Books

(The Collection currently holds 31 books)

Title: Amok Journal
Author/Editor: Stuart Swezey
Publisher: Amok Press
ISBN: 1-878923-03X
Language: English
Date: 1995
Page Count: 474
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: An excellent overview of all the major subgroups of the NSK. Illustrated both with NSK symbols and artwork, and with more general examples of state sponsored totalitarian art. It should be noted that the Journal also contains sections on ‘Amputee Fetish’ and ‘Autoerotic Asphyxiation’ which are illustrated as well; reader discretion is advised.
Title: Art and Politics
Author/Editor: Noel Kelly
Publisher: R4 Publishing
ISBN: 0-9543079-1-7
Language: English
Date: 2004
Page Count: 70
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: A collection of essays from the 2004 NSK event in Dublin. While not all the essays are specifically about the NSK, together they form a cohesive whole.
Title: Balkan Babel
Author/Editor: Sabrina Ramet
Publisher: Westview Publishing
ISBN: 0813325595
Language: English
Date: 1999
Page Count: 354
Groups Covered: Laibach, IRWIN
Synopsis: Another take on Laibach as a force that brought about change in Slovenia, but from the point of view that Laibach (and the NSK) is Hitler-fixated. No illustrations.
Title: Body and the East
Author/Editor: Zdenka Badovinac
Publisher: Ljubljana Museum of Modern Art
ISBN: 961-206-019-3
Language: Slovenian/English
Date: 1998
Page Count: 192
Groups Covered: Laibach, Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy
Synopsis: Entries for both Laibach’s 1983 television interview, and the Department of Pure and Applied Philosophy’s 1993 speech at the ‘NSK Staat Berlin’ event are included in this overview of Eastern European performance art. Both entries are illustrated with photos.
Title: Carnival of Revolution
Author/Editor: Padraic Kenney
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0-691-11627-X
Language: English
Date: 2002
Page Count: 341
Groups Covered: Laibach
Synopsis: In the section on Yugoslavia, the book discusses the role Laibach played in the downfall of the Yugoslavian Communist Party, with particular attention paid to the difficulty the pacifist movement had in deciphering where Laibach stood politically.
Title: Charles Krafft’s Villa Delirium
Author/Editor: Mike McGee and Larry Reid
Publisher: Grand Central Press
ISBN: 0-86719-574-6
Language: English
Date: 2002
Page Count: 96
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: This excellent book covers the work of artist Charles Krafft, including his work with the NSK. Mr. Krafft created the two china plate patterns that can be seen in photos of NSK meetings, and have been sold via the NSK Info Centre. The book also covers Mr. Krafft’s ordeal after his NSK passport was seized by U.S. customs.
Title: Dancing Pictures
Author/Editor: J&L
Publisher: J&L
ISBN: 0-9701656-1-7
Language: English
Date: 2001
Page Count: 50
Groups Covered: Laibach/Germania
Synopsis: An odd book of black and white photos of people dancing to their favorite songs. One photo is of a young man dancing to Laibach’s ‘Sympathy for the Devil’.
Title: East Art Map
Author/Editor: IRWIN
Publisher: MIT
ISBN:
Language: English
Date: 2005
Page Count:
Groups Covered: NSK; IRWIN, Laibach, Noordung
Synopsis: This ambitious project looks to document the history of Eastern European art over the last century. Connections between different art movements are made clear and show the many wyas art was used to subvert and confound the Communist regimes. The various NSK groups are given biographies and specific examples of their actions are illustrated.
Title: Eye on Europe: Prints, Books & Multiples/1960 to Now
Author/Editor: Deborah Wye and Wendy Weitman
Publisher: Museum of Modern Art
ISBN: 870703714
Language: English
Date: 2006
Page Count: 324
Groups Covered: IRWIN
Synopsis: This survey explores ways artists across Europe have turned to printed mediums—including traditional etchings, lithographs, and screenprints as well as unusual book formats, editioned sculptural objects, postcards, and even shopping bags and record jackets—in a quest to expand their creative thinking. It presents the work of 118 artists, collectives, and journals from twenty countries organized in thematic sections. IRWIN’s series of photos of soldiers from various armies under the NSK flag are featured.
Title: The Great British Mistake Vague 1977-92
Author/Editor: Tom Vague
Publisher: AK Press
ISBN: 1-87317672-4
Language: English
Date: 1994
Page Count: 114
Groups Covered: Laibach
Synopsis: The section on Laibach consists of a number of interview excerpts from Laibach strung together by the editor to attempt to decipher what their true intentions are. Features a group photo and a piece of Laibach Kunst.
Title: Impossible Histories
Author/Editor: Dubravka Djuric and Misko Suvakovic
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0-262-04216-9
Language: English
Date: 2004
Page Count: 605
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: An excellent overview of the NSK with coverage of all the major subgroups. Places the NSK in the context of 1980’s Yugoslav politics and alternative culture. Includes 9 illustrations (plus the cover image) ranging from New Collectivism’s Youth Day poster to a Laibach concert photo.
