publications
Available now : second edition of Concerning War, A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art
With a new preface and an extensive index
Concerning War: A Critical Reader presents new and anthologized texts by artists and writers who analyze the possibilities for critical artistic responses to the contemporary world as a site of global war. With contributions by Ross Birrell, Boris Buden, Jordan Crandall, Bregje van Eekelen, Boris Groys, Viktor Misiano, Irit Rogoff, Martha Rosler, Sean Snyder, and Hito Steyerl.
Edited by Maria Hlavajova and Jill Winder.
Language: English
Number of pages: 237
Published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst.
Designed by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN (BAK): 90-77288-08-02
ISBN (Revolver): 3-86588-296-X
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The Return of Religion and Other Myths: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art
The Return of Religion and Other Myths: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art is the latest publication in BAK, basis voor actuele kunst’s Critical Reader Series and the final part of a three-fold project organized by BAK under same title, in which the popular assumption of the return of religion to the field of artistic practice and its discourses, the public sphere, contemporary politics, and media in the West is interrogated as a constitutive “myth” of our current condition. Through a wide-ranging selection of texts, a remarkable group of artists, art historians and theorists, scholars of religion, and sociologists unpack the historical underpinnings of religion’s so-called “return,” art’s long-standing relationship with iconoclasm and connection to religious representation, the manipulation of certain religious imagery in the mass media, and contemporary art’s potential to complicate and problematize commonly-held beliefs about the role and potential of the image in today’s world. The reader contains newly commissioned texts, a number of new translations, and adapted contributions from On Post-Secularism, a series of lectures and conversations that took place within the framework of The Return of Religion project in late 2008 and early 2009. With contributions by Jan Assmann, Christina von Braun, Paul Chan, Boris Groys & Maria Hlavajova, Arnoud Holleman, Marc de Kesel, Kenan Malik, Maria Pask, Dieter Roelstraete, and Jorinde Seijdel.
Language: English
Design: Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht
Price: € 23
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Mona Vatamanu and Florin Tudor
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Sanja Iveković Urgent Matters
This handbook with images and text accompanies the exhibition of Sanja Iveković, Urgent Matters, a two-part solo exhibition on view at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven. The handbook includes a foreword by Charles Esche and Maria Hlavajova, a text by exhibition curator Maria Hlavajova, images and descriptions of the works in the exhibition, as well as a biography and bibliography of the artist.
Texts: Charles Esche and Maria Hlavajova
Language: Dutch and English
Once is Nothing. Individual Systems
This reference book accompanied the exhibition Once is Nothing, a joint contribution by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht and the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven to the Brussels Biennial 1 (2008). Once is Nothing responded to the framework of the first Brussels Biennial by revisiting an exhibition on the subject of “global modernity” from another biennial: Individual Systems, curated by Igor Zabel at the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003. The reference books contains a text about the project by curators Charles Esche and Maria Hlavajova and a text by Igor Zabel on the original exhibition Individual Systems, as well as images and descriptions of the works in the exhibition, biographies of contributing artists, and floor plans of the Venice and Brussels installations. Once is Nothing. Individual Systems was recently named one of the best books of 2008 by Stichting De Best Verzorgde Boeken, in the category “Institutional Publications.” For more information about the best books of 2008 please click here.
Concept and editors: Charles Esche and Maria Hlavajova.
Texts: Charles Esche and Maria Hlavajova, Steven ten Thije, Igor Zabel.
Language: English
Number of pages: 80
Design: Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 978-90-77288 (hardback)
ISBN: 978-90-77288-13-9 (paperback)
Price: €10
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On Knowledge Production: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art
On Knowledge Production: A Critical Reader in Contemporary Art, edited by Maria Hlavajova, Jill Winder, and Binna Choi, presents a selection of newly commissioned and anthologized texts by a diverse group of artists, art historians, philosophers, and theorists who have engaged with thinking critically about the field of art as a site for the production of knowledge. The body of contributions to this reader comprise a series of critical inquires, thought experiments, documents of practice, and tentative propositions about the status of producing knowledge in contemporary art, which vary widely in perspective, approach, and form. This selection unfolds different entry points and layers, unwrapping the (often) uncritically adopted notion of “art producing knowledge” and casting diverse views on the context, meaning, and potential of this understanding of art practices today. With contributions by: Matthew Buckingham, Copenhagen Free University, Critical Art Ensemble, Clémentine Deliss, Joachim Koester, Sven Lütticken, Eva Meyer & Eran Schaerf, Marion von Osten, Alejandro del Pino Velasco/Sarat Maharaj, Irit Rogoff, Natascha Sadr Haghighian & Ashley Hunt, and Simon Sheikh.
