of authorship. Barbara Preisig is co-editor of Brand-New-Life.

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are...

After a five-year run, the magazine Frieze d/e will be discontinued. As a result of this, the Ger... more After a five-year run, the magazine Frieze d/e will be discontinued. As a result of this, the German-speaking world is losing an influential art critical voice. Barbara Preisig talked to Mareike Dittmer, co-publisher of Frieze d/e, about Frieze's consequential decision to from now on confine itself to English-language reporting.

Barbara Preisig More Publicity for Less Feminism Why has feminism become so popular in the arts i... more Barbara Preisig More Publicity for Less Feminism Why has feminism become so popular in the arts in the last few years? How can recent references to early feminist positions of the 1960s and 1970s, which have been updated and restored from a contemporary point of view through exhibition projects and events, be interpreted? “Performance Saga – Encounters with Pioneers of Performance Art” is an example of the renewed approval of gender-related topics in the arts. In their eight-DVD collection, Katrin Grogel and Andrea Saemann assemble interviews with Valie Export, Martha Rosler, Joan Jonas, and Carolee Schneemann, among others. In so doing, they contribute to feminist art history of the twentieth century. Talking to the editors of “Performance Saga”, I was particularly interested in the reasons for the big media coverage of the project and in their marketing and self-marketing strategies. We will discuss their seemingly paradoxical decision to deny feminist concerns in the media and th...

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are...

Brand-New-Life, 15.12.2017, online: http://brand-new-life.org/b-n-l/learning-to-speak-2/, 2017

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are an attempt to reflect on the ways in which issues of blackness may be discussed in Switzerland-in art and with art. In passages, we even demonstrated such a way of speaking.

Brand-New-Life, 29.11.2017, online: http://brand-new-life.org/b-n-l-de/sprechen-lernen-teil-1/, 2017

On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhi... more On January 30, 2017 we published a review[b-n-l/painting-for-the-purpose-of-prestige/] of an exhibition by Lynette Yiadom-Boakye at Kunsthalle Basel on Brand-New-Life. One of the questions the article raises is why the debate accompanying the exhibition doesn't touch on the implications of the fact that the paintings of the British artist with Ghanaian roots depict exclusively dark-skinned figures. In response to the article, Elena Filipovic, the curator of the exhibition and Director of Kunsthalle Basel sought a dialog with us. We thereupon invited Elena and a few other individuals whose opinions on the topic we were curious about to a private discussion. Finding a date proved difficult, though. As a result, we ended up sitting in the Kunsthalle library twice with groups of, in each case, slightly different composition. Although the initial question was the same, the two discussions unfolded in different directions with different thematic priorities. Still, both discussions are an attempt to reflect on the ways in which issues of blackness may be discussed in Switzerland-in art and with art. In passages, we even demonstrated such a way of speaking.

Paratexte. Scharnier zwischen Produktion, Vermittlung und Rezeption, hrsg. von Lucie Kolb, Barbara Preisig und Judith Welter, Zürich/Berlin: Diaphanes 2018, S. 83–100, 2018

Transdisziplinarität in Kunst, Design, Architektur und Kunstgeschichte, hrsg. von Kornelia Imesch, Karin Daguet, Jessica Dieffenbacher und Deborah Strebel, Oberhausen: Athena, 2018, S. 85–97. , 2018

The Air Will Not Deny You. Zürich im Zeichen einer anderen Globalität, 2016

Trading Zones. Camera Work in Artistic and Ethnographic Research, ed. by Barbara Preisig, Laura von Niederhäusern, and Jürgen Krusche, Berlin: Archive Books 2022, 2022

This book introduces camera-based practices at the intersections of artistic and ethnographic res... more This book introduces camera-based practices at the intersections of
artistic and ethnographic research that critically examine the means
of their own production and social embeddedness. In shared practices
such as recording in the field, editing in post-production and modes
of presentation, the camera is involved as an agent rather than an innocent
device. How does the camera grapple with the invisible and how
does it reveal what the camerawoman is unable to see? How do films,
videos and photographs provide access to vulnerable knowledges
and what presentation formats can extend the linearity of narration?
Taking account of their own situatedness and the limits of representation,
many of this book’s contributors attempt to speak with — rather than
about — the other. These negotiations appearing in the featured projects
open up a shared field of artistic and ethnographic inquiry, whose
potential — for experiments and reflections — is far from exhausted.

