Dieter Roth

"I'm not going to let anybody tell me not to be unmoral. Why shouldn't we be pigs? Why shouldn't I experience the fall? Why shouldn't I be allowed to express it, why shouldn't I be silly? It's all in the context of so-called art so it doesn't hurt anybody."
Dieter Roth, quoted by essayist Theodora Vischer in Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Dieter Roth was born to a Swiss father and German mother in Hannover, Germany, in 1930, and was later sent out of Nazi Germany to live in Switzerland with foster parents. He received his training in graphic design in Bern, where he also became interested in avant-garde design and poetry. A despiser of routines, he moved often, living in places as remote from one another as Reykjavik, London, Basel, Hamburg and Providence, Rhode Island; in each of these places he created a new identity and used a variation of his birth name, Karl Dieter Roth, such as Dieter Roth, Diter Rot and Dieterrot. He died in 1998.

FORTHCOMING & NEW RELEASES

WAIT, LATER THIS WILL BE NOTHING: EDITIONS BY DIETER ROTH
Edited and with text by Sarah Suzuki. Text by Brenna Campbell, Scott Gerson, Lynda Zycherman.
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK
ISBN: 9780870708503 | US $35.00
Pub Date: 2/28/2013
Active | In stock

PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED

DITER ROT OR DIETER ROTH
Edited by Thomas Levy. Text by Daniel Spoerri.
KERBER
ISBN: 9783866788169 | US $30.00
Pub Date: 9/30/2013
Forthcoming

ACTIVE BACKLIST

DIETER ROTH: SOUVENIRS
Edited by Beat Keusch, Jan Voss. Text by Ina Conzen, Ruth Diehl.
HATJE CANTZ
ISBN: 9783775728188 | US $85.00
Pub Date: 8/31/2011
Active | In stock

DIETER ROTH: DAS TRAENENMEER
EDIZIONI PERIFERIA
ISBN: 9783907474846 | US $25.00
Pub Date: 4/30/2011
Active | In stock

DIETER ROTH: TEARS IN LUCERNE
Edited by Flurina and Gianni Paravicini. Text by Stefan Ripplinger, Barbara Wien.
EDIZIONI PERIFERIA
ISBN: 9783907474839 | US $29.00
Pub Date: 4/30/2011
Active | In stock

DIETER ROTH: ADVERTISEMENTS 1971-1972
Text by Dieter Roth, Barbara Wien.
EDIZIONI PERIFERIA
ISBN: 9783907474778 | US $19.00
Pub Date: 3/31/2010
Active | Awaiting stock

DIETER ROTH: THE RINGS OF DIETER ROTH
Text by Jean-Christophe Ammann.
EDIZIONI PERIFERIA
ISBN: 9783907474785 | US $22.00
Pub Date: 3/31/2010
Active | Awaiting stock

THE TAPESTRIES OF DIETER ROTH & INGRID WIENER
Text by Karin Schick, Stephan Kunz, Ingrid Wiener.
KERBER
ISBN: 9783866781047 | US $75.00
Pub Date: 8/1/2008
Active | In stock

DIETER ROTH: DRAWINGS/ZEICHNUNGEN
Edited by Eva Presenhuber. Text by Veit Loers.
JRP|RINGIER
ISBN: 9783905829174 | US $80.00
Pub Date: 3/1/2008
Active | In stock

DIETER ROTH & DOROTHY IANNONE
HOLZWARTH PUBLICATIONS
ISBN: 9783935567275 | US $45.00
Pub Date: 3/1/2006
Active | In stock

OUT OF PRINT LISTING

ROTH TIME: A DIETER ROTH RETROSPECTIVE
Essays by Dirk Dobke, Theodora Vischer and Bernadette Walter.
THE MUSEUM OF MODERN ART, NEW YORK
ISBN: 9780870700354 | US $45.00
Pub Date: 1/2/2004
Out of print | Not available

DIETER ROTH: HERE AND THERE
Essays by Frank Kicherer and Bjàrn Roth.
HATJE CANTZ PUBLISHERS
ISBN: 9783775791397 | US $16.95
Pub Date: 7/2/2003
Out of print | Not available

DIETER ROTH
Artwork by Dieter Roth.
OKTAGON
ISBN: 9783896110480 | US $39.95
Pub Date: 9/2/1998
Out of print | Not available

Dieter Roth

Diter Rot or Dieter Roth

Edited by Thomas Levy. Text by Daniel Spoerri.
Published by Kerber

This slim, elegant volume presents a concise selection of works by Dieter Roth (1930–1998)--who often spelled his name as Diter Rot--from 1965 to 1990. A genuinely experimental artist, Roth constantly embraced new forms and devised new ways of working, and this book reflects his creative openness and appetite for play. Its sampling of works ranges from the rubber-stamp works of the mid-1960s and the infamous chocolate sculptures of the late 1960s to the loose, expressionistic drawings of the 70s and 80s. Also included is a warm, informal essay by Daniel Spoerri, reprinted from a 1966 Roth exhibition catalogue, and the transcription of a 1970 discussion of one of Roth’s works between Spoerri and a school class in Düsseldorf.

