Gianni Motti has celebrated his own funeral, masqueraded as a professional soccer player, spoken in the name of the people of Indonesia at the UN Human Rights Convention, claimed responsibility for earthquakes and repeatedly referred to himself as a kind of terrorist infiltrating various systems to implode them from within. The events he subverts with such surgical precision can be political, cultural or social. Their audiences and their expectations are not to be pandered to, as Motti styles himself not so much as a participant in the culture of spectacle–a court jester–but as an activist who unveils its workings. Which is why his events are most often experienced in photographs made by onlookers or the press. This book brings together for the first time a large selection of images and documentation, an overview of Motti’s actions and the art therein.

Of Bridges & Borderscelebrates the opening up of communication (“bridges”) among writers and artists worldwide following the collapse of the Berlin Wall (the primary border referred to in the title), to mark the emergence of a new collective memory in the age of global connectivity. Described as “a project in book form,” its numerous contributors include Carlos Amorales, John Bock, Chris Burden, Matias Duville, Gardar Eide Einarsson, Elmgreen & Dragset, Carlos Garaicoa, Liam Gillick, Fabrice Gygi, Thomas Hirschhorn, Hassan Khan, Guillermo Kuitca, Dr. Lakra, Gianni Motti, Antoni Muntadas, Carsten Nicolai, Alva Noto, Hans Op de Beeck, Dan Perjovschi, Ishmael Randall Weeks, Reynold Reynolds and Santiago Sierra.

La storia del rapporto tra l’arte e il “mondo delle notizie stampate” inizia con il Cubismo e con le avanguardie del primo Novecento, attraversa tutto il secolo e giunge fino a noi articolandosi in modi sempre nuovi. Su questo rapporto è incentrata la straordinaria collezione dei coniugi Annette e Peter Nobel, di cui questo catalogo presenta un’ampia e significativa selezione. Il saggio di Jean Baudrillard e gli altri saggi che accompagnano le 370 opere riprodotte non si limitano a ripercorre la storia di questo rapporto, ma ci aiutano a capire la rilevanza che esso assume nei nostri anni, in cui fotografie e notizie ci inseguono ovunque, veicolate non solo dalla stampa ma anche da smartphone, computer ecc., facendosi sempre più pervasive. Tra i numerosi artisti rappresentati: Jean Arp, John Baldessari, George Baselitz, Joseph Beuys, Alighiero e Boetti, Georges Braque, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Christo, Fortunato Depero, Walker Evans, Hans-Peter Feldmann, Urs Fischer, Gilbert & George, Nan Goldin, Richard Hamilton, John Heartfield, Thomas Hirschhorn, Dennis Hopper, Roni Horn, Alfredo Jaar, William Kentridge, Willem de Kooning, Joseph Kosuth, Jannis Kpunellis, Le Corbusier, Roy Lichtenstein, Joan Mirò, Gianni Motti, Sigmar Polke, Richard Prince, Man Ray, Gerhard Richter, Dieter Roth, Edward Ruscha, Kurt Schwitters, Cindy Sherman, David Shrigley, Roman Signer, Antoni Tàpies, Zhou Tiehai, Wolfgan Tillmans.