Books published by Washington University, Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum

Over the past two decades, the Chinese conceptual artist, activist, and exile Ai Weiwei has created art that addresses complex and sensitive themes of political, ethical, and social urgency. His artworks, which call upon both Western and Chinese cultural traditions, are deeply engaged with the history of art, drawing particularly on conceptualism and minimalism. Informed by the readymade--central to the work of Marcel Duchamp and Andy Warhol--his work questions the status of the work of art itself, blurring the lines between art and non-art, invention and appropriation, structure and openness, even fiction and fact. From the start of his multifaceted career in the late 1970s, Ai has envisioned artistic practice as a deeply human, moral, and political endeavor. This volume--a hybrid between a scholarly study and an exhibition catalog--presents the artist's work in dialogue with theoretical texts by the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben and the German-Jewish philosopher Hannah Arendt alongside interpretive essays that illuminate the artist's work on human rights, his engagement with historical Chinese artifacts, and his critical consideration of the effects of globalization. The book includes a new essay on human rights by Ai Weiwei and an interview in which he discusses his artwork and activism. It also features installation photographs of the corresponding exhibition. By exploring Ai Weiwei's artistic practice in dialogue with philosophies, theories, and concepts that connect human life and political power, this publication offers new insights into one of the most important artists working today.

Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the same name at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, this title presents the work of contemporary video artists from around the world who use their medium to probe traumatic experiences and their aftermath.

Explores thematic connections between some of the most influential artists working in Germany. This title examines works by Franz Ackermann, Cosima von Bonin, Charline von Heyl, Thomas Demand, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Isa Genzken, Sergej Jensen, Michel Majerus, Manfred Pernice, Wolfgang Tillmans, and Corinne Wasmuht.

Focusing on the handmade and performative aspects of history and material culture, this title re-stages, refigures, and replays the role of traditional crafts in large-scale installations that reconsider the construction of collective memory and identity.

Explores how artists used chance in modernist art from the beginning of the twentieth century through the early 1970s. This title brings together a broad range of artistic practices that cede an element of authorial intent.

War and disaster have shaped the first years of the twenty-first century, both in the United States and throughout the world. This title includes works that consider the ways in which war and conflict around the world affect - or fail to affect - our everyday life.

Thaddeus Strode's vibrant large-scale paintings are universes unto themselves: wild mash-ups of California surf and skateboard culture, Zen philosophy, rock music, literature, film, and comic books. This title marks the artist's first major museum show.