Christine Litz Ordine dei libri

Transience and the economic use of resources are central themes in German artist Heike Beyer's work. Materiality is also important--often festive, but never overtaxed. This exhibition catalogue records three scholars' reactions to Beyer's installation for the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, in which the artist covers the 36-foot-high room in colored crepe paper, which, over time, is bleached by daylight. The book also includes several images that may have served as references or inspirational materials for Beyer--drawings, paintings, photographs. They are at once scientific, romantic, beautiful and cryptic.

Dutch artist Lily van der Stokker here develops an installation for the Ludwig Museum which combines murals and furniture while musing on our relationship to architecture and the narrative character of an art form of limited duration. Other artists who question identity are included in the conversation.

In this latest work by Bruce Nauman, first mounted to great acclaim at the Dia Art Foundation in 2001, Nauman presents seven large-scale projections of his New Mexico studio interior. Forty-two hours of tape were shot over 42 nights using infra-red lenses, and reveal the basic preconditions for his artistic his empty studio.