Arcana:

(JAFA, ARTHUR) Edited by Katz, Flora & Vassilis Oikonomopoulos. Norman Ajari, Tina M. Campt, Liam Gillick, Ernest Hardy, Saidiya Hartman, R.A. Judy, Nathaniel Mackey, Fred Moten, Julian Myers, Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, Peter Saville, James A. Snead, Greg Tate, Peter Watts & Arthur Jafa. Koln, GERMANY: Walther Koenig, I00250823. 2025. First Edition. 12 x 9", 4to. Pictorial Boards. Artist Monograph. New/No Jacket - As Issued. 978-3753307916

Due to the limited supply of books supplied to us for the event, we have had to discontinue pre-orders. If you would like us to let you know if we have signed copies left after Saturday's event, please email us. Books will be available at the event, one per person, first come - first served.

Thanks for your understanding!

360pp, 57 color & 98 b&w illustrations. Text in English. "Though he has worked in film and music for decades, American video artist Arthur Jafa only garnered acclaim in the art world in 2016 for his video work "Love is the Message, the Message is Death." Composed of found images and videos, his oeuvre revolves around Black American culture, the history of slavery, and ongoing structural and physical violence against Black Americans. As Jafa put it in his 2003 text “My Black Death”: “The central conundrum of black being (the double bind of our ontological existence) lies in the fact that common misery both defines and limits who we are. Such that our efforts to eliminate those forces which constrain also function to dissipate much which gives us our specificity, our uniqueness, our flavor by destroying the binds that define we will cease to be, but this is the good death (boa morte) to be embraced." Bringing together affective memories that touch on US history, violence, repression, modalities of survival and how these exist in the production and dissemination of images, music, sound and time-based media, Jafa reflects on the ontology of race and Blackness. This richly illustrated catalog reproduces key works from Jafa's wide-ranging oeuvre and explores the philosophical, historical and artistic implications of his practice, featuring essays and a series of conversations between Jafa and key practitioners working in the fields of cinema, arts and theory." A brand new, most handsome example of this comprehensive new monograph additionally SIGNED by Arthur Jafa.

Inventory Number: E00250823