Search results for ""Skira""

The first ever monograph on contemporary architectural practice in Bangladesh, dedicated to international-award-winning architect Mohammad Rafiq Azam. Rafiq Azam is a world-renowned architect. He recently received the Residential Building of the Year Award at the 2012 Emirates Glass LEAF Awards, which took place during 2012 London Design Festival. He has a holistic approach to design, which not only incorporates the elements of nature but also harnesses its beauty and potential in a practical way, in order to enhance the personal experience of a building. From his uniquely Bangladeshi perspective, the human being has two parts – the body as shell and thoughts as soul; and his architecture is similar, where the building manifests as the shell and nature as its soul. Considering the socioeconomic and city planning conditions of Dhaka, Bangladesh’s capital, Azam’s architectural vocabulary is kept simple and essential, with traditional spaces like the courtyard, pond, ghat (steps leading into water) and ample internal and external greenery that merge both urban and rural typologies in an intensely urban context. He arranges water courts as swimming pools in the middle of homes, arranges natural light rooms and unfolding wall systems to emphasise the interrelationship between form and void. With more than 200 colour and black-and-white plates, exquisite design sketches and aerial views, as well as watercolour paintings and inspirational phrases, this exceptionally beautiful book is a unique introduction and insight into a visionary architect and Bangladeshi contemporary living and culture.

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The facsimile copy of a photographic private diary published for the first time in 1978 Usually it takes a long time for an artist to develop a clearly recognizable personal style. Marianne Heske counts among the exceptions. Early in her development she identified a problematic which has since characterized all her work. Above all she is concerned with the human figure, as one small element in the general social context. The ever recurring motif in Marianne Heske’s art is the doll’s mask, factory made and entirely standardized. She uses it as a symbol of man’s need for disguise, of the restraints each of us has to impose upon our individuality in order to exist and to function socially. She employs a variety of photographic techniques that lend an air of authenticity to the images, but by introducing masks covering people’s faces, she points out the social pressures to which these individuals are exposed.

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The first, intimate visual documentation of artists who have influenced and transformed the Chinese art scene over the last two decades German photographer Thomas Fuesser has been following artists in China since 1993, when he was first invited by renowned Dutch curator Hans van Dijk (1946–2002) to join a group of foreign journalists and photographers to visit the up-and-coming members of the then fledgling Beijing and Shanghai art scenes. Reports on this visit, by New York Times art critic Andrew Solomon and several others, later played a major role in the making of prominent artists, such as Fang Lijun, Wang Guangyi, and Yue Minjun. Over many years, Füsser has developed close and enduring professional relationships with the artistic community in China. His striking portraits tell their stories and depict their work and personalities in an entirely distinct style, documenting a part of contemporary history and an immensely dynamic time in China. Recording the lives and thought processes of leading artists, such as Ai Weiwei, Cai Guo-Qiang, Zeng Fanzhi, Zhang Peili, Feng Mengbo, Wu Shanzhuan, and Zhou Tiehai, ‘SHORT CUTS’, inspired by Robert Altman’s concept of multiple parallel destinies that interact, provides a fascinating visual insight into the heart and soul of Chinese society.

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The first monograph of a contemporary artist, whose work offers a look at the world from a different glance, refusing to be blinded by the conventions. Mounir Fatmi was born in 1970 in Tangier, Morocco and now lives and works between Paris and Tangier. He constructs visual spaces and linguistic games. His work deals with the desecration of religious object, deconstruction and the end of dogmas and ideologies. He is particularly interested in the idea of death of the subject of consumption. This can be applied to antenna cables, copier machines, VHS tapes, and a dead language or a political movement. His videos, installations, drawings, paintings and sculptures bring to light our doubts, fears and desires. Mounir Fatmi’s work has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions and collective shows at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, The Brooklyn Museum, New York, Museum Kunst Palast, Düsseldorf, Mori Art Museum in Tokyo, Museum on the Seam, Jerusalem, Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Mathaf Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha and the Hayward Gallery, London. Mounir Fatmi was awarded by several prize such as the Cairo Biennial Prize in 2010, the Uriöt prize, Amsterdam and the Grand Prize Leopold Sedar Senghor of the 7th Dakar Biennial in 2006.

