Description

Paul Thek in Process emerged from the discovery of an unrealized publishing project by the American artist Paul Thek (1933–1988), which had been discussed while installing his first immersive environment, Pyramid/A Work in Progress , in 1971, and which was meant to have been published on the occasion of documenta 5. For this project, around 800 images were taken documenting the installation process, as well as the final form of this fundamental work of installation art of the seventies.

The book not only contains a wealth of previously unpublished images, but also analyzes the complex organizational task involved in the conception and subsequent realization of the installation. It offers a behind-the-scenes look at the exhibition, paying particular attention to the status of ephemeral objects that remain as contingent representatives of the lost work.

The selected and reproduced archival material is conceived as a curatorial endeavor in itself, insofar as it reintegrates what had been left out of the history of art and exhibitions. Consequently, the book adopts a documentary and fragmentary approach, including numerous contact sheets and a wide selection of photographs, all remaining correspondence between the artist and the institution, ephemera related to the exhibition and the artwork, as well as press coverage of the event.

Editor
Susanne Neubauer

Technical specifications
Edited by: JRP | Ringier
Year: 2012
Type: Book
Binding: Paperback
Dimensions: 23 x 16 cm
Weight: 290 gr
Language: English
Pages: 144
ISBN: 978-3-03764-253-5