Bøger udgivet af Editions Skira Paris

Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007) was an Italian architect and designer known for his industrial and experimental designs. Winner of the prestigious Compaso de oro in 1959, the artist contributed through his work to going beyond functionalist theories after the war. Like his father before him, Sottsass studied architecture in Turin at the Politecnico, graduating in 1939. In 1947 he moved to Milan and founded his own design studio. In 1956 at the request of the painter and sculptor Sergio Cammilli, he became the artistic director of Poltronova, a new furniture company. Sottsass then created the Poltronova's logo and produced its first catalogues. This collaboration has a strong impact on the work of Sottsass, the catalogues constitute the support of his experimentations with geometric shapes, mixes of materials and vibrant colours. Between innovation and social criticism, the brand becomes a true standard bearer of Italian creation and collaborates with renowned artists such as Max Ernst. From 1960 to 1970, the ten years of collaboration between the designer and Poltronova, marked a period of almost total freedom for the Sottsass. A moment both rich in creations and decisive in establishing the designer's aesthetics that you can now discover in this book, through an analysis of Sottsass's work, advertising photos of the time, annotated sketches and his personal photographs.

This book references all the artist's periods and media: sculpture (plaster, bronze), paintings, drawings, prints... It will allow a comprehensive view of Alberto Giacometti's creation, from early works to the surrealist period, from the return to figuration to his work from models, and to the invention of the great post-war icons. Over 230 works are represented, including several masterpieces such as Spoon Woman (1927), The Invisible Object (1934-35), Woman with Chariot (1945), The Nose (1947), and Walking Man (1960). Giacometti's works are separated into in fourteen original sections revealing the themes favoured by the artist - the representation of the head, the face, the female body, etc. The book is punctuated by seven essays written by leading art historians who dwell on the detours and questions that mark Alberto Giacometti's creative process, but also allow the reader to discover his relationship to loneliness, melancholy, and his hard work with his models: his wife Annette, his brother Diego, his close friends. This catalogue aims to introduce the reader to another Giacometti, the one who experiments with the limits of sculpture, and the formidable painter who also practices, alongside the portrait, the genres of landscape or still life.

The portraits of models by the renowned actor, filmmaker and photographer Vincent Perez, born in 1964, is a distinguished Swiss actor, filmmaker, and accomplished photographer. Known for his captivating performances in films such as "The Crow: City of Angels" and "Queen Margot," Perez has seamlessly navigated between European and Hollywood productions. In addition to his acting prowess, he has ventured into directing and gained recognition for his work behind the camera. Vincent Perez's passion for photography further highlights his artistic versatility, making him a notable figure in the global entertainment and visual arts landscape. His photographic work focuses on portraits, in the line of Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. In this book, Vincent Perez immersed himself in an emblematic location of the School of Paris : La Grande Chaumière, an art school that did not teach the strict academic principles of the École des Beaux-Arts but rather encouraged artistic freedom. Many famous 20th century artists attended this school like Zao Wou-Ki, Balthus, Miró or Louise Bourgeois, following the teachings of Bourdelle, Léger and many others. Vincent Perez took portraits of models on film using the natural light of the painters' studio as an hommage to the models and painters of the bubbling 1920's Montparnasse like Kiki de Montparnasse and Modigliani.

The beautiful shots of women, trees and birds by the French business executive and politician. Muriel Pénicaud engages in a captivating photography practice that showcases her artistic sensibility. Delving into the realm of visual storytelling, Pénicaud captures moments with a keen eye for detail and emotion. Whether capturing urban landscapes, portraits, or nature scenes, her photographs convey a sense of intimacy and storytelling. Pénicaud's passion for photography serves as a creative outlet amidst her demanding political career, allowing her to connect to the world in a different, more contemplative way. In Matrix of Worlds, Muriel Pénicaud presents the trilogy of her first three exhibitions: "Wind under the Wings", "Wind into the Soul" and "Wind into the Roots", each one focusing on a specific subject matter: birds, women and trees respectively. From the trees, she draws resilience and patience. In the birds, she sees freedom, space and transcendence. With women, she feels a sense of community and tries to show their inner power. In presenting these themes together, Muriel Pénicaud is touching something of the mythological origin of the world, as these elements are present in many cultures throughout the planet.

