The work of the artist Joseph Heer, who lives in Vienna and in Mallorca, has been on a journey of research and discovery since the mid-1980s. The focus of Heer's oeuvre is on something fundamental, authentic and truthful. The question is how one can continually attempt to create something new on the basis of a never-changing foundation. There is, as it happens with all great artists, something peculiar and different in Joseph Heer’s painting. It is not only his poetic and sensorial treatment of the suggestive materiality of white, but, mainly, his vision of the mysterious deepness of painted thoughts. It invites us to enter mental landscapes. Nude painting. “Mainly White” represents three exceptional series of Heer`s paintings: “Temps”, “Perspectiva Prozessualis” and “Soft Bay”. The essays encluded are written by the famous critics and independent curators Pilar Ribal, Christoph Doswald and David Galloway. They demonstrate that Joseph Heer’s paintings constitute a categorical and meaningful contribution to international abstraction.

A fascinating journey through the history of an immortal myth.

They are stuck somewhere between this life and the hereafter, roaming through the night and biting pretty women’s necks. Fantasies and fears manifest themselves in the figure of the vampire, who became world-famous in novels and films, but also appears in TV advertisements, political campaigns and psychoanalysis. The vampirologist Rainer M. Köppl tells us about a fear-filled hysteria between superstition and enlightenment. He describes how vampires first found refuge in romantically idealized literature, were reborn in 20th century film and have become more successful than ever at the dawn of the 21st century. Using vivid examples, the author illustrates the perfection of form and function in the figure of the vampire: as a mirror for our fantasies of sex, violence, fear, blood, death, eternal love and immortality.

Best architecture from and in Austria

Following the resounding success of the first volume, the publication now presents for the second time a “Best of” Austrian architecture and building culture, and provides an up-to-date overview of architectural activity. In this volume, those approximately 175 projects and the recipients of personal achievement awards are presented who received one or, in some cases, several renowned architectural awards in 2008 and 2009. The resulting panorama of the Austrian architectural landscape is very dense, of a homogeneous high quality, spread broadly throughout the regions, and greatly varied. Projects ranging from minor renovations to large-scale developments, with various points of emphasis, and using all materials are shown here, thereby presenting Austrian architectural and building culture activity in all its diverse quality. The book, bilingual in German and English, includes an detailed index with information for all prices as well as an essay by Henrieta Moravčíková, looking at the Austrian architectural scene from abroad. With contributions by Klaus-Jürgen Bauer, Sonja Bettel, Gordana Brandner-Gruber, Robert Fabach, Barbara Feller, Manuela Hötzl, Anne Isopp, Gabriele Kaiser, Elke Krasny, Marion Kuzmany, Isabella Marboe, Norbert Mayr, Astrid Meyer, Veronika Müller, Andrea Nussbaum, Romana Ring, Arno Ritter and Robert Temel

This book is full of miracle and wonder! A novel filled to the brink with colors, soul, love, pathos and humor.

Annuschka is a teacher living in provincial Ukraine, Piotr is a journalist and globetrotter who is always far, far away to prove that that there is no difference between steppe and mountains. Just like there is no difference between humans and animals, men and women, happiness and unhappiness, here and there. It all depends on how far you distance yourself from plain facts. That is exactly what these two do full of ardor and passion by writing each other letters. Writing letters? They rather fire them like rockets, catapulting themselves and the world into outer space, from where things actually do look different than with your feet on the ground. And so they float and flirt and intoxicate themselves with feelings, telling each other stories that are funny and sad at the same time – because what’s the difference? This truly is no book for bureaucrats or goodie-two-shoes. Hands off!

Readings at schools are like away games: defeat must be expected.

When an author holds a reading of his books in a house of literature, a bookstore, a public library, it’s a home game for literature. The audience is full of experts and connoisseurs. Schools are the opposite: the reader steps onto difficult terrain. Bringing literature to school is like playing an away game. Defeat must be expected. Then again, games won away count double. In other words, school is a place where literature can create a life-long impact. Burkhard Spinnen recounts experiences from readings at schools. In “Reading Away” he describes the events at his readings. In his observations the author also takes the time to ponder what function literature should have at school and what role it plays today. A pointedly vivid book on the reality of the pedagogical province beyond the Pisa study.

Wo ist das Wunderkind? Im Schatten Mozarts wird sogar ein Mord zum Kunstwerk.

Where is the child prodigy? In the shadow of Mozart, even murder becomes art. Birgit has disappeared: The ten year-old musical prodigy is abducted in Salzburg, right under Mozart’s eyes, so to speak. This happens just when she is supposed to compete in the finals of an international piano competition after beating her friend Anja, daughter of a respectable family, in the semi-finals. Her friend’s father, manager of the state’s largest energy corporation, political lackey and pawn declared fair game in the local political scene, is definitely keen on seeing his daughter make a quick career. His ambition catches the attention of chief inspector Laber, who, struggling to solve his first case, must find his place in an intricate web of power and music, beauty and cruelty. From one day to the next, fingers in the city start pointing in several directions – to the murderer as well? All the while, Mozart silently weeps on his pedestal: full of anger, but also full of laughter and ardor for this book.

A family saga without a family, told exhilaratingly clear and touchingly sober.

It all begins with a family reunion, which is in fact a farewell party: Clarissa’s parents are dropping out – out of their kids’ lives as well. Clarissa and the others are all in the prime of their lives, but only sort of and somehow. They are searching for their place in life in ever-changing circumstances, between one project and the next, with little results other than an unstable network of contacts and relationships. Precarious ensembles. Of course, stable family life is also an option for her – in a house that friends have just inherited. She can have a room in the basement, for now, as long as she wants to stay. But one day she leaves, drops out, as if she was never involved in her life and the life of those surrounding her. A broad panorama of a present time marked by new living and working conditions, in which everything is temporary. And this novel hits its nerve.

What are we doing in Afghanistan?

Democracy, human rights, rule of law – it is in the name of these ideals that the West is fighting a war against the Taliban and against terror. Ulrich Ladurner reports from the sites of conflict, where central values of the Western world are being damaged. His journey leads him through a land full of opposites as he follows the traces of conquests and defeats. He looks back on the lively past of an old battlefield that has been both an American and European obsession and tells us about the lives of its people. His stories help us understand why the Great Powers are failing in Afghanistan. A hi(story) book on enemy images and the power of memory, seeking an answer to the controversial question of what we are doing in Afghanistan.