Josephine Meckseper

, 2009

In her photography, videos, and installations Josephine Meckseper (b. 1964 in Lilienthal, lives and works in New York) engages with the interaction between politics and glamour. Thus, in her works, images of political activism—whether photographs of demonstrations or newspaper cuttings—are set against sparkling consumer goods and advertising motifs. On the one hand, the vocabulary of forms appears absurd in its opposing ideological effect; on the other, the artist discloses references by interpolating them seamlessly in a decorative and apparently elegant display. Meckseper has pursued the capitalist-critique approach of recent years, with subject areas agitating around the war in Iraq and the oil industry, with all their inherent economic and socio-political implications, in particular those concerning the automobile industry. The publication concentrates on a new series of works developed from this context.

This book was published on the occasion of the exhibition Josephine Meckseper at the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Blaffer Gallery, Art Museum of the University of Houston; and Ausstellungshalle zeitgenössische Kunst Münster