One of Iran's most celebrated artistsReza Lavasani, born in 1962 in Tehran (Iran), is an artist of many talents and careers: painter, sculptor, illustrator and stage designer. He has also studied philosophy for many years, with a particular focus on mythology, sociology and history, themes that feature prominently in his work. Although Reza Lavasani uses a wide range of media and materials, he uses a number of key subjects in his work, which he continually explores. These include the horse, the bird, the woman, the tree... Universal symbols that the artist manages to make unique in each of his poetical representations. This book, with its meticulous selection of works, is not intended to be a simple presentation of Reza Lavasani's work, but rather a dialogue between the texts and the works. This notion of conversation is important to the artist, who likes to seize on an object or subject to encourage the viewer to redefine it in the light of his work. Reza Lavasani has exhibited all over the world (Japan, France, Slovakia, Netherlands, Bangladesh, Turkey, England) and has taken part in numerous fairs, including the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019.

A fascinating journey into Leonardo da Vinci's works, the Renaissance and its perfumesThis exhibition catalogue is a journey into the perfumes of the Renaissance, through the daily life of Leonardo da Vinci and the legacy of his mother Caterina, who came from the shores of the Black Sea where she was sold as a slave. The book delves, among other things, into the scents of this region, and of this brilliant era: the spices, incense and musks of Constantinople, the perfumed costumes of Venice and Milan, and the treatises of Francis I's apothecaries. The book highlitghts the plants of the Tuscan master's childhood, such as olive, jas mine, juniper, lemon and orange tree, as well as the smells of the workshop, walnut and linseed oils, rabbitskin glue, resins, waxes and fats. Leonardo himself concocted fragrant recipes, from the most delicate to the most nauseating, using enfleurage and distillation techniques.

One of the pioneers of virtual artMiguel Chevalier, born in Mexico in 1959, is a French artist and pioneer of digital and virtual art. Trained at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, he has been developing a revolutionary oeuvre on the edges of immateriality since 1978. Miguel Chevalier's work takes a variety of forms: monumental-scale digital installa tions, 3D printing and laser-cut sculptures, robot drawings and virtual reality models. Using software designed by computer experts, this visionary artist creates generative and interactive installations that invite visitors to explore the space in a sensory way: in Magic Carpets and Extra-Natural the patterns and colours change as visitors walk around. Nature is a recurring theme in Miguel Chevalier's work, whose latest creation, Meta-Natura AI, projects onto the walls of Dongdaemun Design Plaza - one of Seoul's landmark buildings - flowers created by a generative AI, which proliferate and die. But this creative enthusiasm does not overlook the risks of technology, especially the dangers of urbanisation and the duality of flows and networks that fuel both infinite connections and insidious isolation. Miguel Chevalier's oeuvre is experimental and multidisciplinary. Taking references from the history of art and reformulating them using computer tools, his works inves tigate and explore recurrent themes such as nature and artifice, flows and networks, virtual cities and ornate designs. His images are a rich source of insights into ourselves and our relationship with the world.

One of the pioneers of virtual artMiguel Chevalier, born in Mexico in 1959, is a French artist and pioneer of digital and virtual art. Trained at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts and the École Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, he has been developing a revolutionary oeuvre on the edges of immateriality since 1978. Miguel Chevalier's work takes a variety of forms: monumental-scale digital installa tions, 3D printing and laser-cut sculptures, robot drawings and virtual reality models. Using software designed by computer experts, this visionary artist creates generative and interactive installations that invite visitors to explore the space in a sensory way: in Magic Carpets and Extra-Natural the patterns and colours change as visitors walk around. Nature is a recurring theme in Miguel Chevalier's work, whose latest creation, Meta-Natura AI, projects onto the walls of Dongdaemun Design Plaza - one of Seoul's landmark buildings - flowers created by a generative AI, which proliferate and die. But this creative enthusiasm does not overlook the risks of technology, especially the dangers of urbanisation and the duality of flows and networks that fuel both infinite connections and insidious isolation. Miguel Chevalier's oeuvre is experimental and multidisciplinary. Taking references from the history of art and reformulating them using computer tools, his works inves tigate and explore recurrent themes such as nature and artifice, flows and networks, virtual cities and ornate designs. His images are a rich source of insights into ourselves and our relationship with the world.

