Michael Müller. Ernstes Spiel. Catalogue Raisonné

Volume 4.2 of Michael Müller’s catalogue raisonné is devoted exclusively to the large-format, 126-part work Lektüre und Ablenkung (2016/17), which belongs to the group of works known as indexes. The basis for the index presented in this volume is Jacques Derrida’s book Vom Geist. But far more than the content of that publication, Müller is interested in the inevitable distractions that arise during the intense reading of a book. Meticulously documented, elaborated and developed in a variety of media - from text notes to drawings and photographs to mathematical notations - the distractions integrated into the work unfold a complex web of references, categorisations and relationships that uncover structures of the digressive mind.

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Volume 4.1 of Michael Müller’s catalogue raisonné examines the issue of whether the Holocaust can be depicted, as well as the artistic approach to evil. It is devoted to works commenting on four paintings by Gerhard Richter entitled "Birkenau" attempting to reappraise a cruel historical fact in the Auschwitz II/Birkenau extermination camp in various artistic forms. The critical commentaries on Richter are accompanied by many less conspicuous, quieter, even wounded works by Müller, which were on show in the Museum im Kulturspeicher Würzburg in 2022/23 and in St. Matthäus Kirche in Berlin in 2023. The catalogue in German, English and Chinese documents the most important works of this difficult artistic encounter, which are then contextualised in a detailed essay by art historian Lukas Töpfer.

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The fourth volume in the planned catalogue raisonné of Michael Müller’s artistic work comprising over 40 volumes a unique project spanning decades – not only offers an overview of Müller’s painterly oeuvre, but also functions as an exhibition catalogue. It is dedicated to the monumental painting Der geschenkte Tag, measuring over 6 x 65 m, which is was created for Michael Müller’s solo exhibition at the Städel Museum in Frankfurt, 2022. The 24-part painting as well as the exhibition as a whole elaborate on the Greek myth of the twins Castor and Pollux, the Dioscuri, which has received little attention from art history or philology and philosophy to date. In addition to the history of the works’ creation, a compilation of historical textual sources and an extensive interview with the artist, essays, and a lyrical composition by American literary scholar and translator Stanley Lombardo will update the story of the Dioscuri for the 21st century.

Accompanying essays by Hubertus von Amelunxen, Stanley Lombardo, Lukas Töpfer, Cora von Pape and Rudolf Zwirner, poems by Stanley Lombardo and Michael Krüger, a foreword by Gero Heschl and introductory words by Philipp Demandt.

計劃陸續出版的邁克爾·穆勒藝術作品全集多達40餘卷，是一個獨一無二、將歷時數十年的弘大項目，展示這位藝術家的全部繪畫作品，其中的第1.4卷同時也是一個展覽畫冊。該卷專門介紹邁克爾·穆勒6 x 65米的巨幅組畫《贈送的一天》，這一組畫是他專為2022年在法蘭克福施泰德爾博物館舉辦的個展創作的。由24部分組成的組畫及整個展覽以希臘神話中的孿生兄弟卡斯托爾和波呂丟刻斯（被合稱為狄奧斯庫里兄弟）為主題，該神話迄今為止在藝術史、語言學和哲學界很少受到關注。書中除了介紹組畫的創作過程，向讀者提供豐富的歷史文獻資料彙編和策展人對藝術家的深度訪談外，還通過著名藝術評論家的散文和美國文學家、翻譯家斯坦利·隆巴多的詩歌將古老的狄奥斯庫里兄弟希臘神話移植到了21世紀。

畫冊中包括胡貝圖斯·馮·阿枚龍克斯、斯坦利·隆巴多、盧卡斯·特普費爾、科菈·馮·帕佩和魯道夫·茨維爾納等多位著名藝術評論家的散文，還有斯坦利·隆巴多和邁克爾·克呂格爾的詩歌，以及戈婁·赫舍爾的前言和施泰德爾博物館館長菲利普·德曼特的致辭。

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