Sunday, August 20, 2023, 3 pm

with Julia Scher, Nadia Ismail, Matthias Kliefoth, and Gloria Sutton

On the occasion of the publication of the extensive monograph on the work of Julia Scher, we cordially invite you to a book presentation and a conversation with the artist.

Since the 1980s, Julia Scher has been investigating the emergence of a “maximum security society”. Inspired by French philosopher Michel Foucault and sociologist Gary T. Marx, among others, her oeuvre focuses on issues of surveillance and cyberspace.

The comprehensive publication applies Lacan’s dictum RSI (the Real, the Symbolic, the Imaginary) to Scher’s work, examining it regarding the topics Real & Fake, Surveillance & Security & SM, Infrastructures.

Initiated by Nadia Ismail, director of Kunsthalle Gießen, and Matthias Kliefoth, publisher at DISTANZ Verlag, the multi-institutional book project presents the first in-depth overview of Scher’s work over the last 30 years. The publication was jointly realized with Museum Abteiberg, MAMCO Geneva, and Kunsthalle Zürich; generously supported by Kunststiftung NRW and the galleries Esther Schipper and DREI. In addition to extensive photographic documentation and an essay by Katrin Kämpf and Lilian Haberer, it contains text contributions by Paul Bernard, Gesine Borcherdt, Magnus Schäfer, Mark von Schlegell, and Gloria Sutton.

PROGRAM
Admission is free from 2 p.m.

11.30 a.m. / 2 p.m.
JULIA SCHER: Maximum Security Society
Last guided tours with Tamara Herbers

3 p.m.
Book presentation & artist talk
JULIA SCHER: R.S.I.

We kindly ask for registration.

SAVE THE DATE
Another book presentation will take place at Galerie Esther Schipper in Berlin on 16 September 2023.

Eds. Nadia Ismail / Kunsthalle Gießen and Matthias Kliefoth / DISTANZ | German / English | Softcover, 24 × 28 cm | 256 pages, 180 color images | ISBN 978-3-95476-488-4 | 44 €

Fig.: Julia Scher, Programme malveillant détecté (4), 2021, Detail, Courtesy the artist and Esther Schipper, Berlin/Paris/Seoul, Photo: Andrea Rossetti