Wait, Later This Will Be Nothing: Editions by Dieter Roth

Edited and with text by Sarah Suzuki. Text by Brenna Campbell, Scott Gerson, Lynda Zycherman.
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Dieter Roth’s wildly inventive artistic practice encompassed everything from painting and sculpture to film and video, but it is arguably through his editioned works--books, prints and multiples--that he made his most important and radical contributions. These experiments include literature sausages filled with ground-up books, newspapers or magazines in place of meat; the use of organic materials like pudding or fruit juice in lieu of printing inks; multiples of plastic toys mired in chocolate; and a dazzling array of variations on printed postcards. Taken together, these works offer an utterly radicalized view of mediums that are historically considered staid and traditional, while giving insight into one of the artistic titans of the twentieth century. Published in conjunction with an exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, and focusing on the prolific period between 1960 and 1972, this volume highlights examples of Roth’s most exciting and innovative books and graphics. An essay by curator Sarah Suzuki uses an extended investigation of “Snow” (1964–1969), a complex book-sculpture, as a touchstone from which to further investigate Roth’s use of language, iconography, technical innovations and relationships to other artists. A conservation essay offers two case studies that explore preservation issues and address larger concerns about the challenges of conserving contemporary art and organic materials.

Dieter Roth: Souvenirs

Edited by Beat Keusch, Jan Voss. Text by Ina Conzen, Ruth Diehl.
Published by Hatje Cantz

Art polymath extraordinaire, Dieter Roth (1930-1998) maintained throughout his career an output so prodigious and various that art historians and fans are still struggling to keep up. Bringing innovations to media such as installation, sculpture, artist's books, jewelry and writing, Roth also traveled and collaborated extensively, becoming one of the postwar art scene's most visible personalities. Roth kept a close circle of artist friends with whom he collaborated, and to whom he made regular gifts of works that he named “Souvenirs.” These friends included Richard Hamilton, Dorothy Iannone, Hansjörg Mayer, Martin Suter and Jan Voss, and the gifts included works of mail art, which Roth would gleefully subject to the vicissitudes of the postal system (“Has it arrived yet?” Voss recalls Roth asking him, of one such gift; “Has it already been nicely destroyed?” ). Dieter Roth: Souvenirs is the first presentation of these works.

Dieter Roth: Das Traenenmeer

Published by Edizioni Periferia

Actor and producer Martin Engler came across Dieter Roth's texts in the latter's Basel studio and has been transforming them into an audio series ever since. This audio CD includes two exclusive recordings: Engler's rendering of Roth's small ads in the Anzeiger Stadt Luzern and Tears & Stones, recorded in Iceland in June 2010 with the choir of the Dieter Roth Akademie.

Dieter Roth: Tears in Lucerne

Edited by Flurina and Gianni Paravicini. Text by Stefan Ripplinger, Barbara Wien.
Published by Edizioni Periferia

One of Dieter Roth's major literary projects, Tears in Lucerne complements the volume Advertisements 1971-1972 as a venture in "newspaper art." An essay by Stefan Ripplinger places the project within Roth's œuvre, and an interview by Barbara Wien with the collector and gallery owner Erica Ebinger provides insight into her close friendship with Roth.

Dieter Roth: Advertisements 1971-1972

Text by Dieter Roth, Barbara Wien.
Published by Edizioni Periferia

During the 1970s, Dieter Roth published a series of ads twice-weekly in a Swiss newspaper called the Luzerner Stadtanzeiger-ads which consisted of such aphorisms as "A good beginning is an evil end," "A tear is as evil as a good word" and "Two tears are better than five stones." This is the first complete publication of Roth's ads, previously only published as artist's books.

Dieter Roth: The Rings of Dieter Roth

Supplement

Text by Jean-Christophe Ammann.
Published by Edizioni Periferia

In 1958, on a visit to Iceland, Dieter Roth met the Swiss goldsmith Hans Langenbacher, and the two soon agreed to collaborate. Roth came up with the brilliant idea of devising rings with exchangeable parts--a variety of brightly-colored corkscrew-like attachments to the ring's main body--which Roth then housed in containers such as old pipes or wooden boxes. This gem of a volume reproduces Roth's rings alongside sketches, photos and a lengthy interview with Langenbacher; it is an intimate and inspiring addition to the Roth corpus.

