Nils Büttner / Sonja Eismann / Änne Söll JUSTYNA KOEKE Princesses and Saints 152 pp., 20 x 28 cm, 84 colour ills. Softcover English / German 28 [D] / US$ 50 / 25 ISBN: 978-3-89790-480-4 JUSTYNA KOEKE PRINCESSES AND SAINTS Justyna Koeke transforms children s fantasies into wearable sculptures, fashion shows into performances. As a child, the artist, together with her sister, painted princesses and saints over and again, which she now carries over into reality as a collection of brilliantly coloured outfits full of whimsical details. The drawings are transposed as closely as possible, as if they were designs by renowned fashion designers. Today, the costumes come alive on the bodies of ladies of advancing years for example, at the fashions shows for the Berlin Alternative Fashion Week or during the iconic construction of the new City Library in Stuttgart. A cosmos as humorous as it is surreal, in which childhood and fantasy effortlessly transcend the traditional boundaries of age. The staged photographs before the sterile pool or the futuristic lift of an upscale senior citizens home nevertheless raise questions: for example, on the relationship of age and youth in our society. Or on the subjective sensibility of age that has long since not always been in step with the social stereotypes of our time. The publication, conceived by the communication designer Demian Bern together with the artist, presents the entire spectrum of the project over 152 pages. Beginning with an extensive photo gallery, the childlike innocent drawings from the late 1970s and early 1980s are introduced. Their counterpart is found at the end of the book, in photographs of the models with fantasy costumes of their own Have you seen our online press portal? There you will fi nd the printable covers, images and press releases of our new publications available for download. You can also leaf through our books on our website. We look forward to your visit. www.arnoldsche.com/en/press choosing. In between, the art project unfolds before the reader in the reflection of images and texts by renowned photographers and authors. The project of the Polish artist Justyna Koeke, which alternates between sculpture, performance and plays on the fashion world, combines artisanal virtuosity with a mature sense of the whimsical and humorous: an approach as exciting as it is diverse on the relationship between childhood dreams and the reality of age, in which unresolved issues of an increasingly aging society continue to resonate. With essays by Prof Dr Nils Büttner (Academy of Fine Arts, Stuttgart/DE), Sonja Eismann (Missy Magazine) and Prof Dr Änne Söll (Ruhr-University Bochum/DE) and photographs by Nadine Bracht, David Spaeth, Michael Wittig and Daniela Wolf This book has been produced with the generous support of For more information or free review copies, please do not hesitate to contact Winfried Stürzl arnoldsche ART PUBLISHERS Olgastraße 137, D-70180 Stuttgart Tel. +49 (0)711 64 56 18-14 Fax -79 presse@arnoldsche.com www. arnoldsche.com 1
JUSTYNA KOEKE Born 1976 in Krakow/ Lives and works in Ludwigsburg/ and Krakow/ 1999 2005 Studied fi ne art at academies in Nuremberg/, Krakow/, Stuttgart/, Warsaw/ Scholarships / Awards 2011 Artist-in-residence Ljubljana/Slovenia 2010 Artist-in-residence Pecs/Hungary 2009 Open EPAF (European Performance Art Festival), The Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle (CCA) Warsaw/ 2008 Valentine Roter Award 2008 Cité Internationale des Arts Paris/France 2006 Mobile Academy Warsaw/ 2005, 2002 Awarded twice by the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart/ Projects 2013 Fanaberie, tydzien ferformance, performance and fashion festival, Galeria Bunkier Sztuki and public space Krakow/; cooperation with Cecylia Malik and Monika Drozynska 2011 Modraszek kolektyw, cooperation with Cecylia Malik, urban space-activism project 2010 Curator and artist in the fi rst Polish art project against gentrifi cation in Krakow/, Ulica Smolensk 22/8, cooperation with Cecylia Malik 2009 Performances at the construction site of the new City Library in Stuttgart/ Exhibitions and performances (selected) 2016 Thomas Weber Tanz-Show, FKN, Nürtingen/ Prinzessinnen und Heilige, Berlin Alternative Fashion Week and City Library Stuttgart/ 2015 Highheelssculpture, performance for the women s festival Il Tempo della Donne of the Corriere della Sera, Milan/Italy 2014 Herz, performance, MOCAK/Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow/ Przebudzenie, Swiecie/ 2013 uklad miesniowy, City gallery Torun/ (solo exhib.) Human non human, performance at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle, Warsaw/ Abrakadabra Fashion Show, performance, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg/ Ave Maria, Galerie Potemka, Leipzig/ 2012 Follow the white rabbit, Kunstverein Dortmund/ Sport in der Kunst, MOCAK/Museum of Contemporary Art Krakow/ eso, performance, Spinnerei, Leipzig/ fremd vertraut, Allgemeiner Konsumverein Braunschweig/ 2011 Grenzbereiche der Skulptur, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg/ Sodom and Gomorrah, Tobacna City Gallery, Ljubljana/ Slovenia 2010 Grenzbereiche der Skulptur, Kunstverein Ludwigsburg/ Mainstream art fashion show for Utopia Parkway project, Stuttgart/ Mythos Kindheit, Kunstverein Ludwigshafen/ follow the white rabbit, Galeria Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow/ Naughty, HattyuHaz Gallery, Pecs/Hungary Urbane Visionen, Kunstbezirk Stuttgart/ 2009 Retour de Paris, Karlsruhe/ (solo exhib.) Hitting and Hitting Back, performance, preview performance, Stuttgart/ Documentation from performances, Rathaus/Interventionsraum, Stuttgart/ 2008 Sodom Gomorrah, Atelier Wilhelmstraße, Stuttgart/ (solo exhib.) Family secrets, Galeria Bunier Sztuki, Krakow/ (solo exhib.) 2007 Thread, Koroska Galerija Slovenij, Gradec/Slovenia nie ma problemu, Galeria Starter, Poznan/ All inclusive, Galerie 22, Braunschweig/ (solo exhib.) 2006 Missgeburten, Kunstakademie Stuttgart/ (solo exhib.) Muse heute, Kunsthalle Bremen/ Kommen und Gehen, Karlskaserne Ludwigsburg/ (solo exhib.) 2004 Test screen, Galeria Bunkier Sztuki, Krakow/ Körperbilder-Projektionen, Shedhalle, Tübingen/ Barocke Leidenschaften, Allgemeiner Konsumverein Braunschweig/ 2003 Wassertropfen, Allgemeiner Konsumverein Braunschweig/ (solo exhib.) Rot, Haus der Kunst, Munich/ www. arnoldsche.com 2
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