Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom

The most comprehensive publication on the Paul Pfeiffer’s work to date, with critical readings and new scholarship on his workPfeiffer uses a wealth of recent technologies to dissect the role that mass media plays in shaping consciousnessCoinciding with the artist’s first US retrospec- tive at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, on view 12 November 2023 to 16 June 2024, this catalogue will feature installation photographyThis richly illustrated catalogue accompanies the first US retrospective of Paul Pfeiffer’s acclaimed multi-disciplinary practice at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Presenting era-defining photo and video works alongside his latest experiments in sculpture and installation, this volume reflects Pfeiffer’s use of a wealth of recent technologies to dissect the role that mass media plays in shaping consciousness. Throughout his work, Pfeiffer interrogates how images might shape the spectators who consume them. In his own words: ‘ The question always comes up: who’s using who? Is the image making us, or do we make images?’ His works mediate on faith, desire, and the ways both are enmeshed in a contemporary culture transfixed by celebrity. This authoritative volume spans twenty-five years of practice and includes essays by Tom Gunning and Marian Pastor Roces as well as conversations with the artist and Chanon Kenji Praepipatmongkol and with the artist, Julie Mehretu, and Lawrence Chua.Designed by Counterspace, Michael Worthington