Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)
A Respite for the Weary Time-Traveler. Featuring a Rite of Ancient Intelligence Carried out by the Gardeners toward the Continued Improvement of the Human Specious by Kara E-Walker
Published on 14. January 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
130 pages
978-0-691-27140-8 (ISBN)
Description
A gorgeously illustrated book documenting acclaimed artist Kara Walker's major new installation-"a groundbreaking collaboration merging art and technology" (New York Times)
Kara Walker is renowned for her bold examinations of the dynamics of power and the exploitation of race and sexuality through her profound work that has appeared in exhibitions around the world. She has created monumental sculptures, including A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby (2014), for the former Domino Sugar refinery in Brooklyn, and Fons Americanus (2019) for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. This beautifully designed book documents the creation of Walker's major new commission, Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) (2024), at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The installation features eight Black automatons, including the seven-foot-tall prophetess, Fortuna, who responds to each visitor with a choreographed routine and a printed fortune fresh from her mouth. Situated in fields of obsidian-a volcanic glass with deep spiritual properties-the other robotic dolls, or Gardeners, rise and fall, gesture, turn, and clamor-trapped in a never-ending cycle of ritual and struggle. Evoking wonder, reflection, respite, and hope, the work explores the memorialization of trauma, the objectives of technology, and the possibilities of transforming the negative energies that plague contemporary society.
This book presents Walker's working drawings and paintings, photographs of her creative process with collaborators, and detailed images of the final installation. Also included are an illuminating text by Walker, an essay by product designer David A. M. Goldberg, a selection of fashion designer Gary Graham's notebook pages, an excerpt from Donna Haraway's influential essay "A Cyborg Manifesto," experimental short fiction by writer Damani McNeil, and a conversation between Walker and curator Eungie Joo.
Exhibition Schedule
SFMOMA, San Francisco
July 1, 2024-Spring 2026
Published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in association with Princeton University Press
Kara Walker is renowned for her bold examinations of the dynamics of power and the exploitation of race and sexuality through her profound work that has appeared in exhibitions around the world. She has created monumental sculptures, including A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby (2014), for the former Domino Sugar refinery in Brooklyn, and Fons Americanus (2019) for Tate Modern's Turbine Hall. This beautifully designed book documents the creation of Walker's major new commission, Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine) (2024), at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
The installation features eight Black automatons, including the seven-foot-tall prophetess, Fortuna, who responds to each visitor with a choreographed routine and a printed fortune fresh from her mouth. Situated in fields of obsidian-a volcanic glass with deep spiritual properties-the other robotic dolls, or Gardeners, rise and fall, gesture, turn, and clamor-trapped in a never-ending cycle of ritual and struggle. Evoking wonder, reflection, respite, and hope, the work explores the memorialization of trauma, the objectives of technology, and the possibilities of transforming the negative energies that plague contemporary society.
This book presents Walker's working drawings and paintings, photographs of her creative process with collaborators, and detailed images of the final installation. Also included are an illuminating text by Walker, an essay by product designer David A. M. Goldberg, a selection of fashion designer Gary Graham's notebook pages, an excerpt from Donna Haraway's influential essay "A Cyborg Manifesto," experimental short fiction by writer Damani McNeil, and a conversation between Walker and curator Eungie Joo.
Exhibition Schedule
SFMOMA, San Francisco
July 1, 2024-Spring 2026
Published by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in association with Princeton University Press
Reviews / Votes
"[The catalogue] offer[s] a deeper insight into Walker's speculative world."---Erin Ikeuchi, Hypebeast "A beautiful complement to the exhibition."---Jessica Stewart, My Modern Met "Smart, concise, visually splendid and energetic. . . . [Fortuna is] a volume that works equally well on its own, covering, as it does, the convergence of history, bodies, and mechanization." * Hilton Als on Instagram *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New Jersey
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
100 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 212 mm
Width: 288 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
648 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-691-27140-8 (9780691271408)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Kara Walker is best known for her candid investigations of race, gender, sexuality, and violence through silhouetted figures that have appeared in exhibitions worldwide. Her work can be found in numerous museums, including the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Tate Gallery. She lives in New York.