Title: Independent Slovenia
Author/Editor: Jill Benderly, Evan Kraft
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 0-312-16447-5
Language: English
Date: 1994
Page Count: 262
Groups Covered: Laibach, New Collectivism
Synopsis: Covers the role Laibach played in bringing down the Yugoslavian Communist Party, and New Collectivism’s poster scandal on Youth Day.
Title: Neue Slowenische Kunst
Author/Editor: Inke Arns
Publisher: Museum Ostdeutsche Galerie
ISBN: 961-90851-1-6
Language: German/English
Date: 2002
Page Count: 203
Groups Covered: NSK, IRWIN focus
Synopsis: For illustrations alone this book is worth having. The author juxtaposes many NSK images with their sources, from Laibach Kunst borrowings from John Heartfield to the resemblence of Tomaz Hostnik to Mussolini in the famous “bleeding chin” photo. Sections devoted to New Collectivism and the theater groups are illustrated well in black and white, but an entire color section is devoted to IRWIN in the back of the book. Little wonder that a few years later Inke Arns would devote an entire book to IRWIN.
Title: Interrogation Machine
Author/Editor: Alexei Monroe
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0-262-63315-9
Language: English
Date: 2005
Page Count: 314
Groups Covered: NSK, Laibach focus
Synopsis: A massive overview of Laibach as a rock group, art collective, and cultural force. Although the other sections of the NSK art touched upon, the book focuses primarily on Laibach and effect the band has had both at home and abroad. Very well illustrated.
Title: Interpol: The Art Exhibit Which Divided East and West
Author/Editor: Eda Cufer and Victor Misiano
Publisher: IRWIN, Ljubljana and Moscow Art Magazin
ISBN: 961-90851-0-8
Language: English
Date: 2000
Page Count: 138
Groups Covered: IRWIN
Synopsis: Covers IRWIN’s involvement in (and after) the controversial art event. Not so much about the history of IRWIN or its involvement with NSK, but an excellent look at the inner workings of the group and their place in contemporary art culture. The division between East and West is revealed in its enormity by the events covered in the book.
Title: IRWIN: RETROPRINCIP
Author/Editor: Inke Arns
Publisher: Revolver
ISBN: 3-936919-56-9
Language: English
Date: 2004
Page Count: 267
Groups Covered: IRWIN
Synopsis: An amazing retrospective of IRWIN’s body of work, featuring hundreds of photos and illustrations. The essays alone make this book worth owning, as they seek to explain much of the subtext of IRWIN’s work.
Title: IRWIN Catalog
Author/Editor: Don Desmett
Publisher: Cleveland State University
ISBN: n/a
Language: English
Date: 1990
Page Count: 20
Groups Covered: IRWIN
Synopsis: A collection of short articles on IRWIN with full color photos of their paintings. The cover features a photo of stone native to the region.
Title: IRWIN Catalog
Author/Editor: Cheryl Gelover
Publisher: Tyler School of Art/ Montserrat College
ISBN: n/a
Language: English
Date: 1990
Page Count:
Groups Covered: IRWIN
Synopsis: A collection of short articles on IRWIN with full color photos of their paintings. The cover features a photo of stone native to the region.
Title: IRWIN: Kapital
Author/Editor: Eda Cufer, IRWIN
Publisher: CoLaborator, Edinburgh
ISBN: Limited edition, #58 of 500
Language: English
Date: 1991
Page Count: n/a
Groups Covered: NSK, IRWIN focus
Synopsis: Beautiful hardcover folder with brass inlay holding 4 essays in 4 booklets, and 20 color reproductions of Irwin paintings from the KAPITAL series. The inside of the folder features a photo of NSK members, a diagram of the NSK groups, and a short synopsis of each of the main groups (Laibach, Red Pilot, etc.). The essays deal with IRWIN as a group and the factors that contributed to the KAPITAL series. Also included is a mini poster with a panoramic view of the exhibition.
Title: Kingdom Come
Author/Editor: Mark Waid and Alex Ross
Publisher: DC Comics
ISBN: 1-56389-330-4
Language: English
Date: 1997
Page Count: 231
Groups Covered: Laibach, NSK
Synopsis: Hand painted graphic novel detailing a war between different factions of “Metahumans” in the future of the DC comic book universe. A character named Von Bach plays a peripheral role and is described in the author’s notes as a “Yugoslavian would-be dictator”. Besides wearing the uniform of Laibach’s lead singer, Von Bach has four specific images from the NSK seal tattooed on his body: the Malevich cross on his chest, the stylized torches from the NSK symbol on his forearms, on his upper arms and across his face is the “crown of thorns” motif from the right side of the NSK seal, and finally, Von Bach has the three interlocking inverted triangles tattooed on his back. To see illustrations click here, and here.
