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›Dunkler Kontinent‹, ›Elendsgebiet‹ oder ›Rohstofflager der Welt‹, noch immer denken und reden wir über Afrika in Stereotypen. Und noch immer ist der Maßstab, mit dem wir den Zustand und die Perspektive des Kontinents beurteilen, das Entwicklungsmodell des Westens, selbst wenn sich dieses weltweit als höchst zerstörerisch erwiesen hat. In seinem bahnbrechenden Manifest, das zugleich Analyse und Utopie ist, fordert Felwine Sarr eine wirkliche Entkolonialisierung Afrikas, indem es sich auf seine vergessenen und verdrängten geistigen Ressourcen zurückbesinnt, ohne gleichwohl den Kontakt mit der Moderne zu verleugnen. So findet sich eine Fülle kulturellen und geistigen Reichtums, die auf ein anderes, ausgeglicheneres Verhältnis zwischen den Menschen und zwischen Mensch und Natur verweist. Die afrikanische Kulturrevolution bietet dabei auch für den Rest des Planeten dringend benötigte Ansätze, um eine bewusstere und würdevollere Zivilisation zu begründen. In 35 Jahren wird ein Viertel der Weltbevölkerung in Afrika zuhause sein – höchste Zeit, die verborgene Lebenskraft des Kontinents zu entdecken und das Zeitalter des Afrofuturismus einzuläuten. ↑ ↓ ↓

A reproduction of one of the architect’s personal sketchbooks this beautiful volume contains fifty-two drawings and collages that explore the passage of time and the possibility of a tender architecture. The thoughts and drawings in this book were made in the month of January, 1994, Hejduk explains, I wanted to make two architectures in love . . . to have architectural intercourse on every level...chromosomic exchange.The drawings are explained in his essay Sketchbook Notes, and Still Life/Dead Nature elucidates his thoughts about space. ↑ ↓ ↓

How happened that Chì, Chià and Chiò ended up in a cage? Munari tells a story that will make us desire to open all those cages and make these little birds free again. A tale of three little birds is one of the eight books of the historic 1945 series. Munari devised these lively albums for children using large pictures, pages and inserts of different sizes and varying holes to arouse the curiosity of the observer and let him litteraly hang at each page. ↑ ↓ ↓

Page after page Bruno Munari shows us a world hidden in the stones, populated by characters drawn along the stone’s lines and veins. While smiling at a monkey grabbed at the lianes-streaks we understand that the point of view can change a lot our perception of reality: a complex and philosophical theme tackled through a simple joke. An important book to see less and watch a little bit more. ↑ ↓ ↓

The box set publication No more racing in circles – just pacing within lines of a rectangle is Tris Vonna-Michell’s reflection on the impact of performing several narrations during a concentrated timespan over a number of years. The package contains forty-four sheets printed on a Heidelberg offset press, while the accompanying colophon introduces each sheet in the box set; together they represent the performative aspect of Vonna-Michell´s practice in the form of score and transcription. No more racing in circles – just pacing within lines of a rectangle addresses several time markers in Vonna-Michell’s practice as well as the durational aspect of writing and performing. Limited edition artist’s box set of 200 copies containing forty-four loose pages ↑ ↓ ↓

DISCULPE. On bus travel, the cycle of gifting and counter-gifting and a quest for meaning. During their performances travelling on the city busses of Medellín and Bogotá, the hawkers locally known as “vendedores ambulantes” dish out compliments and pleasantries to their audience, as well as excessive apologies and gratitude. As these busses are flagged down by prospective travellers along the route, they face the crowd with all of their spectators already conveniently seated in front-facing rows. The vendors practice something that may be loosely described as “rebusque”, or “the quest for what makes a life”. What this boils down to is making money with whatever is readily available: chocolate bars, ballpoint pens, music or stories. The German-Colombian artist Jan Lotter Benavides has collected 65 such scenes in his unpretentiously laid out, heartfelt small-format book. Titled DISCULPE, it revolves around his clear and knowledgeable transcripts of recordings he made secretly while in Colombia on a travel scholarship from Hessische Kulturstiftung, the Cultural Foundation of the State of Hesse (Germany). It quickly becomes clear that the “vendedores” provide more than just a show, and that the audience gives them more than just small change; in fact, it is about much more than surplus value. In the ethos becoming apparent here we begin to witness a cycle of gifting and counter-gifting that marks the entire practice out as an act of existence rather than one of subsistence. Life is remembered, imagined and narrated as something that is by necessity shared. The bus is then turned into a theatre of a common symbolic space, and it is on this stage that something akin to catharsis becomes possible. ↑ ↓ ↓