The work of the young artist with an international career who employes collaging and traditional painting techniquesBorn in 1989 in Lagos, Nigeria, Marcellina Akpojotor engaged in drawing, design, stencil work, and calligraphy at an early age under her father's guidance. Later, she pursued formal education in Art and Industrial Design at the Lagos State Polytechnic, further honing her skills and broadening her artistic horizons. Akpojotor's art fascinates audiences worldwide through its thought-provoking narra tives and unique media, creating an aesthetic that mixes politics and intimacy around culture, identity, and feminism. Employing a captivating blend of collaging and traditional painting techniques, Akpojotor's creations are marked by rich textures, layered compositions, and com pelling, colourful visual imagery, delving into themes such as femininity, personal and societal identity, and women's empowerment. She transforms primarily discarded piec es of Ankara fabric, sourced from local fashion houses, into powerful canvases akin to "intriguing tapestries of twitchy and alluring tactile surfaces", as Professor Frank Ugiomoh writes in his essay.

A complete monograph on a major artist and representative of Moroccan modernityAbdelkébir Rabi' was born in 1944 amidst the heights of Boulemane, Morocco's high est town. After training at the École Normale in Fez, he taught art and aesthetics in high school and then at the university until 2003. Born into a line of imams, Abdelkébir Rabi' challenges the anti-iconic principles he has inherited, seeking to reconcile artistic fervour and spiritual fulfilment. Rabi' began to paint in a figurative style and was gradually moving towards an abstract painting in the 1970s. Inspired as much by the grandeur of the Middle Atlas mountains as by artists such as Marc Couturier and Antoni Tàpies, Abdelkébir Rabi's work is a universal, meditative and contemplative quest. It unfolds in an infinite array of blacks of varying degrees of opacity, symbolising the interplay between light and shadow, figuration and abstrac tion, fullness and emptiness, the seen and the unseen. Each black line, often executed in a single gesture, contributes to create a pure and profound work, imbued with spirit uality. Rabi' sees art as "a personal matter", and his solitary approach underlines his dedication to art. This detailed monograph enriches the "Archives des Arts" collection directed by Brahim Alaoui and dedicated to contemporary and modern North African artists such as Mohamed Hamidi, Farid Belkahia, Ghada Amer and Mohamed Melehi.

A compelling insight into the life of one of the most iconic models in the world of 20th-century fashion Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn (1911-1992) was a dancer, photographer, stylist and sculptor, but above all one of the most emblematic models of the 20th-century fashion world. She worked with the greatest fashion photographers of her time from 1935 to 1955: Richard Avedon, Erwin Blumenfeld, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Fernand Fonssagrives, Toni Frissel, Horst P. Horst, whose favourite model she was, George Hoyningen-Huene, Frances Mclaughlin-Gill, Irving Penn, Georges Platt-Lynes, John Rowlings, etc. She was the first model to feature on the cover of Time magazine in September 1949. Wife of Irving Penn from 1950 until her death in 1992, she was, according to Alexander Liberman, artistic director of Vogue magazine, the subject of his greatest photographs. The MEP exhibition and accompanying catalogue will feature around 150 original vintage prints from her personal collection. Some of these images were published in Vogue France, Vogue US or Harper's Bazaar, and many are previously unpublished, including a large number of photographs of Fernand Fonssagrives, her first husband, and more private portraits taken by Irving Penn. An intimate and astonishing collection, with most of the prints revealed to the general public for the first time.

A selection of the most extraordinary diamonds from GolcondaGolconda was once a region famous for its diamond mines. Today, Golconda gems are among the most sought after by connoisseurs and collectors. Despite the uniqueness of Golconda diamonds, due to their ancient cut, they have never been fully studied, and until now have only been discussed from the perspective of specific pieces or periods. This book fills that editorial gap by providing an in-depth study of the geography, history of the region, gemmology, and mythology built around these diamonds. It also focuses on the region¿s most famous gems, those in major public and private collections, as well as on pieces that have disappeared.

