the world according to

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO

Issue Nr. 2 - out now!

Magazine Launch with Olaf Nicolai:
Saturday, June 12, 11:30 – 13:30
at SALON POPULAIRE
Bülowstraße 90, Berlin Schöneberg

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO seeks to challenge an artist to work in an unfamiliar way: using any source other than his/her own work, s/he develops an idea, a concept, a subject or a vision which can only be realized on paper. On 64 blank pages, s/he creates a special project by collecting images, texts, graphs, and/or by inviting artists, friends, family-members to generate content and to contribute to it.
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO offers an empty space in which the artist can step back from his/her daily practice to find different ways of examining the world that surrounds him/her and to finally develop new content and unexpected forms.

OLAF NICOLAI (Halle/Saale, 1962. Lives and works in Berlin).
Olaf Nicolai's work is conceptual in nature and often characterized by (socio) political references, in which multiple antipodal aspects (socialist and capitalist, hedonist and idealist) merge and overlap. Aspects such as production processes and the generation of commodities are reflected in his work as well as the realm of aesthetics and the role of the observer, i.e. participant. This issue of WAT appears in conjunction with his installation „Warum Frauen gerne Stoffe kaufen, die sich gut anfühlen“ (Why women like to buy textiles that feel nice) at the Arbeiterkammer Wien in 2010, for which he designed a silk cotton curtain which lines the walls of the new building’s reception hall. The publication is conceived as a textual system of references to this work in the form of an annotation apparatus with index of names and subjects. The title of the installation quotes a study by Elias Smith from 1937 on consumer behaviour regarding the purchase of textiles. Elias Smith is the pseudonym Paul Lazarsfeld used after his emigration to the USA. His studies are still seminal in market and opinion research today. Together with Marie Jahoda and Hans Zeisel he compiled the first long-term study on the effects of unemployment in the 20th century: “Die Arbeitslosen von Marienthal” (The Unemployed of Marienthal), 1933. The research work on the demise of a former location of the textile industry was supported and co-financed by the Arbeiterkammer Wien and serves here as the starting point to unravel a complex web of references spanning from the decline of the textile industry to sociological opinion research, the development of consumer desires and psychological studies on tactile perception of fabrics, creating an intricate textural web. Olaf Nicolai has been awarded several grants (P.S.1 Museum Grant, New York, 1998; Art Award Wolfsburg, 2002; Villa Aurora Residency, Los Angeles, 2008). His work has been exhibited in numerous international group and solo exhibitions including documenta X, 1997 and Venice Biennale, 2001 and 2005.

Editor:
THE OFFICE

Published by:
argobooks
www.argobooks.de

This issue of THE WORLD ACCORDING TO is published in conjunction with the exhibition
OLAF NICOLAI – WARUM FRAUEN GERNE STOFFE KAUFEN, DIE SICH GUT ANFÜHLEN
at Arbeiterkammer Wien / Vienna
April 16–November 20, 2010
Prinz Eugen Straße 20-22
1040 Vienna, Austria
kultur.arbeiterkammer.at


We would like to inform you about two other events/exhibitions with Olaf Nicolai:

CONVERSATION PIECE – Ein Window-Display von Olaf Nicolai.
Featuring: Luigi Visconti, Gruppo di famiglia in un interno, 1974
Buchhandlung Walther König an der Museumsinsel, Burgstr. 27, 10178 Berlin
03. -16.06.2010
www.buchhandlung-walther-koenig.de

Olaf Nicolai – Faites le travail qu'accomplit le soleil
11.06.– 22.08.2010
kestnergesellschaft, Goseriede 11, 30159 Hannover
www.kestner.org