Publications

The Akademie der Künste publishes its own publications in connection with exhibitions and special events, as well as new acquisitions in the archives. These include exhibition catalogues, symposia documentation, monographs on individual artists, as well as publications on thematic main focuses and on selected archival collections.

Our publications can be ordered by phone or email, and you can visit our bookstore on Hanseatenweg in Berlin, which has access to all of the Akademie der Künste’s available books and antiquarian rarities.

 

Sinn und Form

Every two months, the Akademie der Künste also issues the “Sinn und Form” (Purpose and Form) journal.

Founded in 1949 by Johannes R. Becher and Paul Wiegler, the cultural magazine Sinn und Form (Purpose and Form), published by the Akademie der Künste, is one of the most influential of its kind in Germany. Originally addressed to a literary audience in particular, the journal today is also a venue for philosophical, aesthetic, and social issues, for the meeting of art and science, poetry and anthropology, and is thus a key publication for many Academy members. The ambitious programme has an international focus and comprises selected letters and conversations, essays, poems, and narratives. Findings from the extensive Academy Archive continue to be presented.

Current Publications

Even in her youth, Ursula Mamlok (1923–2016) had one single career goal: to become a composer – despite all the adversity of 1930s Berlin, which she left with her parents at the last minute in 1939. In New York, the struggle for her compositional identity began. After a successful career in the USA, the grande dame of contemporary music ventured a new beginning in Berlin in 2006 after her husband Dwight Mamlok passed away.


The 21st issue with a new design focuses on questions of sustainability: with texts and photo series on “The Great Repair” by Anh-Linh Ngo, Zara Pfeifer and Mierle Laderman Ukeles, among others, and literary contributions by Ulrike Draesner and Cécile Wajsbrot. Also: conversations with Luc Tuymans and Gundula Schulze Eldowy, short essays by Anna Hetzer, Moshtari Hilal et. al. as well as news from the Archives.


“The Great Repair” is an oxymoron. The title captures the convergence of two seemingly contradictory principles: the revolutionary ambition for systemic change and the evolutionary act of repair. Despite the justified (postmodern) skepticism toward revolution as a concept of rupture, we must not abandon our aspiration to bring about profound transformation. 


113 children from the “Ehm Welk” Regional School in Ueckermünde explored their town for a week in March and recorded their discoveries in photos, pictures, films, sounds and animations, writing stories and drawing fictitious town maps. Artists supported the fifth graders. The result is an alternative city guide that goes beyond the classic book format to include acoustic and cinematic elements.


Accompanying the current exhibition, the 20th issue focuses on the context of power, space, and violence. Other topics include exile, artistic freedom, the broadcasting crisis, and the role of the arts in the revolutionary process in Iran. With contributions by and with Regina Stephan, Monica Bonvicini, Joanna Piotrowska, Eszter Salamon, Philipp Krüpe , Mina Keshavarz, Tanasgol Sabbagh, Matthias Lilienthal, Meron Mendel, Senthuran Varatharajah, Dominic Graf, Gerhart Baum, Sibylle Hoimann and Annett Gröschner, among others.

To order the printed version: info@adk.de