Wolfgang Tillmans

Since Wolfgang Tillmans first exhibited his multi-part installation on tables with the title Truth Study Centre ten years ago, this group of works has become an integral component of his exhibitions. Frequently rooted in the local conditions and the period of their inception, these collages composed of texts, images and objects seek to gain a clear perspective on our increasingly complex age. The question of redistribution also plays an important role for Tillmans in the majority of his other truth study centre installations: 'asking this question kind of innocently, may remind oneself that the specific way something is distributed today, is not done so by following a law of nature, but by a complex set of moral and political choices', states Tillmans. The scope and complexity of this long-term project is revealed for the first time in this book and in the parallel exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof. An essay by Thomas McDonough places Tillmans' project within the context of twentieth-century collage, from Hannah Höch to Robert Rauschenberg.

Thomas McDonough is professor for comparative literature at Birmingham University, New York, and regularly publishes articles on contemporary art in magazines such as Afterall, Artforum and OSMOS.