Contributions by Sepideh Abtahi, Shirin Barghnavard, Laura Coppens, Louis Henderson, Heidrun Holzfeind, Mina Keshavarz, Daniel Kötter, Jürgen Krusche, Bärbel Küster, Bina Elisabeth Mohn, Laura von Niederhäusern,
Uriel Orlow, Barbara Preisig, Rani al Raji, Nahid Rezaei, Anette Rose,
Sahar Salahshoori, Christoph Schenker, Amira Solh, Lena Maria
Thüring, and Zheng Mahler

Paratexte, 2018

In der zeitgenössischen Kunst entstehen Werke, die in der paratextuellen Form von Einladungskarte... more In der zeitgenössischen Kunst entstehen Werke, die in der paratextuellen Form von Einladungskarten, Ausstellungskatalogen, Zeitschriften, Webseiten und ähnlichem in Erscheinung treten oder die, scheinbar losgelöst vom Werk, nur noch in Form von Erzählungen weiter bestehen. Heute können Kunstwerke nicht mehr unabhängig von ihrem Rezeptionskontext gelesen werden, und Formen der Vermittlung selbst sind in die künstlerische Produktion eingegangen. An der Schnittstelle von Rezeption, institutioneller Rahmung und künstlerischem Format angesiedelt, verschränken sich in ihrer Gestaltung und Konzeption oftmals künstlerische, kuratorische und theoretische Praktiken. Im vorliegenden Buch werden paratextuelle Phänomene in der Kunst diskutiert; gleichzeitig wird dieser von Gérard Genette entlehnte Begriff auf die Möglichkeiten und Grenzen seiner Verwendbarkeit für die Untersuchung zeitgenössischer künstlerischer Praxis hin untersucht.

Mit Beiträgen von Beatrice von Bismarck, Annette Gilbert, Eva Kernbauer, Lucie Kolb, Antje Krause-Wahl, Rachel Mader, Barbara Preisig und Judith Welter.

edition metzel, 2018

Jan Dibbets, Adrian Piper, Daniel Buren und Eleanor Antin schufen zwischen 1966 und 1975 in hoher... more Jan Dibbets, Adrian Piper, Daniel Buren und Eleanor Antin schufen zwischen 1966 und 1975 in hoher Auflage gedruckte Anzeigen und Ausstellungsankündigungen. Diese Ephemera – gleichzeitig Kunstwerke, Werbeinstrumente und Dokumentationen für künstlerische Aktionen – stehen exemplarisch für die kommunikationsbasierte, flexible und mobile Praxis der Konzeptkunst.

Das Buch zeigt mit Blick auf die ökonomische Entwicklung der Zeit, wie die KünstlerInnen Formen immaterieller Arbeit exemplarisch vorwegnahmen. Die Ephemera zeugen von einem komplexen Verhältnis zwischen der Kritik an hierarchischen Organisationsstrukturen und der Forderung nach Authentizität und Individualität. Autonomiebestreben und Institutionskritik bilden hierbei keinen Gegensatz zu ökonomischer Innovation. Sie sind Bedingung einer postfordistischen Gegenwart.

In the late 1960’s, artists such as Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Adrian Piper or Robert Barry commer... more In the late 1960’s, artists such as Daniel Buren, Dan Graham, Adrian Piper or
Robert Barry commercially produced and distributed exhibition invitations, posters and magazine advertisements and at the same time interrogated them in terms of their significance as PR- and advertising material. These printed artists’ ephemera simultaneously functioned as publicity tool for galleries and museums, as announcement or documentation of an action or exhibition, as well as proper art work. In the first section of this
paper I will do a close reading of some exemplary artworks by considering the advanced spectacular media culture of the 1960s in which not only works of art but social relationships in general were increasingly mediated. In the second part of this paper I will examine the growing importance of public relations- and advertising media by pointing out some connection lines between artist’s ephemera and what was called the creative revolution of the advertising industries that took place outside the art world in New York.