Art in the Periphery of the Center

Peripheries are profoundly ambiguous regions. While trying to build an attachment to their center, the periphery often finds itself marginalized or even excluded both on a structural and actor-related level – no matter if the center-periphery model is defined in terms of space or along relations of power.

Neither committed to today’s wishful thinking regarding horizontalized networks and deterritorialized structures, nor fixing itself to determinist approaches, the book recalls the center-periphery issue and its ultra-stability in the field of art. In contrast to the field’s inclination to speak about the world in an abstract mode while avoiding reference to reality, the book attempts to shift practices of thought also toward new realism and critical materialism. Against twentieth-century hyper-constructivist approaches and their epistemic fallacies, materialized verticalities, relations and objectified spaces are brought to the fore while the impact of temporary mobility attractors is emphasized as well.

This publication is the result of four years of collaborative work in the frame of project KIM at Leuphana University of Lüneburg which focused on topics of »Affect«, »The return of history«, »Ecology«, and »Art and its markets« in today’s power law-based economies. These themes triggered not only the development of new artworks but also gave rise to reflexive discourses and discussions surrounding art theory, philosophy, sociology, and economics. The book contains visual documentations of a number of group shows, which comprise the works of winners of the Daniel Frese Prize 2011-2014 at Agathenburg Castle, Halle für Kunst, Kunstraum of Leuphana University of Lüneburg, and Kunstverein Springhornhof. The text contributions by critics, curators, theoreticians, and scientists include essays and in-depth conversations.

Art Club 2000, Patterson Beckwith, J. St. Bernard, Angela Bulloch, Daniel Buren, Merlin Carpenter, Gordon Castellane, Diego Castro, Nicolas Ceccaldi, Jeremiah Day, Stephan Dillemuth, John Dogg, Maria Eichhorn, Jana Euler, Loretta Fahrenholz, Renée Green, Karl Holmqvist, Gilta Jansen, Monika Jarecka, Tobias Kaspar, Carola Keitel, Jackie McAllister, Josephine Meckseper, Dirk Meinzer, James Meyer, Shana Moulton, nOffice, Christodoulos Panayiotou, Fabian Reimann, Carissa Rodriguez, Megan Francis Sullivan, Katja Staats, Simon Starling, Buffy Summers, Jan Timme, Daniela Töbelmann, Niko Wolf, Amelie von Wulffen, and Phillip Zach

With text contributions by Marie-Luise Angerer, Christoph Behnke, Ana Bogdanović, Larissa Buchholz, Sabeth Buchmann, Kathrin Busch, Bettina von Dziembowski, Daniel Falb, Paul Feigelfeld, Ulrike Gerhardt, Monica Greco, Erich Hörl, Cornelia Kastelan, Stefanie Kleefeld, Valérie Knoll, Roman Kräussl, Susanne Leeb, Hannes Loichinger, Sven Lütticken, Julia Moritz, Volker Pekron, Pierre Pénet, Dieter Roelstraete, Bettina Roggmann, Stefan Römer, Steffen Rudolph, Michael Sanchez, Magnus Schaefer, Stefanie Sembill, Christophe Spaenjers, Paul Stenner, Jeannine Tang, Olav Velthuis, and Ulf Wuggenig

Publication: Christoph Behnke, Cornelia Kastelan, Valérie Knoll, Ulf Wuggenig (Ed.): Art in the Periphery of the Center. Berlin: Sternberg Press, 2015.