Jewellery and Islamic art, the interweaving of masterpieces The book explores the influence of Islamic art on the production of jewelry and precious objects by Cartier, from the early 20th century to the present day. Jewellery and objects from the Cartier collection, masterpieces of Islamic art, drawings, books, photographs and archival documents trace the diversity of sources that inspired the forms and motifs used in Cartier creations. Sometimes easily identifiable, at other times decomposed and recomposed to the point of rendering their source untraceable, motifs and forms from Islamic art and architecture have integrated the stylistic language of designers to the point of constituting part of Cartier¿s repertoire to this day, illustrated by contemporary jewelry pieces that complete this journey. The mandorlas, palmettes, fleurons, rinceaux, sequins of Cartier jewelry are inspired in turn by motifs found in book bindings, oriental architecture and antique and contemporary jewelry purchased by Jacques Cartier during his expeditions to India. A true immersion in Cartier¿s creative process, this book documents the renewal of the iconic jewelry house¿s forms and manufacturing techniques.

A complete monograph on the artist shortlisted for the Prix Duchamp 2023. Massinissa Selmani is an artist born in 1980 in Algiers. After studying computer science, he decided to attend the École Supérieure des Beaux Art in Tours. His talent was recognized at the 56th Venice Biennale with a special mention from the jury. His works have joined private and public collections, notably those of the Centre Pompidou and the Musée National d¿Art Moderne in Paris. Massinissa Selmani was awarded the Sam Prize in 2016, which enabled him to exhibit at the Palais de Tokyo. The artist has chosen the omnipresence of current events as the common thread run ning through his work. Documentary drawing is at the root of his artistic practice. Many of his drawings are composed of or inspired by press clippings, in which he takes pleasure in picking out elements likely to serve as a basis for his works, and then juxtaposes them with more absurd and mystical components. In this way, the artist plays with balance, hesitates between fiction and reality, and constructs ambiguous images that trigger mystery, intrigue and reflection in the viewer. The artist gives pride of place to space, to the white of the page. His drawings are airy, surrounded by white margins, like a creative zone left free for the viewer to explore. Context and temporality are left to the viewer, who has fun guessing. Massinissa Selmani¿s art is not limited to the second dimension; he likes to play with relief and often accompanies his wall-hung works with three-dimensional creations. This book pays tribute to the work of an artist who reinvents reality, while at the same time delivering it. Massinissa Selmani never ceases to enjoy blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction.

"I wanted to draw attention to this geometric, rationalized, quantified world." ¿Peter Halley Throughout his career, Peter Halley (b. 1953, New York) has developed a vocabulary derived from geometric abstraction that reflects the contemporary world. His works are inhabited by ¿prisons¿, ¿cells¿ and ¿conduits¿, the result of a personal interpretation of New York society in the 80s and the advent of technology. This vocabulary is used by Peter Halley in all his paintings. Peter Halley has developed a reflection on the alienation of contemporary society, whose members live in cramped spaces (cells or prisons) interconnected by a system of circuits (conduits) encompassing pipes, chimneys, electrical installations and the Internet. The geometric compositions are characterized by an apparent simplicity that makes it tempting to follow the lines of the conduits. Yet, with a sense of humor, the artist sometimes decides to cut the connections, adding to the absurdity of contemporary society. The bright, often fluorescent colors create vibrant paintings that convey a joyful vision of the world. Peter Halley's work has been the subject of numerous recent exhibitions, including at the MUDAM in Luxembourg (2023), the Dallas Contemporary (2021), the Schirn Kunsthall in Frankfurt (2016) and the Musée d'art moderne et contemporain in Saint Etienne (2014). Many institutions have works by Peter Halley in their collections: the MoMA in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, the Tate in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