Edited by Maria Hlavajova, Jill Winder, and Binna Choi
Language: English
Number of pages: 223
Number of images: 28 (b & w)
Published by: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst (Utrecht/Frankfurt am Main)
Design: Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht
ISBN (BAK): 978-90-77288-11-5
ISBN (Revolver): 978-3-86588-466-4
Price € 20
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Roman Ondák 
The publication Roman Ondák aims to add meaningfully to the discourse surrounding the practice of one of the key artists of his generation by charting the development of Ondák’s work over the last couple of years. Ondák’s practice of appropriating mundane, everyday moments for the context of art and his mode of activating new aesthetic, social and political imaginaries in his work are critically analyzed in comprehensive new texts by Jessica Morgan (curator, Tate Modern) and Jan Verwoert (curator and critic, Berlin). The catalog is realized in conjunction with two solo exhibitions of the work of artist Roman Ondák: Roman Ondák at Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck, 19 January–4 March 2007 and The Day After Yesterday at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, 11 March–27 May 2007.
Editors: Silvia Eiblmayr (Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck) and Maria Hlavajova (BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht)
Language: German/English
Number of pages: 156 Number of images: 172 (color)
Published by: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst, Utrecht, Galerie im Taxispalais, Innsbruck and Walther König Verlag, Cologne
Designed by: Martha Stutteregger, Vienna
ISBN: 978-3-86560-332-6
Price: € 22
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Paradise: Kutluğ Ataman
The full color catalog of Paradise features photos of the interviewees taken on location by Kutluğ Ataman. The catalog includes new essays by Aimee Chang, Curator of Contemporary Art at OCMA, Newport Beach; Norman Klein, cultural critical and urban historian, Los Angeles; and Irit Rogoff, critical theorist and art historian.
Edited by Janet Jenkis
Language: English
Number of pages: 104
Published by: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Treaty of Utrecht; Harris Museum and Art Gallery; Lehmann Maupin Gallery; Orange County Museum of Art and Vancouver Art Gallery
Designed by: Michael Worthington and Yasmin Khan at counterspace, Los Angeles
ISBN: 978-0-917493-43-0
Price: € 27,50
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Citizens and Subjects: The Netherlands, for example
The critical reader Citizens and Subjects: The Netherlands, for example is a site where issues of fear, anxiety and (illegal) immigration - but also cultural resistance and emancipation - are discussed through the example of the Netherlands, which stands here as neither a particular nor universal case for discussing the so-called western condition. It asks how art and artists can react to these issues and what possibilities they can create to see things differently. The reader is co-edited by philosopher Rosi Braidotti, curator and writer Charles Esche and Maria Hlavajova. With contributions by BAVO (Gideon Boie & Matthias Pauwels), Sarah Bracke, Esther Captain & Guno Jones, Halleh Ghorashi, Sven Lütticken, Soheila Najand, Henk Oosterling, Baukje Prins and Iris van der Tuin. Further, the reader includes conversations with artists Marlene Dumas, Suchan Kinoshita, Aernout Mik, Melvin Moti, Willem de Rooij, Pages (Nasrin Tabatabai & Babak Afrassiabi) and Lawrence Weiner.
Edited by Rosi Braidotti, Charles Esche, Maria Hlavajova.
