Dieter Roth

Since 1980, a small room in Basel has housed one of the most important works by Dieter Roth (1930-98): the installation Selbstturm; Löwenturm (1969/70-98). The installation consists of two towers--one made of chocolate busts, the other of sugar cast figures stacked on glass plates--reaching up toward the ceiling. This imposing yet fragile artwork was created during the period in which Roth incorporated biodegradable foodstuffs into his large-scale installations and sculptures, and was conceived as a work in progress. Roth left behind a veritable trove of visual documentation: more than 800 photographs and Polaroids, as well as over 120 hours of video recordings of the installation across the decades and its two studio locations. This large-format catalog/artist''s book, measuring 16.75 inches in height, presents the whole selection of these images in a concept curated by artist Peter Fischli, along with new essays.