The Tapestries of Dieter Roth & Ingrid Wiener

You Can Also Weave What You Do Not See

Text by Karin Schick, Stephan Kunz, Ingrid Wiener.
Published by Kerber

Between 1974 and 1998, the legendarily prolific, contrarian and super-experimental printmaker and mixed-media artist Dieter Roth worked with Austrian artist Ingrid Wiener (and initially also Valie Export) to produce five woven wall tapestries-presented here together for the first time, alongside 25 years worth of drawings, photographs, letters and "flat trash" like receipts and packing material. The tapestries can be interpreted in many ways. Whether seen through the lens of concept and implementation or idea and interpretation, they portray private lives and everyday objects while also making communication concrete. They supply narratives "woven" in time. They are witnesses to an artistic process. And, of course, they are symbols of an especially powerful joint creativity.

Dieter Roth: Drawings/Zeichnungen

Edited by Eva Presenhuber. Text by Veit Loers.
Published by JRP|Ringier

Sculptor, poet, pioneer of artist's books, performer, publisher and musician--Dieter Roth (1930-1998) has long been beloved as an artist's artist. Constantly trying to undo his art education, he would set up systems that discouraged the conventional and the consistent: he drew with both hands at once, preserved the discarded and reveled in the transitory. Grease stains, mold formations, insect borings and rotting foodstuffs were just some of the materials used, both out of a fascination with their painterly, textural aspects and for their innate ability to make time visible and play to chance. This oversized, faux-leather-bound book collects some 260 never-before-published drawings from the famous Copy Books group, heretofore hidden away in the late artist’s archive. Organized in series, these works span from 1977 to 1998.

Dieter Roth & Dorothy Iannone

Essays by Dietmar Elger, Oliver Koerner von Gustorf and Bernadette Walter. Interview by Dirk Dobke with Dorothy Iannone.
Published by Holzwarth Publications

ìDeep in the heart of my loneliness, I think of the art of my lioness.î German Fluxus artist Dieter Rothís enigmatic (and sometimes singsong) mail art for his lover, the artist Dorothy Iannone, was matched only by her responses and the sexually loaded non-mailable art she made featuring the two of them. Roth and Iannone met in 1967, broke up in 1974, and remained friends and lively correspondents until Rothís death. He painted over and dimmed the subjects of postcard photos to make himself the central figure; she needed no prompting to cast him in a starring role in her autobiographically based oeuvre. From ìmy dear old baby, will you please bring this check to the bank so we have some money when I come back,î to ìremember me?î they were a fascinating couple; now readers can encounter that passion themselves.

Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective

Essays by Dirk Dobke, Theodora Vischer and Bernadette Walter.
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Sculptor, poet, diarist, graphic designer, pioneer artist's book maker, performer, publisher, musician, and, most of all, provocateur, Dieter Roth has long been beloved as an artist's artist. Known for his mistrust of all art institutions and commercial galleries--he once referred to museums as funeral homes--he was also known for his generosity to friends, his collaborative spirit, and for including his family in his art making. Much to the frustration of any gallery that tried to exhibit his work (supposedly none more than once), Roth thumbed his nose at those who valued high purpose and permanence in art. Constantly trying to undo his art education, he would set up systems that discouraged the conventional and the consistent: he drew with both hands at once, preserved the discarded, and reveled in the transitory. Grease stains, mold formations, insect borings, and rotting foodstuffs were just some of the materials used, both out of a fascination with their painterly, textural aspects and for their innate ability to make time visible and play to chance. “More is better,” he once said, and more there always was. Roth never stopped working, and he believed that everything could be art, from his sketch pad to the table he sat at, the telephone he talked on, or his friend's kitchen (the kitchen was later sold to a museum). Roth Time: A Dieter Roth Retrospective is published to mark the first major survey exhibition of the artist's work since his death in 1998. Five decades of drawings, graphics, books, paintings, objects, installations, films and video works are represented. The publication offers a window into Roth's creative world, reflecting him and his era. The exhibition is organized by the Schaulager with The Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne.

Dieter Roth: Here And There

Essays by Frank Kicherer and Bjàrn Roth.
Published by Hatje Cantz Publishers

Chosen from the overflowing universe of materials that constituted his Stuttgart period, Dieter Roth's Ein gerissener Hase (A Slain Rabbit) and Bar Nr. 0 represent two stations in a life that was deeply intertwined with and inseparable from art. The former is a 25-part serigraph series printed with Frank Kicherer in 1990; the latter a complex work extended and restored months before the artist's death in 1998.

Dieter Roth

Artwork by Dieter Roth.
Published by Oktagon