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150 works – mostly unpublished before – signed by the Moroccan contemporary artist Fouad Bellamine in a rich, complete monograph. Moroccan contemporary artist, Fouad Bellamine, was born in Fez in 1950 and was raised amidst varied artistic and creative influences in the Medina of his home town. Bellamine came from a family of skilled craftsmen, and he learned many of his painting techniques from his father who was a talented artist. Pursuing his passion for art, from 1967 Fouad Bellamine studied at the School of Applied Arts in Casablanca, going on to the University of Paris where he completed a masters degree in the history and theory of art. He later became a professor of history and art at the University of Rabat. His first exhibition in 1972 in Rabat featured a selection of his abstract landscapes, which were well received by critics. Throughout the 1970s Bellamine explored the use of different materials in art and it is during this experimental period that he developed his unique style of minimalism with bold single-colour brush strokes which is still evident in his current work. He has been exhibiting extensively throughout Morocco, France, Belgium and the U.K. as well as worldwide such as in Spain, Portugal, Finland, the Middle East and Egypt, Senegal, California, Tunis. In 1987, he participated to the Biennale of São Paulo in Brazil. Since he had returned to Morocco in 1989, Bellamine contributed actively to the promotion of contemporary art in his country. In 1997, he initiated the creation of a permanent collection of contemporary art in the Children’s Hospital of Rabat, first experience of its kind in Morocco. His works have been acquired by several public and corporate collections such as Moroccan institutions as well as the Museum of the Arab World Institution (IMA), the National Fund for Contemporary Art (FNAC), the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Africa and Oceania all of them in Paris, the Kinda Foundation. He lives and works in Rabat.

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100 years of history of one of the most innovative companies promoting Italian design. This book describes the development of the Guzzini’s company: 100 years of history set out in fascinating details, with a succession of protagonists of Italian and international culture such as Gillo Dorfles, Oscar Farinetti, Aldo Bonomi, Robin Levien, Angeletti Ruzza, Karim Rashid, and many other leading designers. The seed of innovation was already present in Fratelli Guzzini from the year of the company’s birth in 1912. This seed of innovation was made fertile by Enrico Guzzini, a man who drew upon his experiences to set about re-launching an ancient craft, producing elegant ox horn items. From that time on, the company’s history has been characterized by a series of decisively innovatory milestones. With the introduction of moulded acrylics at the beginning of the 1960s, the company showed a more open approach to business by importing the creative concepts of some of the best minds in design. This was followed by the development of the bicolour project in the 1980s, then the leap to gas-assisted injection in the 1990s, to current research on new plastic materials, usefully combining them with futuristic acrylics or more classical traditional materials, such as porcelain, glass, steel and wood, and with the work of the most talented contemporary designers. The result is a vast catalogue of all types of items beautifully designed but easy to use, familiar, inexpensive, extremely practical, and recyclable.

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A veritable film on paper through 92 plates/frames comprising solely images and drawings, colours and architectural references interspersed with 92 pages where words rule. For six months during the Shanghai World Expo 2010 all of the thirty thousand visitors per day at the Italian Pavilion walked through a space magically designed by a symphony of images and sounds. Italy of the Cities condenses an urban and architectural history of more than two thousand years, suggesting a vision for the cities of tomorrow, and at the same time allows everyone to experience the breathtaking magic of a journey to Italy.

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A monograph surveying the past twenty years works of the “celebrity photographer” Uli Weber, one of the most accomplished photographers of his generation. Some photographers build a global reputation specialising in fashion. Others excel in portraiture, travel or the commercial world of advertising. Most photographers seek to master just one genre but, over the past 20 years, a rare few have excelled in all those disciplines, one of them is Uli Weber. From teenagers’ bedroom walls to the halls of The Victoria and Albert Museum, Uli Weber is one of the most accomplished and accessible photographers of his generation. When he started twenty years ago, it was his aim to “create beautiful pictures that are always relevant.” The beauty of them is obvious to even the most untutored eye. This book features a fine collection of works that has an unusually wide span.

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A book to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Scavolini Cucine. Students of design and professionals in the field will find much to inspire and educate them in this volume. Scavolini is preparing to celebrate half a century of activity and market presence. High quality products and services, attention to clients' needs, competitive prices: these qualities led to Scavolini becoming the number one brand in the Italian kitchen unit sector; this prepared it for entry into international markets, and today the company boasts a presence in more than fifty countries and its name is synonymous with style and Italian design. Rich in images, highly readable and directed mainly to the vast audience interested in the design world.