Language: English
Number of pages: 334
Published by: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and JRP Ringier
Designed by: Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht
ISBN: 978-90-77288-10-8
Price: € 25
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Community of Absence: Haegue Yang 
Community of Absence: Haegue Yang presents three new texts that speculate on an alternative notion of community vis-a-vis the development of contemporary artistic practice and in relation to the work of artist Haegue Yang. The book also includes excerpts of the scripts from Yang’s video trilogy (2004–2006) and a new composition of images and installation views of her recent works. With contributions by Binna Choi, Lars Bang Larsen, and Nina Möntmann.
Community of Absence: Haegue Yang is published in conjunction with the exhibition Haegue Yang: Unevenly at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst in Utrecht, the Netherlands (23 April–18 June 2006).
Edited by Binna Choi.
Language: English
Number of pages: 92
Published by: BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst (Utrecht/Frankfurt am Main)
Designed by: Manuel Raeder
ISBN (BAK): 978-90-77288-09-2
ISBN (Revolver): 978-3-86588-40-5
Price: € 20
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Concerning War: A Critical Reader - SOLD OUT
Concerning War: A Critical Reader presents new and anthologized texts by artists and writers who analyze the possibilities for critical artistic responses to the contemporary world as a site of global war. With contributions by Ross Birrell, Boris Buden, Jordan Crandall, Bregje van Eekelen, Boris Groys, Viktor Misiano, Irit Rogoff, Martha Rosler, Sean Snyder, and Hito Steyerl.
Edited by Maria Hlavajova and Jill Winder.
Language: English
Number of pages: 237
Published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst.
Designed by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN (BAK): 90-77288-08-02
ISBN (Revolver): 3-86588-296-X
For further information, click here.
A reprint of Concerning War (including a new preface and index, is available from September 11, 2010)
Report (Not Announcement) 
The publication Report (Not Announcement) is a project by BAK in collaboration with e-flux (electronic flux corporation), available online since January 2006 (www.bak-utrecht.nl, www.e-flux.com). The Report... consists of accounts and documents, namely reports, provided by artists, curators, and critics reflecting on their own ontological states of leaving and arriving from the zone of transition, Report (Not Announcement) explores the potential of what is bracketed off by the constant travels and movements by international cultural practitioners.
Edited by Binna Choi.
Language: English
Number of pages: 208
Published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst.
Designed by Sulki & Min Choi.
Price € 10,-
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BAK, basis voor actuele kunst presents the publication World Question Center (Reloaded) with excerpts of the performance curated by Jens Hoffmann and realized by BAK at the end of 2003. The performance World Question Center (Reloaded) took place on 1 November 2003 as part of a series of projects under the title Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts. Since then, the themes introduced and discussed during the performance have resonated in both contemporary artistic as well as political developments, and have been a vital source of inspiration, encouragement, and stimulus for our work at BAK.
The book presents the responses of artists, theorists, scientists, etc. (including Daniel Buren, Manuel DeLanda, Jacques Ranciere, Martha Rosler, Gayatri Spivak, and many more) to the question, which questions they were currently asking themselves, as well as excerpts of the telephone conversations held with them about issues they consider urgent in our time.
Edited by Maria Hlavajova and Jill Winder.
Language: English
Number of pages: 144
Published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst.
Designed by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 90-77288-06-6 (BAK)
ISBN: 3-86588-220-X (Revolver)
Price € 10,-
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Concerning War
Project guide accompanying the project Concerning War, which consisted of the exhibition Soft Target. War as a Daily First-Hand Reality, and a series of weekly talks by artists and theorists entitled Undercurrents. The project guide contains an introductory text about the project, short texts about each of the works of the participating artists in the exhibition, as well as short texts about each of the talks and the participating artists and theorists.
Concept and editor: Maria Hlavajova
Texts by Danila Cahen, Binna Choi, Maria Hlavajova, Luc Janssens, Brigitte van der Sande.
Language: Dutch and English
Design by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 90-772880-58
Price € 3,-
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About no below, no above, no sides
A monograph on Gerrit Dekker’s work published on the occasion of the exhibition at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst. The publication of the book has been made possible by financial support from The Netherlands Foundation for Visual Arts, Design and Architecture, Amsterdam.
Edited by Jan Brand.
Language: Dutch and English
Number of pages: 200
Published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst.
