ROBERT FLECK

In 1995 the Austrian Franz West transformed the terraces of the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles into a glorious salon, with ranks of metal sofas draped with bright African fabrics: a new kind of public art for weary museum visitors. Drawing inspiration from the history of art (reclining icons such as Manets Olympia), psychoanalysis (Freuds sofa in Wests native Vienna) and a socially interactive type of art, his work is at once both personal and public. As one of Europes best-known sculptors, West is regularly invited to such major surveys as Skulptur Projekte in Munster and Documenta. He has gained particular recognition for incorporating the bodies of his spectators into his sculpture, producing oddly-hued forms called Passstucke (adaptives) plaster sculptures designed to be worn, and which contort the wearer into bizarre positions. Packed with wondeful photographs, this book is an indispensable guide to the diverse, allusive and witty structures, collages and installations of this important and prolific artist.

Peter Fischli David Weiss The first monogaph on the witty, celebrated Swiss duo.Survey by Robert Fleck, Interview by Beate Sontgen, Focus by Arthur C Danto, Artist's Choice text by Robert Walser, Writings by Fischli & Weiss Peter Fischli (b.1952) and David Weiss (b.1946) are highly prestigious contemporary artists who work collaboratively on sculpture, photography and video Their unique, varied and playful work was chosen to represent Switzerland in the Venice Biennales of 1995 and 2003, and won the Leone d'Oro Prize at the latter They have exhibited extensively worldwide, with solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (1988), the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1992) and Tate Modern, London (2006) This is the first time they have agreed to the publication of a monograph on their workRobert Fleck is Director of the Deichtorhallen in Hamburg. He has been working as an art critic and curator since 1981. From 1991-3 he was the Federal Curator for Austrian contemporary art, and in 1998 he co-curated Manifesta 2. From 2000-3 he was Director of ERBAN Fine Art School in Nantes. His books include Die Muhl-Kommune (2003) and Yves Klein (2004). Beate Sontgen is Professor of Art History at Ruhr University, Bochum, Germany. From 2003-4 she was Laurenz-Professor of Contemporary Art at Basel University, Switzerland, and from 1998-2002 Assistant Professor at the Academy of Fine Arts, Braunschweig, Germany. She has published several books and contributed to many catalogues and publications, including Texte zur Kunst and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ). Arthur C. Danto is Johnsonian Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Columbia University, New York, and the art critic for The Nation. His books include Unnatural Wonders: Essays from the Gap between Art and Life (2005), Beyond the Brillo Box: The Visual Arts in Post Historical Perspective and Encounters (1992), and Reflections: Art in the Historical Present (1992), which won the Book Critics Circle Award.