Title: Media & Performance
Author/Editor: Johannes Birringer
Publisher: John Hopkins
ISBN: 0-8018-5852-6
Language: English
Date: 1998
Page Count: 381
Groups Covered: Noordung
Synopsis: After giving a history of Dragan Zivadinov’s involvement with the NSK, the book looks closely at the latest incarnation of the NSK’s theater group: Cosmokinetic Kabinet. Photos and diagrams illustrate the Noordung project’s layout and stage design. The author ends with words of warning though, he fears the fifty year performance of Zivadinov’s Warttenberg is “radically exclusionary (with indoctrinary overtones) since it’s apparently designed for an audience of young Slovene schoolchildren”.
Title: NSK Embassy Moscow
Author/Editor: Eda Cufer
Publisher: Obaine Galerije Piran
ISBN: n/a
Language: English
Date: 1992
Page Count: 124
Groups Covered: NSK, IRWIN focus
Synopsis: An amazingly dense work, filled with interviews, photos, diagrams, and reproductions of key documents. The story of the NSK Embassy in Moscow is told in a fractured format, with vital pieces of the puzzle appearing here and there. While the effect is somewhat frustrating, it also serves to draw the reader in, forcing the use of higher levels of concentration and deduction.
Title: New Art From Eastern Europe
Author/Editor: Nicola Hodges
Publisher: Art & Design
ISBN: 1-85490-218-0
Language: English
Date: 1994
Page Count: 97
Groups Covered: NSK, Laibach focus
Synopsis: A lengthy discussion of the NSK’s effect on Yugoslav politcs is given, as well as histories of Laibach and the NSK. The book features 10 illustrations including IRWIN paintings, theater performances, and elaborate Laibach stage designs. The book also covers Slavoj Zizek, with references and illustrations of Laibach.
Title: New Collectivism
Author/Editor:
Publisher: NSK Info Center
ISBN: n/a
Language: Slovenian/English
Date: 1999
Page Count: 117
Groups Covered: New Collectivism
Synopsis: A dual-language book showing the full range of work New Collectivism has done, from album covers to water bottles. The entire book is in full color with pages devoted to theater posters, the Youth Day poster scandal, and covers for Mladina magazine.
Title: Neue Slowenische Kunst
Author/Editor: New Collectivism (Darko Pokorn)
Publisher: Amok Press
ISBN: 1-878923-05-6
Language: English
Date: 1991
Page Count: 286
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: The single most important work on or about the NSK. Every subgroup is given extensive coverage, including The Builders and Retrovision. Very well illustrated throughout.
Title: NSK Passport
Author/Editor: New Colectivism
Publisher: New Collectivism
ISBN: n/a
Language: English, Slovenian, French
Date: n/a
Page Count: 30
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: The official passport for the NSK State in Time, an ambitious project that now boasts more citizens than the Vatican for this virtual state. The book is made to European passport standards and is nearly identical to a traditional passport, except that the various logos of the NSK sub-groups are printed as an anti-forgery pattern on each page.
Title: Postmodernism and the Postsocialist Condition
Author/Editor: Ales Erjavec
Publisher: University of California Press
ISBN: 0-520-2334-4
Language: English
Date: 2004
Page Count: 298
Groups Covered: All
Synopsis: Another excellent overview of the major subgroups of the NSK. Includes a number of rare illustrations including one of the posters from the first Laibach action in 1980 that caused them to be banned in their home town.
Title: Tape Delay
Author/Editor: Charles Neal
Publisher: SAF Publishing
ISBN: 0946719020
Language: English
Date: 1987
Page Count: 255
Groups Covered: Laibach
Synopsis: Reprints Laibach’s “10 Items of the Covenant”, the “bleeding chin” photo of Tomaz Hostnik, and a previously unpublished interview with Laibach from 1983 by Predrag Popovic in which he refers to the suicide of Laibach’s frontman, but calls him Ivo Saliger.
Title: Transnacionala
Author/Editor: Eda Cufer
Publisher: Studentska organizacija Univerze v Ljubljani
ISBN: 961-6211-62-5
Language: English
Date: 1999
Page Count: 196
Groups Covered: IRWIN, NSK
Synopsis: Like Interpol, this book touches only briefly on IRWIN’s history and membership in the NSK. This book is much more about the IRWIN collective as contemporary artists from Eastern Europe confronting a Western biased, Western dominated art world. Heavily illustrated with black and white photos, mostly from the trek across the United Sates, but also including a still from Laibach’s first television interview in 1982 and the New Collectivism poster for Youth Day.
Title: Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting
Author/Editor: Barry Schwabsky
Publisher: Phaidon Press
ISBN: 0-7148-4446-2
Language: English
Date: 2002
Page Count: 352
Groups Covered: IRWIN
Synopsis: IRWIN is given nice section in this book with a number of paintings and two photos of installations provided.
Title: Wild Palms Reader
Author/Editor: Roger Trilling
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
ISBN: 0-312-09083-8
Language: English
Date: 1993
Page Count: 128
Groups Covered: NSK
Synopsis: In the midst of this strange tie-in to a long forgotten miniseries is a single page devoted to the NSK. A poem (which I have never seen reproduced elsewhere) attributed to ‘NSK’ and paintings by IRWIN are collaged together on the page with no clear reason given for their presence in the book.