From the book's cover: "By reactivating the 1971 Portuguese version of Aimé Césaire's text _Discours sur le colonialisme_ through the reproduction of a facsimile of the original publication together with a copy of the censor's report and her own notes, Filipa César traces a complex course between past and present encapsulated in the clandestine existence and public absence of the publication in Portugal." Published on the occasion of the exhibition 1975, Madam Luxembourg in 2012. ↑ ↓ ↓

During ‘wonder, wander’, a collective walk across Jordan organized by the Spring Sessions annual artist residency, Thomas Amouyal, Sara Elkamel and Charlotte York arrived in Wadi Rum, welcomed by a ruthlessly dry heat. One morning in the red desert, they improvised a workshop where they gave the rest of the group a series of drawing and writing prompts. The collaboration sparked the idea for The Ex-Clown, The Fan, The Stranger, and I, a book that proposes 161 prompts to draw and write. The trio wrote it in September 2018 on the Greek island of Tinos—in between visits to a green beach—with the generous encouragement and contribution of Spring Sessions curators Noura Al Khasawneh and Toleen Touq and the ‘wondering, wandering’ artists present on the island: Hanaa Safwat, Kari Rosenfeld, Raymond Gemayel, Gian Spina Nuno Cassola, Parastoo Anoushahpour, Noura Salem, Melika Abdel Razzak and Soraya Ghezelbash. The publication was designed by Åbäke, translated into Arabic by Yasmine Zohdi, proofread by Habiba Effat, published by Dent-De-Leone and produced with support by The Mohammad and Mahera Abu Ghazaleh Foundation (MMAG). Imagined as a generative tool for artists and educators, the book prompts its users to make drawings and write texts that respond to everyday objects, imaginary characters, as well as physical and celestial bodies. As they create stories of their own, there’s an invitation for the book’s users to engage with the mundane, the absurd and the profound. ↑ ↓ ↓

Dogs Devouring Dead Horses was a collaboration between the artist Runa Islam and the designer Manuel Raeder subsequent to the exhibition she held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (Projects 95, 2011). The artist provided Raeder with stills from four films on display: Emergence (2011), This Much Is Uncertain (2009–2010), Magical Consciousness (2010) and The House Belongs to Those Who Inhabit It (2008). And Raeder, according to the introduction by Milovan Farronato, „gave back to Islam a ‘sculpture in print’ that does not just document the exhibition and offer a view of the three newer works on display, but draws upon the concepts underpinning the exhibition and the work of the filmmaker.“ ↑ ↓ ↓

Rosetta is one of the most popular restaurants in Mexico City. Since its doors first opened in 2010, it has reinvented what a Mexican restaurant can be: through sincere, ingredient-based cuisine that both revives and challenges tradition; through its commitment to serving local and seasonal produce grown by small-scale, sustainable producers; and through its location and attention to detail, creating a vibrant and welcoming atmosphere. The first book by Elena Reygadas, chef and owner of Rosetta, is more than a cookbook. For one thing, she shares a selection of her recipes from the present and the past. But she also offers a series of reflections on many different topics: from the social and environmental impact of industrialized food, to personal recollections, to the history of little-known Mexican ingredients. ↑ ↓ ↓

The book accompanies Little animals, ash trays (a project by Rometti Costales in the CA2M Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid) and functions as a compendium of distinct materials that revolve around their artistic practice of the last few years; at the same time it is an essential component of the project. The book is structured by a conversation between the artists and Juan Canela, curator and editor of the book, which provides space for a range of graphic materials and various contributions written specifically for it by Quinn Latimer, Yasmil Raymond, Elfi Turpin, Magalí Arriola, and Manuel Cirauqui. This book is written in English and Spanish. ↑ ↓ ↓