ISBN: 90-77288-04-X (BAK)
ISBN: 3-86588-072-X (Revolver)
Price € 18,-
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Cordially Invited
Projectguide of the project Cordially Invited, the third episode of the project Who if not we should at least try to imagine the future of all this? 7 Episodes on (ex)changing Europe. Cordially Invited was an international exhibition as well as a series of discussions, presentations and screenings (developed in collaboration with Nomads & Residents, IDFA, and Prince Claus Fund) around the themes of hospitality vis-a vis a topic of major political and ethical consequence: migration. The project guide presents an overview of all the project’s facets, as well as information on how to access them in their entirety.
Concept by Maria Hlavajova.
Texts by Maria Hlavajova, Gerardo Mosquera, Solvej Helweg Ovesen, Els van der Plas .
Language: Dutch and English
Design by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht
ISBN: 90-77288-03-1
Price € 3,-
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Now What? Aritsts Write!
New collection of artists’ writings published as part six of the project Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts, published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst in 2004.
Edited by Mark Kremer, Maria Hlavajova, and Annie Fletcher.
Image editor: Jan Brand
Designed by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
Language: English
Number of Pages: 184
Published by BAK, basis voor actuele kunst and Revolver, Archiv für aktuelle Kunst.
ISBN: 90-77288-02-3 (BAK)
ISBN: 3-937577-45-9 (Revolver)
Price € 25,-
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Who if not we should at least try to imagine the future of all this? - SOLD OUT
7episodes on (ex)changing Europe
The book published within the framwork of the cultural programme Thinking Forward and articulating the connections among the exhibitions and other projects in the visual art programme Who if not we...? one of whose parts is Cordially Invited at BAK, basis voor actuele kunst.
Edited by Maria Hlavajova and Jill Winder.
Contributing editors: Catherine David and Igor Zabel
Language: English
Published by Artimo/Gijs Stork.
Designed by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 90-8546-011-5
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This book is no longer available
Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts
Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts is a project with a multi-faceted format consisting of six autonomous parts taking place simultaneously at various locations in the city of Utrecht. Now What?… explores the power of the imaginary and the potential of “dreaming a better world.” Each of the six parts investigates these issues from a particular perspective, and takes different forms, such as exhibitions, performances, and conversations. The project guide contains an introductory text and short texts that give an insight in all six parts of the project.
Concept by Maria Hlavajova.
Texts by Annie Fletcher, Maria Hlavajova, Liutauras Psibilskis.
Language: Dutch and English
Design by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 90-77288-01-5
Price € 3,-
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Common Ground
The book realized on the occasion of the exhibition Common Ground at BAK, 12 April – 14 October 2001. (participating artists: Krijn de Koning, André van Bergen, Roman Ondák, Govinda Mens, Job Koelewijn, Tomo Savic-Gecan, Michiel Kluiters)
Concept and edited by Maria Hlavajova.
Text by Maria Hlavajova.
Design Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 90-801674-8-7
Price € 18,-
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Becoming Oneself
The book published on the occasion of a series of conversations Becoming Oneself organized by BAK on 2 June, 4 June, 15 September and 22 September 2002. (participating speakers: Nicolas Bourriaud, Boris Veldhuizen Van Zanten, Branislav Dimitrijevic, Declan McGonagle, Oladélé Ajiboyé Bamgboyé, Barbara Vanderlinden, Charles Esche, Sean Snyder)
Concept by Maria Hlavajova.
Edited by Annie Fletcher.
Design by Kummer & Herrman, Utrecht.
ISBN: 90-801674-0-1
Price € 18,-
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A Play To Stop to Add A Moment
The artist's book. Germaine Kruip
Edited by: Maria Hlavajova
Text (scenario) by: Germaine Kruip
A2 format images to unfold by: Germaine Kruip
Language: English
Price: € 18,-
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The Kit (Emmanuelle's Annual Manual)
The publication The Kit (Emmannuele’s Annual Manual) is realized as a contribution to the project Now What? Dreaming a better world in six parts in 2003. A survival guide providing resource for self-sustainable survival methods and problem solving "in preparation for a world crumbling around you."
Text by Maria Pask.
Language: English
Price € 6,-
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