This publication provides a comprehensive document of Josiah McElheny's site-specific Bloomberg Commission exhibiting at the Whitechapel Gallery. Reflection, light and transparency are defining themes of Modernism and provide a leitmotif for the American sculptor Josiah McElheny's 2011 Bloomberg Commission, The Past Was A Mirage I'd Left Far Behind. Seven mirrored, sculptural screens double, triple and refract the projections of reconfigured abstract films, proposing a new history of abstraction as a fragmented, sensory experience. New York-based artist Josiah McElheny is a sculptor, performance artist, writer and filmmaker, best known for his use of glass with other materials. For his Bloomberg Commission he uses light and mirrors to transform the Whitechapel Gallery into a Hall of Mirrors. This book provides an introduction to the artist, a record of his new work, and locates both within the history of art. Lisa Le Feuvre, Head of Sculpture Studies at the Henry Moore Institute, introduces the work of McElheny as an observer of history. Daniel F. Herrmann, Eisler Curator and Head of Curatorial Studies at the Whitechapel Gallery presents an in-depth account of the commission. Tamara Trodd, Lecturer for Twentieth Century and Contemporary Art at Edinburgh University, joins the artist and the curator for a conversation about the ideas and interests behind this major new commission.

Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) was one of the most innovative and irreverent British artists of the 20th century. Considered the `godfather of Pop Art', his powerful collages, sculptures and prints challenged mid-century British modernism by drawing on mass culture, science fiction and industrial design. Accompanying the first major exhibition of Paolozzi's art since 1975, this publication presents a fresh and comprehensive overview of his work from the 1940s to the 1990s, highlighting not only his unique position as one of Britain's most dynamic, versatile and pugilistic artists, but also the relevance of his work today. As well as entries on more than 100 works and a full bibliography, the book presents new approaches to Paolozzi by critics Hal Foster and Jon Wood, and by the contemporary Mexican artist Mariana Castillo Deball; new research and comment by Beth Williamson, Lisa Maddigan Newby and Dawn Ades; a discussion on Paolozzi's public sculpture with Turner Prize winners Assemble; and a reprint of a brilliant 1971 conversation between Paolozzi and the novelist J.G. Ballard.

Der schottische Bildhauer und Graphiker Eduardo Paolozzi (1924-2005) war Mitbegrunder der britischen Pop-Art. Bereits in den 1950er Jahren sorgte er mit innovativen Collagen, in die er Bildmotive aus Popularkultur und Werbung integrierte, fur Aufsehen - und schrieb fortan Kunstgeschichte. Seine international erfolgreichen, irritierenden Werke bewegen sich haufig an der Schnittstelle zwischen Mensch und Maschine und bezeugen sein Interesse an Wissenschaft und Technik. Mit ausgefallenen kunstlerischen Verfahren wie Siebdruck oder Sampling forderte er nicht nur die asthetischen Konventionen seiner Zeit heraus. Die Graphiken und Skulpturen zeigen auch seine intensive Suche nach einer Ikonographie der Konsum- und Industriegesellschaft. Ausstellung und Katalog schliessen unmittelbar an die vielgeruhmte Paolozzi-Schau in der Londoner Whitechapel Gallery an. Im Fokus dieses Bandes stehen Paolozzis experimentelle Werkphasen der funfziger bis siebziger Jahre sowie sein produktiver Aufenthalt in West-Berlin von 1974/75.