Published to accompany the traveling exhibition Phantasmagoria: Specters of Absence, this book features works by twelve contemporary artists from various parts of the world who reflect upon the fleeting nature of physicality– on disappearance and loss, ghosts and shadows. In these works, mysterious images flicker across fog and smoke, or silhouettes dance on walls. Ranging from the festive to the ironic, they show a fascination with perceptual ambiguities and the macabre, often with visual trickery inspired by the 18th – and 19th-century stage spectacle known as the “phantasmagoria.”
Essay by José Roca; short story by Bruce Sterling
Featured artists: Christian Boltanski, Jim Campbell, Michel Delacroix, Laurent Grasso, Jeppe Hein, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, William Kentridge, Teresa Margolles, Oscar Muñoz, Julie Nord, Rosângela Rennó, Regina Silveira
Roca, José, Phantasmagoria: Specters of Absence, Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, 2007. 72 pages, 37 color and 4 black-and-white illustrations. 8.75 x 9.75 in., hardcover. ISBN: 0-916365-76-9
