Books by Ken Schles
A New History of Photography: The World Outside and the Pictures In Our Heads,
White Press, 2008. Köln, Germany. History was just a beginning. A book about influence and the connections we make: an experiment in the history of photography. Appeared on several (Photo-Eye and 5b4 among others) best photo book lists of 2008 and was a finalist for the Book Award at Arles (2009). Find out more.
Invisible City,
Twelvetrees Press, 1988. Pasadena, California. Out of print and scarce. Experience this small, dark classic here. A New York Times notable of the year. Exhibited by the MoMA and included in Auer (#676, see below).
The
Geometry of Innocence, Hatje Cantz, 2001. Ostfildern, Germany. Over twelve
years in the making, this project examines fragmentation and violence in contemporary society. The Geometry of Innocence is a visual narrative that explores the relationship between violence, institutions and individuation. Out of print. Find out more about it.
Select books that include Ken Schles's work:
802 Photo Books from the M.+ M. Auer Collection, edited by Michèle and Michel Auer, Editions M+M, 2007, Hermance, Switzerland.
After the publication of Andrew Roth's 101 Books, the Hasselblad Center's The Open Book, and the two volumes of Martin Parr and Gerry Badger's The Photobook: A History, M+M Auer selected 802 of their favorite photography books from their collection of over 10,000 to open up a dialog on the photobook canon.
See more here.
Traces and Omens, edited by Wim Melis,
Aurora Borealis, 2005. Groningen, The Netherlands. The 2005 exhibition catalog
for the Noorderlicht Festival. See selctions from my project Homeland Security.
More here.
Promised Land, Aurora Borealis, 2004.
Groningen, The Netherlands. Starting in 2001, Noorderlicht asked five internationally
acclaimed photographers to sketch an image of the city of Groningen. The
assignments all had the same theme: the 'undercurrent' of the city.
Link.
here is new york: a democracy
of photographs, Scalo, 2002, New York "The most authentic and comprehensive
record of the events of September 11."
Wonderland, edited by
Machiel Botman and Wim Melis, Aurora Borealis, 1999. Groningen, The Netherlands.
This 1999 exhibition catalog was the first to reproduce selections from the project
The Geometry of Innocence. This title is currently out of print. Find
out more here.
Unpublished/handmade
Broooklyn Downtown
Culture and memory may contain the things we know, but experience is our only
entry to the world. A project for Delve, an online arts magazine. (handemade versions of this book are in collections of MoMA and The Brooklyn Museum). Opens in a new window.
"His books, like Invisible City or The Geometry of Innocence, are considered intellectual milestones of photography." —Andrian Kreye, Feuilleton (Arts and Ideas) Editor, Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany)
"hellishly brilliant..." —Vince Aletti, The New Yorker
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