Catalog accompanying the first part of a diptych exhibition in S.M.A.K., Ghent, spread over two years, curated by Martin Germann with Tanja Boon and Steven Humblet. The exhibition comprises new and existing work by artists and photographers including Lewis Baltz, Tina Barney, Mohamed Bourouissa, Moyra Davey, Marc De Blieck, Sara Deraedt, Patrick Faigenbaum, Peter Fraser, Alair Gomes, Jitka Hanzlová, Roni Horn, Stephanie Kiwitt, Aglaia Konrad, Jochen Lempert, Zoe Leonard, Jean-Luc Moulène, Zanele Muholi, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Trevor Paglen, Doug Rickard, Torbjørn Rødland, Michael Schmidt, Arne Schmitt, Allan Sekula, Ahlam Shibli, Malick Sidibé, Dayanita Singh, Wolfgang Tillmans, Marc Trivier and Tobias Zielony. The selection, ranging from the 1960s to the present, demonstrates a lively interest in the power of the still image as a means of examining the world. It concentrates on indefinable images with an open view, whose multi-layering requires slow reading. With an introduction by Martin Germann and Philippe Van Cauteren, and an essay by Steven Humblet in Dutch and English

The collaborative strength of Parkett unfolds with artists and writers, with retrospective and future views — one last time. Parkett’s closing print issue is a double one — one volume is a traditional issue, this time with ten new artist collaborations, while the other consists of recollections and tributes. Going forward, Parkett volumes and editions will remain fully documented on the website and available via the Zurich and New York offices. Furthermore, all volumes including 1500 texts are currently being digitized and will become accessible online. New, expanded Parkett exhibitions in various museums are in preparation as well, which will further explore the publication’s singular approach as a thirty-three-year time capsule and archive. The double issue features collaborations with Nairy Baghramian, Maurizio Cattelan, Marlene Dumas, Katharina Fritsch, Katharina Grosse, Marilyn Minter, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Nicolas Party, Pipilotti Rist, and Jordan Wolfson. Each artist has created as usual a special limited edition Collaboration texts are by Caoimhín Mac Giolla Léith (on Nairy Baghramian), Massimiliano Gioni (on Maurizio Cattelan), Tamar Garb (on Marlene Dumas), Jacqueline Burckhardt (on Katharina Fritsch), Barry Schwabsky (on Katharina Gorsse), Nancy Spector (on Marilyn Minter), Matthew S. Witkovsky (on Jean-Luc Mylayne), Ali Subotnick (on Nicolas Party), Juliana Engberg (on Pipilotti Rist), and Andrew Russeth (on Jordan Wolfson). Previous collaboration artists have sent in some one hundred image and short text contributions. >Explore here The second half of the issue opens with two roundtables on the future of art publishing. The first discussion, moderated by editor Mark Welzel, took place in Berlin and featured Diedrich Diederichsen (writer on music, art, cinema, theatre, and politics), Jörg Heiser (director of the Institut für Kunst im Kontext at the Universität der Künste, Berlin), Olaf Nicolai (artist), Susanne Pfeffer (director of the Museum für Moderne Kunst in Frankfurt), and Steffen Zillig (artist and writer), in addition to Parkett’s founding editors, Bice Curiger and Jacqueline Burckhardt. A New York conversation, moderated by executive editor Nikki Columbus, included Hal Foster (Professor at Princeton University, art critic, art historian, and co-editor, October), Michelle Kuo (former editor-in-chief, Artforum), and Hrag Vartanian (critic, curator, editor-in-chief and co-founder, Hyperallergic), as well as Curiger. Statements from Parkett’s past editors, curators, translators, and designers highlight what made the magazine special, while a wide and diverse range of artists write in to heap accolades in the form of images and texts.

Animals’ was a group exhibition that included artworks by seventeen acclaimed international contemporary artists from Europe and America from 24 Jun – 11 Sep 2004. The works in the exhibition all explore the issue of how the otherness of animals opens up new ways of thinking. Most of the works were new or previously unseen in the UK, with a number made especially for this exhibition. Artists exhibiting include Lothar Baumgarten, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Katharina Fritsch, Ellen Gallagher, John Isaacs, Marina Kappos, Mike Kelley, Oswaldo Macià, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Bruce Nauman, João Onofre, Marjetica Potr, Bojan arevi, Kiki Smith, Diana Thater, Rosemarie Trockel and Bill Viola. The works in the exhibition questioned the common ways we understand animals, and rather than objectifying or anthropomorphising them, present them as beings in their own right, often incomprehensible and mysterious. In Marina Kappos’s video, ‘Beast’, a domestic cat is shown larger than life-size in close-up from below, snarling at some unseen threat. Drawing attention to the similarities and differences between humans and animals the viewers’ everyday notions of human identity are challenged. Looking at animals in this way also encourages the viewer to acknowledge different ways of perceiving the world. Complex use of language differentiates humans from animals, and these works bring a focus to other methods of communication that have tended to be neglected.