Arch-Kunst: Karin Sander is a monographic publication that traces how Sander's site-specific practice dismantles the boundary between artwork, architecture, and institution — with the wall itself as the primary subject and medium.
About This Book
Karin Sander's practice has long worked at the threshold between art and architecture, intervening in spaces to reframe their social and institutional conditions. This publication — produced in collaboration with ARCH+, the German journal of architecture and urbanism — extends that practice into the printed page itself. Central to the book is the first extensive publication of Sander's 'kitchen pieces' series (from 2012), alongside a reflection on 'Neighbors', her contribution with Philip Ursprung to the Swiss Pavilion at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, which physically dissolved the wall between adjacent pavilions. The volume also looks forward to the wall's transformation into data through 3D scanning methods developed at Sander's chair at ETH Zurich — a shift that reframes the wall from material boundary to digital substrate.
Key Features
- 208 pages of critical essays, artist documentation, and project photography spanning site-specific interventions and spatial research
- Contributions by Karin Sander, Philip Ursprung, Anh-Linh Ngo, Beatriz Colomina, Mark Wigley, Melissa Makele, Harald Welzer, Eva Manesse, Bettina Steinbrügge, Michael Hagner, and Marc Angélil
- Notable projects include 'Neighbors' at the Swiss Pavilion, Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, and the 'kitchen pieces' series from 2012
- Published by Spector Books, 2023
What You'll Discover
- How Sander's practice uses the wall not as backdrop but as constitutive element — architectural, social, and artistic simultaneously
- The 'kitchen pieces' series documented extensively for the first time, revealing Sander's approach to participatory and domestic space
- The conceptual stakes of dissolving the dividing wall at the Venice Architecture Biennale and what it means for national pavilion conventions
- How 3D scanning transforms the wall from physical material into data, and what that shift means for architectural thinking and artistic research
About the Author
Karin Sander is an artist whose site-specific interventions engage with the structures, surfaces, and institutional conditions of architectural space. She holds a chair at ETH Zurich, where her research extends into 3D scan-based methods of spatial documentation and transformation. Philip Ursprung, Beatriz Colomina, and Mark Wigley are among the contributors who contextualise her practice within broader architectural and cultural discourse.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 208
- Dimensions: 23 x 29 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9783959058445
- Publisher: Spector Books
- Publication Date: 2023
Perfect For: Architects and spatial practitioners interested in art-architecture intersections, curators and theorists working with site-specific practice, and researchers exploring the material and digital futures of the wall as a spatial and social construct.