Urs Fischer: Good Smell / Make-up Tree

A surprising book-object created by the artist “When encountering the strange objects (sculptures, drawings, installations) made by Urs Fischer (*1973),” writes the book’s editor, Beatrix Ruf, “a waterfall of quickly triggered words, memories, comparisons, reproduced knowledge, and understanding is combined with speechlessness. It is as if an Internet search engine had generated a massive number of hits leading to technical and mental breakdown, confronting the user with a simultaneity of information, styles, facts, and possibilities that are at first unmanageable.” The book has been conceived by the artist as a cross-referencing of his process-related and “styleless” work through the arrangement of more than 200 images: reproductions of works, installation views, studio shots, and special features. Using all possible ordinary materials, Fischer creates unhierarchical collages of objects and thoughts, high and low aesthetics, mundane and artistic memories, and personal and political interrogation. The publication has been designed by Scipio Schneider in collaboration with the artist, and laid out in printed form as a studio journal.