ego documents traces the various possible forms an autobiography can take. The autobiographical act in today’s art is examined as a strategy artists use for telling their life story, for self-documentation, for inscribing themselves in collective cultural memory, for transforming what they have lived through into an aesthetic experience, or for meditating on their own transience. The book is illustrated with works by Louise Bourgeois, Martin Kippenberger, Dieter Roth, Nan Goldin, Xiaoyuan Hu, Jack Pierson, Sadie Benning, Anri Sala, Annelies Strba, Zarina Bhimji, On Kawara, Mona Hatoum, Darren Almond, Nicolas Nixon, Isabelle Krieg, Ana Strika, Laura Lancaster and others.
Up until now, the self-portrait in art condensed the perception and representation of self into a momentary snapshot – a single image. Today, the options for self-portrayal have multiplied even for people not in the public eye thanks to the Internet and digital imaging media, leading to the constant shifting of the boundaries between »public« and »private.«

Editor: Kathleen Bühler, Kunstmuseum Bern, Matthias Frehner
Authors: Alma-Elisa Kittner, Corinna Carduff, Judith Welter, Kathleen Bühler, Matthias Frehner, Peter Schneemann

Hardcover
27 x 21 cm
ca. 192 pages
ca. 90 color ills.
German/English
available
ISBN 978-3-86828-005-0
ca. 30 Euro
2008