Elfie Semotan is one of the most prominent photographers on the scene today. Her work has revolutionized fashion and advertising photography since the 1960s. Like no other, Semotan has mastered the art of photographic storytelling, producing images that look like film stills, telling a story that goes beyond what can be seen, or else creating relationships to icons or art history. Her portraits of prominent personalities from the fields of art, film, and theater, and last—but not least— her collaboration and friendship with Helmut Lang made her world-famous. The cool elegance and imperfect beauty of her pictures are captivating. She conquered photography—which, like most artistic disciplines, was long dominated by men. This large retrospective at C/O Berlin is the first to honor the entire body of work by this multitalented photographer—and this volume accompanies the show.

ELFIE SEMOTAN (*1941, Wels, Austria) studied at the Modeschule and worked as a model before becoming a fashion, advertising, and portrait photographer. She worked with Martin Kippenberger on the series of works known as Floß der Medusa (Medusa’s Raft). She divides her time among New York, Vienna, and Jennersdorf, Austria.

EXHIBITION 
C/O Berlin
June 8–September 7, 2019

The exhibition A War in the Distance / Ein Krieg in der Ferne, the central project of steirischer herbst ’22, took place at the Neue Galerie Graz / Universalmuseum Joanneum and invited visitors to engage with historical and contemporary works that directly or indirectly address wars in the past and present. It juxtaposed lesser-known 19th and 20th-century paintings from the collection of the Neue Galerie Graz with works by contemporary artists, uncovering hidden stories from an uncomfortable past. This richly illustrated publication documents the exhibition and its accompanying festival program. The Russian war of aggression in Ukraine was omnipresent, like a filter that could neither be removed nor forgotten.

STEIRISCHER HERBST, one of Europe’s oldest interdisciplinary festivals for contemporary art, transforms the city of Graz and Styria into a parcours of installative and performative projects for one month each year. Since 1968, the festival has offered a platform for public debates, critical positions, and dialogue between the arts.

The long-awaited, three-volume catalogue raisonné of works on paper by E. W. Nay (1902–1968) offers a definitive overview of this German painter’s oeuvre that will appeal to art historians, art dealers, and art lovers alike. Comprehensive and indepth, the publica­tion brings new insights and understandings to the work of this important figure in twentieth-century abstraction. With more than six thousand watercol­ors, gouaches, and drawings, Nay’s works on paper far outnumber his oil paintings. He was a restless cre­ator who consistently put his ideas about form and color onto paper. These works embody a kind of work­ing “journal” that reveals surprising aspects of his ar­tistic method. Documenting the processes behind his artistic activities and research, Nay’s works on paper are also autonomous creations that impressively chronicle the artist’s development and vision.

With their subversive and versatile work, the artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset are constantly devising new ways of presenting and perceiving art, as exemplified by their 2005 installation *Prada Marfa*, a permanently closed Prada shoe store in the middle of the Texas desert. *Powerless Structures, Fig. 101* depicts a boy on his rocking horse for the 2012 Fourth Plinth Commission, the regularly changing sculpture in Trafalgar Square. This volume is the first publication on the duo's sculptures, showcasing their work from the mid-1990s to the present day. Visually organized according to the aesthetic and conceptual approaches developed by the artists throughout their careers, this book contains comprehensive photographic documentation and five fundamental essays on the artists' oeuvre.

ELMGREEN (b. Denmark) and DRAGSET (b. Norway) have been working together since 1995. Their works address sociocultural and political issues such as education and aging, gay rights, the construction of identity, consumer culture, and the privatization of public space. The artist duo has received numerous awards, including the Prize of the Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2002) and a special mention at the Biennale di Venezia (2009).

EXHIBITION
Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas
September 14, 2019–January 5, 2020

This monograph is the first comprehensive overview of the work of N. Dash, exploring the paintings, drawings and photography of this New York and New Mexico based American artist. N. Dash uses natural as well as man-made materials such as earth, pigments, graphite, fabric, string, and found objects to construct conscious and intuitive abstractions, which draw on bodily movements and energy meridians, ecological systems, and other subtle or intangible structures. This volume includes major works from 2011 to 2021, and essays by Suzanne Hudson, Michael Taussig and others with a poem by John Giorno, which explore Dash's work in art historical, anthropological, and environmental contexts. 

N. DASH (*1980) studied at New York University and Columbia University. Selected institutional solo exhibitions include the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, CA; The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT and White Flag Projects, St. Louis, MO. Group exhibitions include San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; S.M.A.K. Ghent; Sammlung Goetz, Munich; The Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA; The Jewish Museum, New York, NY and Palazzo Strozzi, Florence. In 2022, N. Dash will have a solo exhibition at S.M.A.K in Ghent, Belgium.

Nina Beier explores the depths of the material world, revealing its narratives and assigned values. By detaching found objects, everyday items, social habits, and ingrained behaviors from their conventional contexts, skillfully manipulating them, and recontextualizing them in her sculptural works and performances, she uncovers hidden power dynamics and layers of social meaning. She demonstrates that notions and value are socially constructed.
This richly illustrated volume offers insightful glimpses into the multifaceted oeuvre of the Danish artist. Key texts and new essays illuminate the central approaches and concerns in Beier's artistic practice and material selection. With major retrospective exhibitions scheduled for 2024 at the CAPC musée d'art contemporain in Bordeaux, the KIASMA Museum in Helsinki, and El Museo Tamayo in Mexico City, now is the opportune moment to publish this first comprehensive monograph.

NINA BEIER (b. 1975, Aarhus, Denmark) graduated from the Royal College of Art in London in 2004. Working with objects that traverse different geopolitical realities, Beier's installations seek to question and subvert the tropes and inscriptions these objects represent. Her internationally acclaimed works have been featured in a range of institutional exhibitions and public spaces. She lives and works in Copenhagen.

Robert Motherwell: A Painting Retrospective promises careful and thorough reading of the development of the artist and reveals his fundamental desire to present the invisible. For the exhibition, a fully illustrated scientific catalog appears with contributions by several renowned authors who deal with the diverse work of the artist.

The writings of cultural critic Andrew Ross, who pursues an alternative approach to globalization, focus on topics such as precarious cognitive labor, the organization of work, and urban society. In his notebook, he questions the price of constant increases in efficiency and productivity and examines the connections between self-exploitation in the Western economic sphere and the exploitation of human labor in Asia. Many freelancers and creative professionals spend all day in front of their laptops, electronic notebooks that allow them to work anywhere, anytime, under the illusion of flexibility and free time management. Ross exemplifies the brutal working conditions to which the producers of these devices are subjected by examining the Taiwanese company Foxconn, currently the largest private employer in China, where a series of suicides occurred among mostly young employees. The most important tool of seemingly free, individually determined work in Western neoliberalism is owed to inhumane working conditions in other parts of the world.
Andrew Ross (b. 1956) is a Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis at New York University.