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Idea Books

New Titles in Art & Essays

1 July 2025

Edmund de Waal – an Archive

Isbn 9788412749311
Publisher Ivorypress
Idea code 250514
€ 26.90

This is a book about archives that is itself archival, a gathering together of Edmund de Waal’s reflections on archives from over a decade, presented in chronological order. Yet the book is also cyclical. It begins in Odessa in 2009 and ends in Paris in 2021, encountering De Waal’s family archives in both places. In between are his responses to the archives of poets and artists and places he loves. In addition, it includes texts he has written for previous publications which are no longer available, indicating his own archival efforts. De Waal explores different approaches to the definition of archival work as well as the experimentation of an archive by both the viewer and its creator.

260 p, ills colour & bw, 12 x 16 cm, pb, English

See All This 38: Pretty Brilliant Women in the Arts - Volume III

Isbn 24683981
Publisher See All This
Idea code 250396
€ 24.30

'Pretty Brilliant Women in the Arts Vol. III' marks the final instalment of a six-year endeavour to celebrate the extraordinary work of women artists. Fittingly, this keystone edition centres on the theme of Goddesses - for, like deities, women artists have always been, and always will be, ever-present. Leading this issue are six divine figures drawn from across time and culture, symbolising the hunt, the moon, fertility, sexuality, beauty, water, time, death, creation, destruction, the earth, and the night. Throughout history, women have created art in a world that neither asked for it nor rewarded it. And yet they created - to express, to connect, to reveal the joy, sorrow, and beauty they witnessed. This magazine is for them: the divine spirits who have shaped generations of artists.

248 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 27 cm, pb, Dutch/English

Nathalie Du Pasquier On Paper, 1993–2023

Isbn 9782902565627
Publisher Fotokino
Idea code 250492
€ 25.80

In spring 2024, Villa Noailles invited Nathalie to exhibit her drawings at the Hôtel des Arts in Toulon. This exhibition was the occasion for a first small publication, Arrangements, imagined as a mini-catalogue. One year later, Fotokino releases On Paper, 1993–2023, a book that reflects on thirty years of Du Pasquier's work. Exhibition views and drawings unfold across the pages, accompanied by the artist’s own reflections on her practice. Designed by Nathalie herself, the book is at once a catalogue, an artist’s book, and a visual essay — offering a unique and intimate look at her relationship with working on paper. The book includes a text by Pierre Charpin and an interview with Luca Lo Pinto.

96 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 30 cm, pb, French

Irene Kopelman - A Matter of Framing. Notes on Representation Vol. 13

Isbn 9789464460810
Publisher Roma Publications
Idea code 250468
€ 27.25

The thirteenth volume of Irene Kopelman’s Notes on Representation series is connected to the exhibition ‘Una cuestión de encuadre’ at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Panama. It presents three series of works developed in collaboration with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama in 2024. Featuring contributions by the artist and scientists, it offers a model for interdisciplinary practice rooted in long-term exchange. It also marks the occasion of Kopelman’s appointment as the first non-scientist to be named Research Associate at STRI – a formal recognition of her enduring engagement with the institute’s work and the Panamanian landscape.

96 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 28 cm, pb, English/Spanish

Roger Ballen - Animalism

Isbn 9788822924339
Publisher Quodlibet
Idea code 250467
€ 30.10

Using surreal compositions and dark absurdity, Roger Ballen’s ‘Animalism’ reveals the way in which animals are at once an external presence and an intrinsic part of the human psyche, unveiling the profound links between civilisation and untamed nature. His body of work, with an aesthetic combining photography with design and installation, reveals a surreal and often disturbing world peopled with freaky characters, enigmatic symbolisms, and claustrophobic settings. Published in conjunction with an exhibition of the Johannesburg-based artist’s work in Rome, this catalogue also includes a conversation between Ballen and curator Alessandro Dandini de Sylva.

148 p, ills bw, 24 x 29 cm, pb, Italian/English

Mieke Bal, Moments of Meaning-Making - On Anachronism, Becoming, Criticism, and More.

