New New Testament

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A work gains no worth                >   

        but more authority   I ██████████

      █████████ I       

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by abolishing its own 

semblance.


I ███████████

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— From New New Testament: Book 4



New New Testament documents Paul Chan’s monumental project Volumes, a series of over one thousand paintings made out of dismantled book covers and the texts that complement each painting. A selection of Volumes premiered at Documenta 13 in Kassel, Germany in 2012, but New New Testament is the first time all the paintings have been united in a single publication. Each painting evokes how books and works of art—both considered objects of knowledge in the past—now exist in our digitally interconnected world chiefly as objects of search. The texts that accompany each painting are composed with bewildering combinations of phrases and lexical marks that reflect how historical distinctions between art, media, and celebrity culture are rapidly dissolving. Part King James Bible, Wittgenstein, and TMZ, each text embodies the spirit of this emerging dissolution. With a foreword by Maja Oeri and an essay by art critic and historian Sven Lütticken. In German and English.

 

New New Testament was published on the occasion of the exhibition Paul Chan: Selected Works, on view from April 11 to October 19, 2014 at Schaulager in Basel, Switzerland. 


Due to the length and unique nature of New New Testament, the e-book edition divided into 8 individual publications. A limited hardcover edition comprised of all 8 books is also available.