Anthology

English edition

Published by: Städtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau München, Karin Althaus, Adrian Djukić, Ara H. Merjian, Matthias Mühling, Stephanie Weber

Texts by: Theodor W. Adorno, Georges Bataille, Walter Benjamin, Andre Breton, Claude Cahun, Leonora Carrington, Aimé Césaire, Suzanne Césaire, Robert Desnos, China Miéville, Lee Miller, Karel Teige, Leo Trotsky, Paul Westheim et al.

Designed by: Magma design studio

680 pages, 600 photos
French fold softcover

AICA-Preis der »Besonderen Ausstellung 2024«

Surrealism was a political movement of international reach and internationalist conviction. While it had its origins in art and literature, it far exceeded both. The Surrealists denounced European colonial policy, opposed fascist governments, fought for the Spanish Republic, were persecuted, went into exile, and died in war. They wrote poems, deconstructed language, worked on paintings and collective drawings, took photographs, assembled collages, and organized exhibitions—all aimed to disarticulate a supposedly rational language in a supposedly rational world. Surrealism was taken up by later emancipatory projects not as a style, but as a method of political engagement, embraced by the 1968 protests and the Black Liberation Movement alike. This anthology presents pivotal texts and manifestos of political Surrealism from its beginnings in the 1920s to current references in art and politics. The reader is invited to experience the urgency of Surrealism as it was lived by its protagonists and find new answers to the question, “What is Surrealism?”