b_books

b_books is a bookstore and publishing collective in Berlin-Kreuzberg. It was founded in 1996 by a group of people involved in political activism, theory, film, and art. b_books runs a bookstore, venue, and publishing house specializing in political philosophy, art and film, and queer feminist and decolonial theory. Events have been held under the title montagsPRAXIS since the 1990s. The publishing house started in 1998 with publications by Toni Negri, Linda Singer, Maurizio Lazzarato, and Harun Farocki, and later translations of Paul B. Preciado, Jacques Rancière, and Chris Kraus were added, as well as series on urban theory (metrozones), politics and art criticism (PoLYpeN). Recently, the series RE FUSE was founded by Çiğdem Inan. The program includes the publication of the German translation of Cruel Optimism by Lauren Berlant as well as the forthcoming German translation of We Must Learn to Sit Down Together and Talk About A Little Culture by Sylvia Wynter.

Lauren Berlant, Grausamer Optimismus, b_books verlag, 2024, © Lauren Berlant

Grausamer Optimismus, Lauren Berlants affekttheoretische Studie über neoliberale kapitalistische Gesellschaften, widmet sich den affektiven und phantasmatischen Bindungen an die Objekte und Schauplätze kapitalistischer Austeritäts- und Workfare-Welten.

Übersetzt von Jen Theodor.

Erschienen als erster Band der neuen Publikationsreihe re fuse.

re fuse ist eine von Çiğdem Inan herausgegebene Reihe zu queer-feministischer, affekttheoretischer, post- und dekolonialer Theorie.

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Marion von Osten, In the Making. In the Desert of Modernity: Colonial Planning and After, b_books verlag, 2023, © Marion von Osten

In the Making: In the Desert of Modernity: Colonial Planning and After. A Research-Based Practice is about the working method of the artist and exhibition maker Marion von Osten (1963-2020). Through the genesis of one of her major exhibitions, In the Desert of Modernity: Colonial Planning and After, and other related exhibitions, Marion von Osten recounts modes of research, forms of collaboration, research trips, and encounters.

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Burcu Dogramaci, Ergül Cengiz, Philipp Gufler, Mareike Schwarz & Angela Stiegler (eds.), Exzentrische 80er / Eccentric 80s, b_books verlag, 2022, © Burcu Dogramaci, Ergül Cengiz, Philipp Gufler, Mareike Schwarz & Angela Stiegler (eds.)

Tabea Blumenschein (1952–2020), Hilka Nordhausen(1949–1993), and Rabe perplexum (1956–1996) were eccentric artists of the eighties – they deviated from norms and operated outside of the centre in subcultural milieus. . They worked in friendly constellations in the cities of Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich. Blumenschein, Nordhausen, and perplexum represented images of gender and identity that weren’t recognized at the time and lived their sexual orientations in a non-conformist manner. The artistic work of the eccentrics was formulated in performances, readings, films, concerts, or murals – in collaborative and often ephemeral forms. For the first time, they are now brought together in one book and discussed contextually.

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