Isa Genzken, open, sesame!

Open, Sesame!’ is the title of sculptor Isa Genzken’s comprehensive solo exhibition at the Museum Ludwig in Cologne and the Whitechapel Gallery in London. This catalogue highlights the complexity and continuity of the artist’s work. In the in-depth essay ‘The clochard and the architect’, Yve-Alain Bois draws together strands of architecture and consumer culture, themes that run through Isa Genzken’s work. In addition, 20 authors deliver short monographs, each dealing in detail with specific pieces or groups of work. Kasper König discusses Isa Genzken’s outdoor projects with the artist herself, while ellipse and hyperbolas are the topic of Ulrich Loocks contribution. Donna De Salvo, chief curator at the Whitney Museum, writes about the ‘columns’ and artist and curator Helmut Draxler tackles ‘Ground Zero’. Film curator Ian White discusses the films ‘Chicago Drive’ and ‘My Grandparents in the Bavarian forest’. Furthermore, there are contributions from the artists Dan Graham, Wolfgang Tillmans and Lawrence Weiner. More than three decades of Isa Genzken’s artistic development is illustrated with around 160 images, some of which, such as the colour picture of her ‘tulip project’ for Amsterdam, are published for the first time in this book. The extensive appendix contains an elaborate and revised biography and bibliography. This is a new definitive book on one of the most important artists of our time.