Mousse Publishing

The book Superior and Inferior presents a facsimile reprint of Carla Accardi’s provocatory publication Superiore e Inferioreand the first ever English translation of the full text. First published in 1972 by Italian abstract artist and feminist Carla Accardi (1924–2014), the book Superiore e Inferiorefeatures discussions among girls at a middle school – all between 10 and 13 – about society’s discriminatory behaviourtowards women. They also commented the Manifesto of the revolutionary feminist group Rivolta Femminile – collectivelywritten by Accardi, art critic and feminist activist Carla Lonzi, and Elvira Banotti – which first appeared posted on city wallsin Rome in July 1970. For having discussed sex-related issues with pupils, Accardi was fired and permanently suspended from teaching. (Herletter of dismissal issued by the Italian Ministry of Education forms part of the introduction to the book.)Along the lines of Pasolini’s Comizi d’Amore (Love Meetings), Accardi’s own voice is secondary in the book, giving way tothe thoughts, narratives, opinions, and debates expressed among girls on the role of women and girls, family conflicts andintimate relations.

Compassion and Inconvenience combines artist Vika Kirchenbauer’s 30-minute video work Compassion and Inconvenience (2024)—with its script reproduced alongside stills and audio descriptions—and her essay Instituting Inconvenience and Colonial Relations: The Genesis of European Contemporary Art Institutions in Mid-18th Century London (2025). Both these contributions engage with the historical context of the cultural scene in mid-18th-century London, when the first public presentation of contemporary art took place. In a setting inextricably entangled with early capitalism and British colonialism, an emergent artistic elite fundamentally influenced how, for whom, and under what conditions contemporary art entered the public sphere. As part of this genesis, moral philosophical concepts and artists’ feelings—most distinctly around compassion and inconvenience—played important parts in inserting imaginings of superiority and constellations of dominance into the core of European notions of art and taste. By deepening into the historical roots of contemporary art exhibitions, this reader examines the conditions under which what we now consider self-evident came into being.

"Shu Lea Cheang is an artist and filmmaker whose work has expanded our understanding of digital culture since the 1990s. A pioneer of Net Art and a key figure in post-internet thinking, her groundbreaking practice continues to push the boundaries of the digital and physical realms. This book accompanies the exhibition KI$$ KI$$ at Haus der Kunst München. It features sketches, photographs, and work concepts by Cheang, a conversation between the artist and curator Sarah Johanna Theurer, as well as an essay on selected archival materials by the latter. A glossary and the first comprehensive bibliography of the artist’s work provide a systematic entry point into her diverse practice spanning installation, software interaction, video, film, and multiplayer performance. "