Not What I Meant But Anyway - by Revital Cohen & Tuur Van Balen (Paperback)

About the Book

Not What I Meant But Anyway reveals the methods and processes behind Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen's work and working. Intermingling conversations between the artists on living and working together, their generated ephemera, and a series of external reflections, the book hints at the intimacies and estrangements inherent to their practice.

Book Synopsis

From producing sterile goldfish to choreographing the factory assembly line, Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen's work could be thought of as situated--that is to say, it is performed within particular networks. These networks--whether connecting raw materials, mythic conditions, animal genetics, constructions of uncertainty, or colonial inheritances--form a point of departure from which to think of friction, entanglement, porousness, reflection, and self-implication. Not What I Meant But Anyway reveals the methods and processes behind Cohen and Van Balen's work and working, prioritizing long and multidimensional research and production over its eventual outcomes. Intermingling conversations between the artists on living and working together, their generated ephemera, and a series of external reflections, the book hints at the intimacies and estrangements inherent to their practice.

With contributions from Daisy Hildyard, Andrés Jaque, Lucia Pietroiusti, and Xiaoyu Weng.

About the Author

Revital Cohen and Tuur Van Balen (b. 1981, based in London) work across objects, installation, and film to explore processes of production as cultural, personal, and political practices. Their work has been exhibited at the 13th Shanghai Biennale at the Power Station of Art; Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Rome; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Philadelphia Museum of Art; The Renaissance Society, Chicago; Serpentine Cinema, London; Fotomuseum Winterthur; Para Site, Hong Kong; Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary, Vienna; HKW, Berlin; and Congo International Film Festival, Goma, among others. Their work has been featured in many articles, catalogues, and other publications, and is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Mu.ZEE, Ostend; and M+, Hong Kong.