Adrian Piper seit 1965: Metakunst und Kunstkritik
(since 1965: meta art and art criticism)
Publication to the exhibition from May to August 2002.
Ed. by Sabine Breitwieser. Preface by Dietrich Karner. Introduction by Sabine Breitwieser. Texts by Adrian Piper.
This first German-language publication on Adrian Piper brings together several aspects of the artist, author, and philosopher born in 1948 in Harlem/New York, USA - visual work, writings on art and art criticism, and philosophical reflections. The entire spectrum of an extraordinary œuvre is presented, beginning with paintings and early conceptual works from the 1960s, continuing with performances in the 1970s, and ending with then current works. Adrian Piper had already had a considerable career as a conceptual artist as a relatively young artist. In the early 1970s, the strict works, mostly textual and appearing in publications, were increasingly replaced by performances in public spaces. Since the 1980s, Adrian Piper has been known for exploring thematic areas such as racism, xenophobia, and the nature of the self. Her works - photo-text collages, drawings, performances or (video) installations - are conceived as acts of political communication. The intention is to evoke in viewers an immediate response to their own, often deeply seated, impulses and responses to these issues. Adrian Piper's texts also correspond to this genealogy and methodology, ranging from visionary reflections on art and its commodity character to "A Kantian Analysis of Xenophobia".