“The scenes in Wangechi Mutu’s collages work may be out of this world, but they point to its most pressing problems. Acting like paper-made protestors, their curious protagonists accompany the artist on her combat mission to examine well-established hierarchies and challenge predominant power structures. As members of Mutu’s army, they fight in the front ranks for women’s rights and stand up against social injustice.”

“Routinely devastated, Cruise, Willis and Co. lean against lunar rocks, battered, bruised, contemplating. But there is hope and some sort of newfangled freedom—the promise to start afresh. Destined to blaze a trail without knowing what to expect, the post-apocalyptic hero will always be a daring explorer.”

“There is something about Carhartt’s down-home, sturdy cuts that embodies in every seam a deadpan nonchalance about fashion. Ironically, it is exactly the aura of not giving a damn that turns garments into icons. Take bulky Barbours, battened fly jackets or Tacchini tracksuits. Some of the strongest styles are those that don’t seem to care; that are made for one market, and adopted by another; not tailored towards the so-called tastemakers, but taken over by them; that remain unsolicited, unruly, rich of cultural contradictions and cross-references.”

“Traffic humming in my ears, as my destination nears, goes the first line of the LAX song. It is followed by a fanfare of washed out language. Sun is laughing in the sky, ocean breeze rolls softly by. While washing ashore a wave of California clichés, like rolling hills, vista views, sandy beaches and beauty queens, the song lacks to credit LA’s less scenic sanctuaries. Following the mayhem of a weekend whose many incredibilities have just gone through the international news, the majority of the city’s leading politicians openly objects Trump’s travel ban, defending the city’s ambitions to protect unauthorized immigrants.”

“Make books not bombs, Hans Ulrich Obrist once said to them. So they do.”

“Cars crash throughout the story lines of drama and video games, to be watched from remote-controlled safety or steered with joysticks in technology’s remove. The world has watched Jackson Pollock, James Dean and Lady Di perish in wrecks. Reading about car crashes in the news, we empathise with their victims, yet their tragedies feel remote. We are “adepts of proximity without risk”, as Susan Sontag once put it, but strangely insatiable. Like junk food, we tend to consume tragedy in supersize portions while gaining nothing in substance.”

“Metz + Racine’s not so still still lifes proudly show a bit of leg. Seemingly slightly off-schedule, many capture the “right before” or the “right after.” Real suspense, they appear to argue, resides between an act and its imminent instance, between a particular moment and the point it just passed.”

“The products they portray come alive as protagonists, stills become stories. Playing with perspective, materials, arrangement, lighting, and their very own way of combining creative methods, Stills & Strokes images remind us that everyday things can be more than they seem.”

“Wir unterteilen die Welt in Raster, um uns besser in ihr zurechtzufinden, um sie besser darstellen und durchsuchen zu können. Unsere Wohnungen unterteilen wir, zumindest teilweise, durch Regalbretter.”