Raphael Gygax

Ian Cheng

Franziska Bigger

Forking at Perfection

Sibylle Berg

Writer Sibylle Berg has the eye of an entomologist: Under her gaze, humanity falls into a taxonomy of wretched characters, full of dramas and impossible dreams--though she always manages to carry them through their travails with a dose of empathy and a sense of humor. In this novella, previously unpublished in English, Berg boldly relates the lives of two children growing up in East Germany. They communicate through the things that were not said, the projects that came to nothing, their loneliness, boredom and confinement. The story allows for positive endings, but is no average coming of age narrative. Berg was born in Weimar in 1962, and though she currently lives in Zurich, she is still heralded as one of Germany's most provocative writers. This beautifully produced, small-edition volume includes illustrations by Swiss artist, Andro Wekua and American Rita Ackermann.

By the Way, Did I Ever Tell You

Heike Munder

The appearance of HIV/AIDS in the early 1980s and its subsequent rapid spread left deep marks on society. Artists and activists across the world responded to both the illness itself and its effects with moving work that reflects on loss, remembrance, and activism in art. United by AIDS sheds light on the multifaceted and complex interrelation between art and HIV/AIDS from the 1980s to the present. Published to accompany an exhibition at Zurich's Migros Museum of Contemporary Art (Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst), it looks at the blurred lines between art production and HIV/AIDS activism and showcases artists who played-and still play-leading roles in this discourse. Alongside fifty illustrations of important works, including many in color, the book includes brief texts on the featured artists and essays by Douglas Crimp, Alexander García Düttmann, Raphael Gygax, Elsa Himmer, Ted Kerr, Elisabeth Lebovici, and Nurja Ritter.

An Anthology on Art in Response to HIV / AIDS

United by AIDS

Based on the PhD research of Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst's curator Raphael Gygax this title investigates an artistic phenomenon that started in the 1990s in the field of the performing arts, and is characterized by artists using 'other bodies' in their practices and making their 'vitality' a central part of their artworks.One of the main strategies of this approach is using the specific social roles of these other bodies, thus making the societal dimension a core element of the work--these other bodies are also described as 'extras'.This volume contextualizes the appearance of these other bodies in the broader context of the 1990s, especially in relation to Relational Aesthetics and its theoretical devices. The publication also analyses the transition from the use of a 'bio-political' body to a 'psycho-political' body, as seen over the last 30 years.Through successive case studies the author develops a typology of the 'extra body' and explores its different contexts and references. This art historical research is also linked to an investigation of the relationship between the performing body and its assimilation into the art market and the global art system.The exhibition sections, shed light on this phenomenon and its historical predecessors from the 1960s to the present day, are represented in the book by short texts and an extensive image section.Published with Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst (Zurich, Switzerland) on occasion of the exhibition of the same title, 18 Nov 2017 - 4 Feb 2018.Part of the JRP Ringier Migros Museum series.GERMAN TEXT ONLY

Raphael Gygax

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