"It has become increasingly clear to me that the pleasure of painting lies in the subtle interplay between what the picture shows and what is says" ¿Yves Cler Yves Clerc began his career in drawing and photography, before turning to painting and abstraction, followed by figuration. He offers us a poetic vision of the world, where shimmering colors rub shoulders with flat blacks. Yves Clerc¿s aim is not to tell, but to show. Transparency and its staging are his favorite themes. His works often depict portraits of women, their eyes masked and their expression neutral, to let the whole composition express itself. Yves Clerc loves texture and plays with boundaries: he paints long, crumpled draperies that he creates with a juxtaposition of layers of paint, but also of techniques ¿ oil on canvas, acrylic, drawing, painting on photo. The artist also attaches great importance to resonances between works. He has thus reworked some great paintings in his own way, such as Vermeer¿s Girl With a Pearl Earring, and collaborates with personalities from other artistic backgrounds, such as Irina Vitjaz (a renowned Moscow stylist) and Leïla Menchar (set designer for Hermès). Yves Clerc mainly exhibits at the Bailly Gallery in Geneva, but his work is also regularly shown worldwide: Paris, Mexico City, Moscow, Geneva, London, Brussels, Lisbon, New York and Miami.

A crossroads of civilisations. Located at the crossroads of continents, AlUla has been a fantastic meeting point for civilizations who left behind an abundant heritage. For centuries, its oasis has been a crossing point for caravans on the Incense trade route, which connected Asia, Africa and Europe, transiting spices, myrrh, cotton, ebony, and silk. The oasis city, once named Dedan, has successively been ruled by Ancient North Arabian Kingdoms, then by the Nabataeans, an ancient civilization of Arabian mer chants, founded the ancient city of Hegra ¿ sibling of Petra ¿ whose flagship site Madain Saleh, listed as Unesco world heritage since 2008, houses 138 rocky tombs, sanctuaries, wells, decorated frontages, etc. Then the Roman Empire annexed the Kingdom and marked AlUla Valley with Greek and Latin influence, before Muhammad¿s arrival in 630 A.D. during his campaign against the Byzantine army. Carrying the memory of their predecessors, in the 13th century Muslims reused the stones of the Dedanite and Lihyanite ruins to build what we call today the Old Town of AlUla. All these civilizations stamped the region with their unique culture, leaving exceptional archaeological sites for posterity.

A crossroads of civilisations. Located at the crossroads of continents, AlUla has been a fantastic meeting point for civilizations who left behind an abundant heritage. For centuries, its oasis has been a crossing point for caravans on the Incense trade route, which connected Asia, Africa and Europe, transiting spices, myrrh, cotton, ebony, and silk. The oasis city, once named Dedan, has successively been ruled by Ancient North Arabian Kingdoms, then by the Nabataeans, an ancient civilization of Arabian mer chants, founded the ancient city of Hegra ¿ sibling of Petra ¿ whose flagship site Madain Saleh, listed as Unesco world heritage since 2008, houses 138 rocky tombs, sanctuaries, wells, decorated frontages, etc. Then the Roman Empire annexed the Kingdom and marked AlUla Valley with Greek and Latin influence, before Muhammad¿s arrival in 630 A.D. during his campaign against the Byzantine army. Carrying the memory of their predecessors, in the 13th century Muslims reused the stones of the Dedanite and Lihyanite ruins to build what we call today the Old Town of AlUla. All these civilizations stamped the region with their unique culture, leaving exceptional archaeological sites for posterity.

A crossroads of civilisations. Located at the crossroads of continents, AlUla has been a fantastic meeting point for civilizations who left behind an abundant heritage. For centuries, its oasis has been a crossing point for caravans on the Incense trade route, which connected Asia, Africa and Europe, transiting spices, myrrh, cotton, ebony, and silk. The oasis city, once named Dedan, has successively been ruled by Ancient North Arabian Kingdoms, then by the Nabataeans, an ancient civilization of Arabian mer chants, founded the ancient city of Hegra ¿ sibling of Petra ¿ whose flagship site Madain Saleh, listed as Unesco world heritage since 2008, houses 138 rocky tombs, sanctuaries, wells, decorated frontages, etc. Then the Roman Empire annexed the Kingdom and marked AlUla Valley with Greek and Latin influence, before Muhammad¿s arrival in 630 A.D. during his campaign against the Byzantine army. Carrying the memory of their predecessors, in the 13th century Muslims reused the stones of the Dedanite and Lihyanite ruins to build what we call today the Old Town of AlUla. All these civilizations stamped the region with their unique culture, leaving exceptional archaeological sites for posterity.

