Christopher Williams: Kölnische Dramaturgie

Text by Tom McDonough

A concise introduction to the theatrics and rituals of the art fair

This latest book on the work of Los Angeles-born, Cologne-based photographer Christopher Williams (born 1956) explores the transparent theatricality of the modern art fair, inspired by Art Cologne 1967. Williams’ black-and-white photographs lead the viewer through clinical product shots from his Adapted for Use series paired with images of past art fairs, including the photographer’s own participation in a booth hosted by David Zwirner Gallery. The result is a stoic meditation of the object as commodity and the spaces in which these goods are purchased. This publication includes a feature essay by art historian Tom McDonough, who writes of Williams’ work: “trust in the transparency of the visual field [is] consistently and thoroughly undermined. The static set promised a totalized image and simultaneously withheld it, suspending the audience in an uncomfortable awareness of the lack inscribed in the pro-visual field.”