Isbn 9789493246430
Publisher Valiz
Idea code 250466
€ 29.10

Mieke Bal (1946) is a Dutch theorist, video artist, Professor Emerita in Literary Theory (University of Amsterdam), and a well-known writer and feminist. Bal has been teaching at many institutes and universities in Europe and the United States. She is known for her specific ways of “deep reading” of works including that of Rembrandt to Caravaggio. She intertwines research with literature, psycho-analysis, gender studies, philosophy, and bible studies. Going strong at 78 years of age, she ruminates on a long life with different roles not with an autobiography, but through this ABC of key terms that weave together daily experiences, her know-how when it comes to art creation, and core concepts of her cultural research.

280 p, ills bw, 17 x 24 cm, pb, English

Does the sun have a translucent shell?

Isbn 9781915609731
Publisher Sternberg Press
Idea code 250290
€ 12.95

This is the fifth book in the annual series A Series of Open Questions published by CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts and Sternberg Press. Each book includes newly commissioned writing as well a selection of perspectives, images, and references related to the Wattis’s year-long research seasons dedicated to single artists. This volume is informed by themes found in the work of Anicka Yi, such as AI, umwelt, scent and taste, the anthropocene, decay and rot, the animal world, feminism, and Asian American experiences. Contributions include a cocktail recipe by Pierre Huyghe, an academic essay on psychedelic mushrooms in Native American culture, and a short story by Argentinian author Julio Cortázar, along with photographs and drawings relating to the themes. Through an eclectic range of international voices, the book encompasses many mediums in an attempt to address some of the most pressing issues of our time.

256 p, ills colour & bw, 11 x 18 cm, pb, English

Henry de Vries, Kuang-Yi Ku - Atlas of Queer Anatomy

Isbn 9789083361666
Publisher Limestone Books
Idea code 250517
€ 31.70

In this visionary atlas, artist Kuang-Yi Ku and STI specialist Henry de Vries reimagine the human form, dismantling the patriarchal, heteronormative, and Western-centric frameworks of classical anatomy. The book critiques the way bodies are understood and represented, offering perspectives on the diversity and fluidity of human anatomy and depicting the spectrum of sex in a positive way, beyond the narrow focus of heteronormative sexuality. As long as there is mutual consent, the commonly accepted boundaries are unnecessary, artificial, and exclude essential parts of society. A dentist, Ku is also a bio-artist and speculative designer living between Taiwan and the Netherlands.

176 p, ills colour & bw, 17 x 23 cm, pb, English

herman de vries - all this here

Isbn 9789493329461
Publisher Jap Sam Books
Idea code 250463
€ 28.70

herman de vries is truly a pioneer - one of the first artists not to represent nature, but to present it as it appears to us. In his view, nature is not a collection of isolated phenomena; rather, everything is interconnected. This holistic, ecological perspective makes his work more relevant today than ever. This publication is released in conjunction with the exhibition h'erman de vries. 70 years nature as art' at Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede (24 May – 9 November 2025). It includes a comprehensive essay by Cees de Boer, texts by Caroline Breunesse and Josien Beltman, and an overview of de vries’s remarkable body of work.

384 p, ills colour & bw, 13 x 19 cm, pb, Dutch/English

Collecting Otherwise Manuals

Isbn 9789083301198
Publisher Het Nieuwe Instituut
Idea code 250469
€ 14.60

Since 2020, Collecting Otherwise, initiated by the Nieuwe Instituut in Rotterdam, has explored how archives and their policies shape institutional memory, urban history, and public heritage, challenging the idea that heritage is “neutral”. It aims to change institutional culture to recognise and champion under-represented roles, practices, and perspectives in archives. Besides rethinking archival practices in case studies from the National Collection, the project addresses annual themes on collecting and develops collaborative tools. The manuals invite engagement with these tools to support reparative archival work and deepen reflections on the responsibilities of memory.

