The third of four special publications to accompany a display of works from Barcelona’s ”la Caixa” Collection at Whitechapel Gallery, selected by and featuring newly-commissioned fictional works by some of the most original English and Spanish-language authors writing today.
Established in Barcelona in 1985 by ”la Caixa” Banking Foundation, the ”la Caixa” Collection features over 1,000 works of international contemporary art from the last 30 years, including artists such as Antoni Tàpies, Joseph Beuys, Cornelia Parker and Doris Salcedo.
For a major four-part display running from 2019–20, Whitechapel Gallery has partnered with ”la Caixa” to showcase key pieces from the Collection, with each of the four ‘chapters’ curated by a contemporary writer, who will also contribute a brand new work of fiction in response to their selection. Each display will be accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue featuring the works displayed and the new text.
The third chapter, on display in Autumn 2019, will be selected by Tom McCarthy (b. 1969, UK; lives in London and Berlin), a writer whose novels include Satin Island (2015), which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, C (2010) and Remainder (2005). He is also the author of a collection of essays Typewriters, Bombs, Jellyfish (2017). McCarthy is co-founder of the International Necronautical Society (INS), an expansive, networked organisation that slides between the worlds of art, fiction, philosophy and media.
Through his new piece of fiction and selection of works McCarthy explores urgent contemporary themes of surveillance and control, and how these systems are subject to collapse. Selected works featured are by artists Eugenio Ampudia, Isa Genzken, Steve McQueen, Pedro Mora, Aitor Ortiz, Sophie Ristelhueber and Eve Sussman. The catalogue also features a futuristic contribution from curator Lars Nittve.
Bilingual (English/Spanish)
Paperback, 104 pages, 225 x 145 mm
11 colour illustrations
ISBN 978-0-85488-275-5
First published 2019
Other authors in the series are Enrique Vila-Matas, Maria Fusco and Verónica Gerber Bicecci