First monograph of a virtuoso painter. Khalif Tahir Thompson is an African-American painter who has just graduated from The Yale School of Art. His work is populated by black figures set in colourful, shimmering environments that sometimes resemble patchworks verging on abstraction. Yet each of his works seems rooted in reality. The artist manages to imbue his figures with a genuine psychological identity, revealing a meticulous study of the human being. In this way, he reveals himself to be an outstanding portraitist. In his groups of figures, some are posed, while others are taken on the spot, without paying any attention to the painter. All of which adds to the feeling of immediacy of an artist in love with reality. Elsewhere, Khalif Tahir Thompson likes to depict isolated figures dozing in an atmosphere of serenity, despite the obvious vulnerability of his characters. The artist's works are also filled with mysterious letters and numbers. These multiple signs echo the diversity of materials used by the artist. Painting in oils and acrylics, the artist creates his own papers, which he then applies to the canvas. He likes to mix pearls, fabric, velvet, newspaper and leather to create wonderful material effects. This is the first reference monograph on the practice of this very young painter whose work is already prolific.

"The portrait is a process of distillation of the essence of the being whose only purpose is to preserve the aura of the individual." Born in 1968 in Jiangsu, China, LiFang lives and works in Paris. Her figurative work, on the border of abstraction, deals with all the subjects of our daily universe: antonymous crowds in megalopolises, portraits of her entourage, scenes of idleness at the water¿s edge, current events (Chinese censorship, migrants)... Her singular technique proceeds in large strokes: the bodies appear as sculpted blocks, right in the colored material. LiFang works in the same way on facial features, bodies and clothes. This unity of treatment and this refusal to individualize the characters transform the subjects into beings who, having no other consistency than that of the paint, send us back the image of our shared solitudes. Behind their apparent banality, his paintings express universal feelings: loneliness in crowds, the joy of bodies at rest connected to nature... By revisiting the subjects of classical painting, LiFang invents new codes to propose a contemporary vision of the beauty of the world. Timeless, light and deep, joyful and dramatic, LiFang¿s work is an open work. It offers the viewer the freedom to realize his or her own imagination while feeling part of the community of the living. This first monograph invites the reader to explore all aspects of her work. LiFang is represented by several galleries, including Galerie Boulakia, Red Zone Arts, SpArts Paris. The Cernushi Museum acquired three of her works in 2013.

The book presents the work of French designer Jean-Michel Wilmotte through crafts. Celebrating the unique skills of glassblowers and glass artisans, Wilmotte¿s collection ¿Vessels¿ is a mix of nostalgia and modernity. Works, mainly inspired by his childhood's memories and objects in his father¿s pharmaceutical laboratory, are made in historical workshops of Murano (an island in the Venetian Lagoon known alla around the world for the glass creations of its artisans). Chandeliers, table lamps, vases and other objects presented in this book are made for public and private spaces and are displayed in hotels, theaters, train stations and offices in many countries. Glass is a material both simple to make and difficult to work with. It offers infinite creative possibilites for those who know how to master it. The collaboration between Wilmotte and Muranös craftsmen results in unique works playing with forms and supports. The designer¿s vision spreads through all the glass creations. Transparency and malleability of glass allow delicate art works with sharp lines and this material is perfect to emphasize symmetry and equilibrium ¿ which are key themes in Wilmotte¿s work. The photographs of this book, exclusively taken at Venice, suggest travelling through the city and its artisans¿ workshops. Alessandra Chemollös work confront Venice of postcards and Wilmotte¿s creations in pictures playing with light and reflections. Architecture and craftsmanship are mixed, in a quest for continuity and complementarity.

