Wolfgang H Scholz (b. 1958) is a visual artist and film director. His work spans more than three decades and encompasses apart from painting many forms of expression, ranging from theatrical and documentary films, sculpture, photography, and installations to multimedia stage pieces. His central theme is the vision of an imaginary arrival, and his work method is a form of decoding. Other essential concepts that recur in Scholz's work include the labyrinth, time, memories or localization and the questioning of reality. The title The Void is taken from a Buddhist term for the Fifth Element: The Void. Since 2010 Scholz has worked with Japanese Butoh masters, creating several multimedia stage pieces and series of photographic works on this theme. This volume includes a conversation with Prof. Dr. Boris Groys of New York University, one of the most important scholars of the arts and humanities of the twentieth century. This dialogue is an essential text for understanding the creative processes, references, and influences of Wolfgang H Scholz concerning the philosophical and programmatic themes of The Void. This book will be published to coincide with exhibitions by the MACO - Museum of Contemporary Art Oaxaca (2019), Mexico, the Museum Ex Teresa Arte Actual (2019), the gallery Casa Galván - UAM - Universidad Autónoma metropolitana (2020) and in collaboration with the presentations of the performance THE VOID at the Butoh Festival Kyoto, Japan (July 2019) and at the Theatre CC Los Talleres, Mexico City in 2019. Text in English with a Spanish and German insert.

From its invention in Europe at the end of the nineteenth century, the automobile crisscrossed the world, completely took over the cities, and became a feature of daily life. Considered basic to the American lifestyle, the car reflected individualism, pragmatism, comfort, and above all modernity. In Latin America, it served as a symbol of distinction, similar to jewelry or fine clothing. In The Cultural Life of the Automobile, Guillermo Giucci focuses on the automobile as an instrument of social change through its "kinetic modernity" and as an embodiment of the tremendous social impact of technology on cultural life. Material culture-how certain objects generate a wide array of cultural responses-has been the focus of much scholarly discussion in recent years. The automobile wrought major changes and inspired images in language, literature, and popular culture. Focusing primarily on Latin America but also covering the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa, Giucci examines how the automobile was variously adapted by different cultures and how its use shaped and changed social and economic relationships within them. At the same time, he shows how the "automobilization" of society became an essential support for the development of modern individualism, and the automobile its clearest material manifestation.