82 p, ills bw, 16 x 23 cm, pb, English

Thierry De Cordier - I am hardly useful

Isbn 9789491245404
Publisher Xavier Hufkens
Idea code 250523
€ 31.20

This booklet by Thierry De Cordier is a unique compilation of three interviews and a questionnaire, offering a layered exploration of his identity, beliefs, and artistic philosophy. The first interview presents an external perspective on De Cordier’s work and ideas. The following two interviews take a more introspective and imaginative turn: one is a self-interview in which the author interrogates himself, and the other is a daring, fictional dialogue with God. Through the interview format, De Cordier constructs a fragmented yet revealing self-portrait. Rather than providing a definitive account of who he is, this book offers a glimpse into his evolving thoughts on existence, art, and religion.

44 p, ills colour & bw, 22 x 31 cm, pb, English

Other Intelligences

Isbn 9783039690435
Publisher Christoph Merian
Idea code 250484
€ 31.20

The human brain was long considered to be the sole measure of intelligence, but this idea is becoming increasingly outmoded. Artificial intelligence is capable of gaining abilities that were previously ascribed to human beings alone. Moreover, other non-human forms of intelligence, like plants and animals, are drawing our curiosity. This book features projects by artists who devote themselves to two aspects of non-human intelligence: technological intelligence and the intelligence of the world’s ecosystem, the diversity of which is under threat. What forms of intelligence are relevant for shaping the future? And how can AI serve society and promote ecological community?

144 p, ills colour, 17 x 29 cm, pb, German/English

Qiu Xiaofei - BARE

Isbn 9789491245411
Publisher Xavier Hufkens
Idea code 250522
€ 31.20

In Qiu’s works, the philosophical ideas of Chinese literati from the Wei and Jin (220-420) dynasties are reimagined as contemporary images: faces with ambivalent smiles, the chaos of inebriated dances and chants, and naked bodies, all set amidst strange flowers and plants in utopian ruins. The influences of traditional Eastern painting and European religious art of the late Middle Ages are also evident in his work. The artist’s inspiration further extends from personal recollections of his family to the geopolitical relationship between his hometown of Harbin, in China, and the former Soviet Union. In 'BARE', catalogue of the eponymous exhibition in Brussels (2025), Qiu offers a profound exploration of reality and the human psyche, reflected in the mystical allure of his paintings.

86 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 27 cm, pb, English

Nathalie Bissig - Thunder

Isbn 9783907112847
Publisher Vexer Verlag
Idea code 250524
€ 55.15

The book 'Thunder' presents the ghostly, the wondrous, and the spooky. A visual anthology, it includes works from more than 20 years of creative activity by the artist Nathalie Bissig (born in 1981 in the Canton of Uri). Using mixed media, Bissig explores mythological tales and rituals from the Alpine regions. The book combines documentary and staged photography with drawings and objects to create a landscape the reader can wander through while browsing. The archaic and secretive works conjure up a realm infused with the magical, the unpredictable, and the raw force of nature.

366 p, ills colour & bw, 23 x 17 cm, pb, English

Pati Hill - Impossible Dreams

Isbn 9782957661152
Publisher Daisy Editions
Idea code 250404
€ 16.15

'Impossible Dreams' was Pati Hill’s last published novel, released in 1976 after it was partially published two years earlier in the Carolina Quarterly under the title 'An Angry French Housewife.' Hill tells the story of Geneviève, a middle-aged woman whose life is turned upside down when she unexpectedly falls in love with her neighbour, Dolly. Mixing anecdotes with existential thoughts, the novel describes the gradual disruption of the heroine’s daily life. Almost every chapter is accompanied by a xerograph of a photograph, selected by Hill with permission from its maker. The resulting combination of text and image constitutes her most ambitious attempt to produce a work in which “the two elements fuse to become something other than either.”

192 p, ills bw, 16 x 20 cm, pb, English

Omar Kholeif - Huguette Caland

Isbn 9781915609724
Publisher Sternberg Press
Idea code 250405
€ 15.00

Lebanese-born artist, Huguette Caland (1931–2019) was a path-breaking figure in late modernism. The only daughter of the first Lebanese president, Bechara El Khoury, she produced a singular body of art that spanned media and continents. Working for more than five decades, her art is recognized for its embodied aesthetic and its unique sensuality. In this searching critical biography, author and curator, Omar Kholeif, disentangles the seeming madness, velocity, and the interiority of Caland’s life. Both an epistolary memoir and a biography, Kholeif, interleaves the affective experience of encountering the artist over a period of 18 years, as readers are summoned on a journey through clouds of bristling color. Here, Caland’s fields of light are set to lyric prose and poetry, fashioning a scene for looking at and experiencing the erotics of art anew.