"I wish to tell a new tale and create my own language: ambiguous, dense, natural, and organic." Ewa Juszkiewicz was born in 1984 and lives in Warsaw. She is a Polish surrealist artist who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdansk and from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kracow. She is seen as one of the most important young contemporary Polish artists. She challenges visual conceptions and stereotypes of women¿s beauty using codes of European painting from the Renaissance to the 19th century. Her rebel and unique art deconstructs women images in classical art. She uses and mixes humain figures and various objets (plants, hair, tissus) in a perfect balance. Ewa Juszkiewicz was selected among the 100 Painters of Tomorrow published by Thames & Hudson in 2014 as well as for Women Painters published by Phaidon. Her works are exposed in the whole world: Poland, Paris, London, Miami and Beijing. Juszkiewicz embodies the dynamism of East European art schools nowadays. By analysing and transforming the past ¿ in dialogue with the present ¿ Ewa Juszkiewicz expands our interpretation of history through change and deconstruction.

"The future of architecture is nature." Founded in 2009 by Manal Rachdi, OXO Architectes creates particularly innovative projects that are distinguished by a programmatic symbiosis bringing together within a single building several typologies such as offices, shops and housing. All projects designed by OXO Architectes integrate natural elements ¿ terraces, interior forests or green walls ¿ with the aim of creating architectural systems that can renew the experience of urbanity and the city. For OXO, the future of the city is nature. With experience working with some of the most renowned contemporary architects such as Duncan Lewis and Jean Nouvel, Manal Rachdi has worked on the projects for the Seoul Opera House, the Philharmonie de Paris and the mixed-use tower of the MoMa in New York. With his firm, Rachdi has created particularly bold projects that always show great attention to the surrounding urban context. Among his most notable projects are: ¿ ¿Le Cristal¿ housing complex in Nanterre. ¿ The Polytechnique building in Saclay in collaboration with Sou Fujimoto and NLA Paris. ¿ Mille Arbres - the winning project of the ¿Réinventer Paris¿ competition, also in collaboration with Sou Fujimoto. ¿ Balcon sur Paris ¿ the winning project of the ¿Inventons la Métropole¿ competition in collaboration with the agencies Kengo Kuma & Associates + XTU Architects + Stefano Boeri Architetti + Michael Green Architecture + Koz Architectes At nearly 43 years old and after 15 years at the head of his agency, Manal Rachdi has forged a solid international reputation and is one of the pillars of a new generation of architects

First monograph of a major contemporary artist. This monograph on French artist Toma-L gathers a large selection of his works, which can be found all over the world. France, Belgium, Canada, Austria, the United States and the United Arab Emirates are just some of the countries where galleries exhibit his work. Toma-L is constantly seeking to reinvent and discover new media. He masters lithography, mixes techniques on canvas or wood, and creates frescoes. A polymorphous artist, he also works with other artists ¿ video artists, producers, dancers, choreographers, photographers, editors, graphic designers, etc. ¿ on a wide range of projects. His paintings show how instinctive is his gesture. Toma-L lets himself be carried away in a ¿free and instinctive expression¿, as he likes to say himself. The artist often meets with lyrical abstraction in his vibrant works. The constraint of bodies, movement or space give birth to hybrid works that belong to various artistic fields.

¿Monet is for me one of the greatest painters who ever existed. He went his way of exploring light relentlessly [...] the viscera of light became visible.¿ A major artist of the Viennese Actionist movement, of which he was one of the founders, Hermann Nitsch, born in Vienna in 1938, died in Mistelbach in April 2022. Internationally recognised as the master of Austrian performance art, the artist developed a powerfully expressive body of work, borrowing from religious dramaturgy to develop a total art that culminated every year since the 1950s in his ¿Orgien Mysterien Theater¿, where he invited friends and audiences to six days of uninterrupted festivities and performances. At the end of his career, Hermann Nitsch developed a painting of great vitality, increasingly colourful, always closely linked to his performative acts. Fascinated by Monet¿s Nympheas, the artist engaged in a dialogue with this masterpiece of Impressionism, whose proximity to his art he emphasised: ¿In my performances, my expressive and religious painting has become a finished drama, an analytical dramaturgy. What remains to be seen is a frenzy of colour and form that stands out far beyond its content, like the ecstasies of colour in Monet¿s Water Lilies¿. The book will bring together a collection of paintings and graphic works produced shortly before his death, chosen directly from the artist¿s studio.