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Artists play a fundamental role as mirror of society and can, in particular, give expression to specific corners of the world in our global economy. A new stop of the François Pinault collection “journey” around the world. A monumental exhibition at the famous Garage: a 1927 bus garage in Moscow designed by the Constructivist architect Konstantin Melnikov and transformed into a gallery for contemporary art and culture by Daria “Dasha” Zhukova, whose partner is the Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

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Conceived as a retrospective, this book illustrates Kenro Izu’s refined artistic research and the work that for over thirty years he has been carrying out, like a tireless pilgrim, in the world’s most evocative holy sites: from the Egyptian pyramids and the ancient stones of Stonehenge to the site of Angkor Wat in Cambodia, from Buddhist temples in India and Indonesia to the Syrian desert and Tibetan peaks. Fascinated by the sublime beauty of ancient remains, he returns to the styles and printing techniques of 19th-century photography as best able to capture the mystical atmosphere of the places examined.

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A sumptuous and original European Tour through the palaces and the works of art belonging to royal and princely figures who have marked the histories of theur dynasties and countries. Published on the occasion of an exhibition of the same name at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco, this book allows us to enter 20 European courts for the first time, from palace to palace, and to meet great imperial, royal and princely figures, who have marked the histories of their dynasties and countries. Four centuries of history (XVI-XXth centuries) become animated through a sumptuous and original European Tour which sheds light on its sovereigns and their splendour: from Augustus the Strong, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland to the Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elizabeth of Austria, including Tsar Alexander II of Russia and also Leopold I, first King of the Belgians… To illustrate this ambitious undertaking, seven hundred exceptional works of art – portraits, sculptures, furniture, porcelain, silver and gold, costumes and jewellery – taken from royal collections and prestigious institutions, enable the reader to discover the lives, roles, and passions of these individuals and couples, as well as their time and accomplishments in the fields of the arts, history and science.

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An illustrated study of African traditional figurative arts that reflects the continent’s rich artistic and cultural heritage. We often know the “Western life” of African art, such as the names of collectors and owners, but we almost always ignore the circumstances of their creation, the formal innovations introduced by the creators of the works and even of the makers’ existence. The marvellous achievements of African artists over thousands of years are revealed in this book. Sculpture is the chief means through which African artists expressed themselves. The human figure, evocative of real or symbolic key people in the community or entities facilitating contact with the supernatural, is the almost exclusive subject of their creations. This vast world of African sculpture is the result of a evolutionary process, based on a rich history and diversity deriving from contacts, migrations, wars and alliances. During the last century, the African continent has experienced radical transformations in the field of social and political organisation, economy and religion. Inevitably, new expressive forms are being established hand in hand with the globalisation process and the creation of works for the art market, which retain less and less ties with those of the past.

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From nudes to landscapes, a wide-ranging retrospective of the work of Edward Weston, one of the greatest 20th-century American photographers. Edward Weston (Highland Park, Illinois, 1886 – Wildcat Hill, California, 1958) began to take photographs at the age of sixteen and in 1911 he opened his first photographic studio in the town of Tropico in California. He became an increasingly important figure on the American art scene, so much so that in 1936 he was the first photographer to receive a research grant from the Guggenheim Foundation. In 1946 the MoMA in New York gave him a major retrospective, showing 300 works and thus definitively confirming him as one of the great artists of the 20th century. Often directly compared to painting and sculpture, Weston’s photography is the expression of a relentless quest for pureness, both in composition and in the almost obsessive perfection of the image. This catalogue published to accompany an exhibition in Modena, the first show in Italy for over twenty years, celebrates Weston’s extraordinary oeuvre with over 120 original photographic prints.

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This volume examines the work of Francesco Vezzoli. Vezzoli creates video works and needlepoints that bring together pop culture icons, auteur cinema, art history, fashion, kitsch and camp.

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This general catalogue, which represents years of work on the systematic cataloguing of Pomodoro’s entire sculptural output, covers the full range of works produced by the artist between 1953 and 2003, supplemented with the first complete documentary research into the entire existing bibliography.

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