168 p, ills colour & bw, 11 x 16 cm, pb, English

Artus Quellinus – Sculptor of Amsterdam

Isbn 9789462089129
Publisher Nai010 Publishers
Idea code 250502
€ 34.05

Artus Quellinus the Elder (1609–1668), the masterful sculptor from Antwerp, is inextricably associated with the city of Amsterdam. Initially influenced by Rubens, during his studies in Rome he developed a classically inspired Baroque style with which he caused international furore upon his return to the Low Countries. In 1650 Quellinus received the prestigious commission to produce the imposing sculptural decoration for the new Amsterdam town hall (now the Royal Palace). For the next fifteen years he headed a large workshop on the Keizergracht in the realization of this massive sculptural undertaking. Thanks in no small part to Quellinus’s overwhelming sculptures, the new town hall was dubbed the ‘Eighth Wonder of the World’ by his contemporaries. Other of his sculptures in marble, bronze, ivory, terracotta and wood also attest to his extraordinary talent and great versatility.

240 p, ills colour & bw, 22 x 27 cm, pb, English

Dali in 400 images

Isbn 9789464781144
Publisher Ludion
Idea code 250430
€ 22.00

'Dalí in 400 images' explores the full range of one of the most significant Surrealist painters of the twentieth‐century. The exhaustive selection of works will reveal key masterpieces by perhaps the most famous of the Surrealists, as well as less familiar works including drawings and objects. Spanning the entire scope of the artist's career, this volume shows the complexity of the artist's vision from the early works inspired by Post‐Impressionism and his engagement with Cubism in the mid‐1920, his major Surrealist paintings of the 1930s, through the American years (1940s), the artist's embracing of Classicism in the 1950s, with his return to Spain, and finally his reengagement with avant‐garde experimentation in the 1960s and beyond.

480 p, ills colour & bw, 15 x 19 cm, hb, English

Jonathas de Andrade - Tropical hangover and other stories

Isbn 9782487132023
Publisher Jeu de Paume
Idea code 250515
€ 32.25

The artistic projects of Jonathas de Andrade are intended to reveal, through performance and play, the power dynamics that underpin human relations and the way we see the world. Focusing on his native Nordeste, the artist's photographs, videos and installations seek to deconstruct stereotypical representations of tropical exoticism, masculinity, cultural mixing and social and racial inequalities. Drawing on his research in anthropology, pedagogy and theatre, the artist explores the collective memory and history of his country, without seeking to establish clear boundaries between fiction and reality. Through photography, video, and installation, Jonathas de Andrade—who represented Brazil at the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022—revisits popular traditions and vernacular imagery to deconstruct visual archetypes and offer a critical reflection on Brazilian and Latin American identity. Tropical hangover and other stories explores themes such as tropical exoticism, the eroticization of the male body, miscegenation, and social and racial inequalities.

128 p, ills colour & bw, 24 x 14 cm, pb, French/English

Tanja Smit - Atlas of Textscapes

Isbn 9789493329430
Publisher Jap Sam Books
Idea code 250462
€ 31.10

'The Atlas of Textscapes' presents a forty-year overview of Tanja Smit’s text drawings, created directly on magazine articles and newspaper pages. The result is a striking collection of visual patterns and a wide-ranging exploration of layout, language, and meaning. At once critical and poetic, the work is both an investigation into the structure of text and an ode to language, slowness, and the fading presence of print in contemporary life. Tanja Smit (1961, NL) is a visual artist whose work explores the intersections of language, music, and image. Trained at the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague, she has expanded her practice over four decades to include text-based drawings, photography, video, and sound performance. Her work is held in the collections of Museum Gouda, Kunstmuseum Den Haag, MACBA Barcelona, and various public and private collections worldwide.

