Böcker utgivna av Hatje Cantz Verlag GmbH

Proprietary algorithms, secret data troves, and inscrutable systems rule the day. How is this registered in art? In Poetics of Encryption Nadim Samman explores works that highlight the hidden dimensions of our technological landscape. Running counter to erroneous claims regarding a new culture of transparency and openness, such artworks address black sites, black boxes, and black holes-all the while, toggling between enlightened concern and occult dreaming.NADIM SAMMAN is Curator for the Digital Sphere at KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin. He read Philosophy at University College London before receiving his PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art. Widely published, in 2019 he was First Prize recipient of the International Award for Art Criticism (IAAC). Major curatorial projects included the 4th Marrakech Biennale (2012), the 5th Moscow Biennale for Young Art (2015) and the 1st Antarctic Biennale (2017).

The images in Bill Jacobson's when is a place suggest risks and uncertainties. They question both the nature of perception and our existential place in the world, themes explored throughout his five decades of making photographs. Jacobson's use of a defocused lens, bleached out skies, and an otherwise curious tonal range challenge boundaries of traditional photographic practice. Diffuse horizon lines dramatically bisect distant landscapes, the subtle curves of vague human bodies, and unknown spaces suggestive of architecture play prominent intertwining roles. Jacobson's original large-scale prints are analog silver gelatin, printed by him in a traditional black and white darkroom. Created between 2018 and 2020, the images were made in Virginia, the south of France, upstate New York, and a studio in New York City.

There is more to numbers than sums; they can also conceal histories, too. In this case, world-famous architectural history. For five years the renowned Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery), designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was closed to the public for renovation. Nevertheless, the photographer Michael Wesely was able to accommodate "four guests" inside the iconic building: four cameras, each one pointing in a different direction, were installed on the ceiling. Every day they took between 360 and 730 pictures with an exposure time of 90 seconds each. Edited into bewitching montages, this fascinating synopsis allows readers to envision the building's metamorphosis as it was undergoing renovations. The long exposure time is an aesthetic coup, for ephemeral, restless, rapid movements contrast with the still, timeless quality of the architecture, presenting a sophisticated interplay of identity and change.This book is published on the occasion of the re-opening of the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, August 2021. It is a slightly altered special edition of the original numbered edition of April 2021.The photographer MICHAEL WESELY (*1963) is a celebrated master of the long exposure. His precise approach to this photographic technique, tailored to each object, brought him world renown. His unique aesthetic can be found in numerous exhibitions and collections around the globe. He lives in Berlin.