The long overdue first solo exhibition in Europe of the late American painter Jack Whitten, "Jack's Jack's," opened in Spring 2019 at the Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin. The publisher of Texte zur Kunst, Isabelle Graw, took this unique exhibition as an opportunity to examine Whitten's work with regard to his latent animism. Her considerations go far beyond those of a review of the limited show, endeavoring instead to put the works shown in Berlin into the context of Whitten's larger oeuvre.

The seemingly unfulfillable search for pleasure and enjoyment is at the core of what drives us as human beings. This fact is exploited by the systems of modern capital around the world, where pleasure is structurally linked to the work we do and the gratification it supposedly affords us. But pleasure and enjoyment are also central entry points into the practice of psychoanalysis. So, where do the two come together—psychoanalysis and modern forms of labor? This shared axis structures Berlin-based philosopher Samo Tomšič's latest book, The Labour of Enjoyment. Recently, co-founder and publisher of Texte zur Kunst, Isabelle Graw, sat down with Tomšič to discuss the implications of his recent study for the field of art.

The work of the Argentinian artist Valentina Liernur sits squarely between the disciplines of performance and painting, both of which are often suffused in her exhibitions and installations. A new group of Liernur’s work was recently exhibited in their native Buenos Aires, and local artist and architect, Ana Vogelfang, offers her take on the significant of Liernur’s work.

Amid the controversy surrounding the recent withdrawal of the art prize awarded to Walid Raad by the City of Aachen, we turn our attention to neighboring Holland, where Raad was recently the recipient of his first solo exhibition in the country. As the exhibition closes, Sven Lütticken offers an analysis of the stakes of Raad’s practice beyond the dividing lines of camps and geopolitical crises. Raad’s multifarious practice puts the relationship of the archive and memory into question, building metafictional narratives out of the war-torn past of his native Beirut. In the context of the so-called “crisis of truth,” Raad’s work points away from knee-jerk claims to certainty and documentary fact, instead moving ever deeper into the fundamental void at the heart of any archive.

Im dritten und letzten Teil des Wien-Rundgangs bespricht Melanie Ohnemus die Ausstellung "would you say this is the day?" von Nora Schultz. In ihrer Installation überschreitet Schultz zeitliche und räumliche Begrenzungen der Secession und fordert die Betrachter*in in ihren Überlegungen zu Gravitation und optischer Wahrnehmung heraus.

Ever since the emergence of Relational Aesthetics in the 1990s, museums and other collecting institutions have had to think differently about how they commission or acquire works that depend on audiences; where audiences are part of the work itself. No one's practice embodies this challenge more than that of Rirkrit Tiravanija, whose early cooking performances were at pains to turn the elitist space of the gallery into a welcoming event that nourished those in attendance with food and not just nice things to look at. Recently, a new Tiravanija work was acquired by the major Washington, DC institution for contemporary art, the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Art historian and critic Julia Bernard offers her take on the unusual stakes for food in the spaces of high art.

Anschließend an unsere aktuelle Ausgabe “Literatur" präsentieren wir einen Text zur Geschlechterpolitik im sogenannten Genre der Autofiktion. Nachdem wir uns also mit der Analyse der Autofiktion beschäftigt haben, wenden wir uns nun der Rezeption und Einordnung von Texten zu, die diesem Genre zugeschriebenen werden. Dabei fallen bekannte und erstaunlich alte Muster auf. Die Wissenschaftlerin Isabel Mehl versteht die Autofiktion als eine taktische Aneignung der Autobiografie durch diejenigen, die bisher von diesem Genre ausgeschlossen waren/sich von diesem ausgeschlossen fühlten. Worin liegt das das kritische Potential dieser Texte, die der strategische Einsatz der Ich-Perspektive eint?