304 p, ills colour & bw, 21 x 20 cm, hb, Dutch/English/Spanish

Rosanna McLaughlin - Against Morality

Isbn 9783982668321
Publisher Floating Opera Press
Idea code 250458
€ 18.30

Should art be shaped by political ideals? In recent decades, art institutions have embraced liberal values like equality and social justice. But with this shift has come increased scrutiny - artists now navigate a landscape where their work is judged for its political alignment. In this incisive study, Rosanna McLaughlin explores the impact of moralising art through contemporary exhibitions, artworks, films, and their cultural reception. She challenges the idea that art must serve politics, questioning whether such a relationship should exist at all. By arguing against morality in the arts, McLaughlin opens the door to a more expansive understanding of difference in twenty-first-century art.

88 p, ills colour & bw, 12 x 17 cm, pb, English

In the Delirium of the Simulation – Baudrillard Revisited

Isbn 9789925815654
Publisher Becoming Press
Idea code 250444
€ 16.15

This monumental and expansive work comes from Achim Szepanski - arguably the most deeply versed scholar of Baudrillard, Deleuze, and Laruelle in the German-speaking world. Szepanski, founder of Mille Plateaux, Force Inc Music Works, and NON, dedicates this volume to Jean Baudrillard, whom he describes as “the most radical and advanced Stimmung in philosophy.” Through a comprehensive and incisive engagement with Baudrillard’s thought, Szepanski offers a compelling articulation of his own philosophical project. Alongside his magnum opus 'Die Ekstase der Spekulation', this book - In the Delirium of the Simulation - lays the foundation for what may be regarded, especially after his passing, as Szepanskism or Szepanskian Economics.

280 p, ills colour & bw, 13 x 20 cm, pb, English

Galerie Fons Welters

Isbn 9789462089082
Publisher Nai010 Publishers
Idea code 250428
€ 38.85

For forty years, Galerie Fons Welters has been one of the best art galleries in the Netherlands. In the early 1980s, when galleries started shooting up all over the place, Fons Welters quickly forged his own unique position out of nothing. After initially concentrating on sculpture, he gradually extended his gallery presentations to include installations and painting. Artists could always approach him with ideas that would have met with little response in other quarters. One such was Job Koelewijn, whom Welters allowed to demolish the entire rear wall of the gallery for his solo show, The World is My Oyster (1996). Artists ranging from Joep van Lieshout to Magali Reus, fromTom Claassen to Evelyn Taocheng Wang and from Femmy Otten to Adriano Amaral have found a platform for their artistic development at Galerie Fons Welters.

176 p, ills colour & bw, 22 x 29 cm, pb, Dutch/English

Chase Biado - Elf House

Isbn 9781953441119
Publisher New Documents
Idea code 250417
€ 55.15

Chase Biado produces artworks that often depict imagined realms inhabited by non-human figures, including anthropomorphic creatures, which serve as vehicles for exploring psychological states and narratives. Describing his own work as “Goblin Baroque”, these figures navigate dreamlike environments, inviting contemplation on themes of beauty, interior versus exterior lives, and the construction of alternative realities. Compiling a series of 61 charcoal drawings, ‘Elf House’ creates a speculative history documenting a hidden taxonomy of elven domesticity. Biado’s whimsical, often meditative drawings are accompanied by the lyrical essay “On the Nature of Elves” by the artist.

132 p, ills bw, 24 x 33 cm, hb, English

Kitagawa Tamiji Retrospective: From Mexico to Japan

Isbn 9784336075994
Publisher Kokushokankokai
Idea code 250009
€ 35.65

Commemorating the 130th anniversary of Tamitsugu Kitagawa's birth, this exhibition catalogue explores the Japanese artist's transformative years in revolutionary Mexico and their lasting influence on his artistic development. Bilingual introductions and full-colour images examine his multifaceted legacy as painter, muralist, children's book illustrator, and art educator. Through his Mexican connections and social consciousness, Kitagawa forged a distinctive artistic vision that challenged contemporary Japanese society. This comprehensive study, accompanying exhibitions at Nagoya City Art Museum, Setagaya Art Museum, and Koriyama Municipal Museum of Art, captures the era and illuminates his significant contribution to Japanese modernism.

