1. Research Library

        Lotte or the Transformation of the Object = Lotte oder der Transformation des Objekts

        Clémentine Deliss

        Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt 1990

      1. Rare catalog accompanying the exhibition Lotte oder der Transformation des Objekts [Lotte or the Transformation of the Object], curated by Clémentine Deliss, on view at the Stadtmuseum Graz (14.10–18.11.)1990 and the Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna (4.12.1990–20.01.1991). Deliss’s influential exhibition showed the work of five artists (Lubaina Hamid, Mike Kelley, Jeff Koons, Haim Steinbach and Rosemarie Trockel) along with contemporary West African artifacts includes ibeji figures, ode-lay masquerades, commemorative cloths, barbershop signs, and childrens’ wire toys. This juxtaposition of objects was meant to destabilize the gaze of what Deliss called ‘the western observer’ and to call into question the self-definition of the West through a confrontation with different perceptions of material culture. Deliss proposed ‘the premise that an exhibition is a short-term operative site and can be used to expose ideas around the interpretation of art as well as the art itself.’ Despite the rarity of the catalog, one can still consult Deliss’s text, FREE FALLFREEZE FRAME: Africa, exhibitions, artists, in Thinking About Exhibitions, eds. Reesa Greenberg, Bruce W. Ferguson and Sanda Nairne (London and New York: Routledge, 1996): 275-293, in which she writes about the exhibition.