Into Me/Out of Me

Edited by Klaus Biesenbach, texts by Georges Bataille

Klaus Biesenbach and others

Hatje Cantz 2008

Tower Books Australia (Distributor)

Into Me/Out of Me is a superbly produced photographic volume with some 282 illustrations, of which 215 are in colour, the text is in both English and German. It is controversial, explicit and challenging and offers an exciting bird’s eye view of the artistic vision of the body and its functions.

Into Me/Out of Me was the original title of a P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center exhibition about imagined, descriptive, and performative acts of the passing into, through, and out of the human body. The exhibition offered works that spanned some forty years and included over 130 artists. It was also a truly cross disciplinary presentation include works which fell within what is traditionally considered art and performance art but also works from natural science, mythology, ritualistic and religious frameworks and sexual exploration.

It was a highly controversial exhibition which polarized art reviewers wherever it was shown, with primary presentations in New York, Berlin, and Rome. In the present day when Puritanism and conservatism seems to be encroaching on freedom of expression, Into Me/Out of Me reclaimed the body as a means for artistic expression and deliberately pushed the edge of the envelope in its exploration of flesh and more flesh in graphic detail.

Sad to say, as with any exhibition, it only reached a relatively small audience on a global scale and hence its effect was limited. It is now marvelous to see the exhibition turned into a high quality photographic volume which can be experienced by a much greater audience.

Just some of the artists represented in this work include Abramovic, Matthew Barney, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Douglas Gordon, Robert Mapplethorpe, Paul McCarthy, Pipilotti Rist, Andy Warhol and Lawrence Weiner.

The framework of Into Me/Out of Me looks is with the personal and social dimensions of the physical body as a means of expression, with specific focuses on the various processes which involve the invasion, penetration, and exploration of—as well as exit from—the human body. Therefore the exhibition (and this volume) focuses on metabolic functions (eating, drinking and excretion), procreation (sexual intercourse, conception, birth and pleasure), violence, and illness (injuries, surgery) and death. As can be expected the works presented are explicit and at times confronting, but always thought provoking. Each of these themes are further explored with reference to everyday life, myth and religious, ritual and behavior, science and medicine and personal experience.

This print edition of the exhibition by Hatje Cantz does a superb job, presenting not only the images, but backgrounds on the artists and key texts. In many ways the book is better than the exhibition as you can explore and consider the message of the exhibition in your own home and take your time slowly reading, examining and considering. Yes, even the print edition is not for the squeamish and includes explicit images and is obviously for mature souls who want to honestly consider the human body in all its glory, from its most base functions right through to the sublime. But for those willing to take the journey it is well worth the effort.