296 p, ills colour & bw, 20 x 27 cm, hb, Japanese/English

Mohammad Fassounaki - Times Square, selected works

Isbn 9786001524219
Publisher Nazar Publishing
Idea code 250158
€ 99.00

Born in Tabriz, Mohammad Fassounaki is perhaps one of the most prominent contemporary artists outside Iran’s central art scene in the capital of Tehran. For over five decades, he has focused on evolving and improving his unique aesthetics and technique. While some consider him a modern artist who successfully challenged Tabriz’s traditional art scene, others see his style as old-fashioned and outdated, ignoring his contributions to contemporary Iranian art. This volume, produced in close collaboration with Fassounaki, presents the work of an artist who is passionate about painting and, despite the disapproval of classical viewpoints, has faithfully pursued his own style.

236 p, ills colour & bw, 25 x 32 cm, pb, Persian/English

Synnøve Anker Aurdal - Through the Threads

Isbn 9788867496471
Publisher Mousse Publishing
Idea code 250164
€ 59.15

‘Through the Threads’ is the most comprehensive monograph on Synnøve Anker Aurdal (1908–2000) to date, documenting the 60-year career of this pioneering Norwegian textile artist. By combining traditional craft techniques and the language of painterly abstraction, Anker Aurdal reinvented tapestry-making and created a new space for modern textile art. Despite a thriving career, the fact that she was a woman with no academic artistic education, working in feminised artistic media, shaped her trajectory and the reception of her work. Presenting both exhibition views and archival photographs, the book serves as a printed sequel to the 2022 retrospective exhibition ‘Synnøve Anker Aurdal’ at Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo.

262 p, ills colour & bw, 23 x 31 cm, hb, English/Norwegian

The Collection: 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa (New Edition)

Isbn 9784907490232
Publisher MCA Kanazawa
Idea code 250220
€ 48.75

The third edition of the collection catalogue of the 21st Century Museum of ContemporaryArt, Kanazawa has been expanded to include new acquisitions to mark the 20th anniversaryof the museum's opening. This volume documents one of Japan's leading collections ofcontemporary art, which has been built around three collection policies: works that proposenew values, works that serve as historical reference points, and works rich in new creativitywith ties to Kanazawa. It includes explanations of all 278 artists in the collection, informationon their works, and images of approximately 1,300 works.

778 p, ills colour & bw, 14 x 21 cm, pb, Japanese/English

Just Another Trouble Bubble

Isbn 9789462265448
Publisher Lecturis
Idea code 250252
€ 56.40

In a world where technology is becoming increasingly dominant, author and artist Joris van Merwijk raises critical questions in his new book, 'Just Another Trouble Bubble', about the impact of digital developments on fundamental human rights. The book highlights how technology infringes on our privacy, undermines property rights, and restricts personal freedoms and responsibilities. Van Merwijk calls for a reassessment of the concept of freedom: how can we live together without completely surrendering ourselves to the digital world? Are we still in control of our own lives, or is technology taking over? What remains of our humanity?

186 p, ills colour & bw, 15 x 21 cm, pb, English

Thierry De Cordier - NADA, Painter's notes

Isbn 9789491245398
Publisher Xavier Hufkens
Idea code 250254
€ 20.80

Between 1999 and 2024, Belgian artist Thierry De Cordier realised ten large-scale paintings as part of his ‘NADA’ series, which stemmed from an explicit intention to erase the crucifixion image. Almost monochromatic, the canvases can be interpreted as purely abstract or conceptual works. Over the years, in De Cordier’s view, as the paintings became freed from the original act of negation which had prompted him to paint them, they gradually evolved towards the ultimate achievement in painting: the sublime. This booklet reproduces De Cordier’s musings on the sacrilegious, abolition, reduction, and ultimate triumph over negation.

100 p, no ills, 13 x 18 cm, pb, English


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