Black Album White Cube

This is the common thread of the exhibition »Black Album / White Cube – A Journey into Art and Music«, curated by Max Dax, the former editor-in-chief of Spex and Electronic Beats Magazine. The book features modern classics such as Peter Saville’s album cover design of Joy Division’s »Unknown Pleasures« (and a meditation on their derivatives), Emil Schult’s »Autobahn« painting for Kraftwerk, as well as Arthur Jafa’s apocalyptic video instal­lation APEX that rewrites pop history to the ­pulsating beat of a Detroit techno track by Robert Hood. The mutual influences between music and art become evident when Albert ­Oehlen is referencing Scooter and Rotterdam’s Euromasters in his paintings, and in photographs by Andrea Stappert, Anton Corbijn, Sven ­Marquardt, Luci Lux and Wolfgang Tillmans. Video works by Cyprien Gaillard, Mark Leckey and ­Daniel Blumberg extend this approach into the realm of film. The book features numerous background interviews that Max Dax has conducted with the participating artists – including Kim ­Gordon, Thomas Ruff and Michaela Melián. ­Further insight into the curator’s own practice is provided by an in-depth conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist.

Artists / Interviewees:
Daniel Blumberg, Rutherford Chang, Phil Collins, Anton Corbijn, Kim ­Gordon, Scott King, Peter Knoch, Mark Leckey, Julian Lescoeur, Sven Marquardt, Michaela Melián, Radenko Milak, Albert Oehlen feat H.P. Baxxter, Thomas Ruff, Peter Saville, Thomas Scheibitz, Michael Schirner, Bettina Scholz, Emil Schult, Andrea Stappert, Henning Strassburger, Wolfgang Tillmans, Philip Topolovac, Ari Versluis / Ellie Uyttenbroek and Wolfgang Voigt