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
Journal der Künste 19
Published three times a year (German/English), available free of charge
ISSN (Print EN) 2627-2490
ISSN (Online EN) 2627-5198
The new issue looks at the crisis of public broadcasting as an instrument of democracy, at how art deals with the societal challenges of artificial intelligence, and at the changing role of (art) criticism. Other focal points: the current archive exhibition “Spurensicherung,” photographs by Nan Goldin and Aleš Šteger on artistic freedom in Europe.
To order the print edition: info@adk.de
Into the Open. Nele Hertling – New Spaces for the Arts
Johannes Odenthal im Auftrag der Akademie der Künste
Akademie der Künste, Berlin / Spector Books, Leipzig 2022
German/English, 368 pp.,
200 ill.
ISBN 978-3-95905-557-4
Best.-Nr. 5055
€ 29
A tribute to Nele Hertling with artist dedications, essays and extensive interviews on her childhood under National Socialism, her socialisation between East and West Germany and at the Akademie der Künste. The volume documents a unique success story of international programming, the re-founding of the Hebbel-Theater, the invention of festivals and establishment of cultural-political networks: an untiring commitment to the arts over 60 years.
Provenance Research
Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Akademie der Künste, Berlin 2022
German, 100 pp.,
70 ill.
ISBN 978-3-88331-250-7
Best.-Nr. 1205
€ 9
What impact did the National Socialist dictatorship, the Second World War and the division of Germany have on the history of ownership of cultural assets? The exhibition identifies Nazi-looted art. Other aspects are the search and reacquisition of artworks from the collection of the academy that were lost during the Second World War and the critical reappraisal of the efforts of the GDR state apparatus to take possession of valuable art objects.
English translation available as a free download:
»SCHREIBE MIR NUR IMMER VIEL.« Der Briefwechsel zwischen Hans und Lea Grundig. Ein Werkstattbericht
Im Auftrag der Akademie der Künste, Berlin, und der Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung herausgegeben von Kathleen Krenzlin
Akademie der Künste, Berlin / Deutscher Kunstverlag, Berlin/München 2022
German, 240 pp.,
141 ill.
ISBN 978-3-422-80060-1
Best.-Nr. 1206
€ 24
The letters between painter Hans Grundig (1901–1958) and graphic artist Lea Grundig (1906–1977) deal with a Jewish fate, art and love, but also with imprisonment and flight during the National Socialist era, and finally with the return to a destroyed Dresden. This volume of essays opens up the enormous dimension of the correspondence and forms the prelude to the planned edition of the private correspondence currently in progress.
Ismael Ivo. I Believe in the Body
Johannes Odenthal
Spector Books OHG, Leipzig 2022
English, 288 pp.,
372 ill.
ISBN 978-3-95905-624-3
Best.-Nr. 5054-E
€ 32
Born in 1955 in a poor district of São Paulo, Ismael Ivo became one of the world’s most famous and successful dancers. Artistically, he forged close connections with Johann Kresnik, Marcia Haydée, Ushio Amagatsu, George Tabori, Koffi Kôkô and many others. I Believe in the Body brings together interviews from different periods of his creative career, the recollections of those who were with him in Brazil and Europe, visual essays by Anno Wilms and Dieter Blum, and a comprehensive catalogue raisonné. The book is the first publication to portray the life and work of this exceptional artist and person.