Monroe Books

Monroe Books is a platform for artistic publications and projects in Berlin.
For us, books are an impetus and basis for current debates as well as places where the work of artists, designers, authors and printers comes together in creative exchange. Jointly, we develop a format and an individual structure for each book project.
Among the topics that concern us are questions of physical presence or absence in space, located between corporeality and virtuality. A special focus of the publishing house lies on projects about nature, in particular the flora.
The publications of Monroe Books are the expression and result of a visual as well as a textual artistic exploration.

Jana Müller, Falscher Hase / Mock Rabbit, Monroe Books, 2024 © Jana Müller

Jana Müller’s new artist book, "Falscher Hase" (Mock Rabbit) opens by shedding light on criminal investigations in the former German Democratic Republic, offering an artistic exploration of historical narratives and personal reflections and a contemporary journey to crime scenes on both sides of the world. At the core of her research is Müller's 86-year-old father, a former police detective with first-hand experience in murder cases and espionage within socialist Germany. Photo theorist Mira Anneli Naß contributes an analysis, examining parallels in media representations of crimes throughout the history of the two German states, compared with Müller's photo-forensic-artistic approach.

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A ROOM WITH A VIEW takes place in and around the Pensione Seguso, a historic, family-run hotel in Venice. Guided by architecture professor Verena von Beckerath the contributors to this publication come from varying backgrounds, and the rich variety in tone and format reflects that. A ROOM WITH A VIEW features a reflection and collage by urologist and art lover Albrecht Kastein, photos by architect and photographer Andrew Alberts, architect Oda Pälmke’s personal account of her time at the pensione, an insightful interview with the owners Yvonne Matijas Seguso and Lawrence Hoque, and a piece by architect and urban researcher Ludovico Centis which follows the art and architecture critic Nikolaus Pevsner on his stays in Venice. Much like the pensione, the book eludes rigid categorisation;

it alternates between written pieces and photographs, each adding nuance to the work and changing the narrative perspective. It provoques the question on how we can live together.

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