World-Changing Rage (Special Edition)

Limited-edition boxset of 20.

An exploration by an artist and writer duo of a fundamental constant in the history of humankind: rage, and its impact on the world.

Each of the 20 boxes has been handmade in Calcutta, India, and the enclosed books bound in handspun cotton which has undergone the Japanese manual resist-dyeing process known as Shibori.

Each set also contains a diptych by Georg Baselitz, titled Hokusai and an Eagle (2019, archival pigment print of Somerset velvet paper, 250 gsm, 100 percent cotton, 17.8 x 13.5 cm) and a page from Alexander Kluge's handwritten manuscript.

About the book:

Rage and obstinacy are close relatives—and fundamental categories in the work of both Georg Baselitz and Alexander Kluge. In World-Changing Rage, these two accomplished German creators explore links and fractures between two cultures through two media: ink and watercolor on paper, and the written word.

The long history of humankind is also a history of rage, fury, and wrath. In this book, Baselitz and Kluge explore the dynamism of rage and its potential to rapidly grow and erupt into blazing protests, revolution, and war. The authors also reflect the melancholy archetype of the Western hero (and his deconstruction) against the very different heroic ethos of the Japanese antipodes. More powerful than rage, they argue, is wit, as displayed in the work of Japanese master painter Katsushika Hokusai. In this volume, Baselitz repeatedly draws an image of Hokusai, depicting him with an outstretched finger, as if pointing towards Europe in a mixture of rage, wrath, irony, and laughter, all-too-fleetingly evident in his expression. A unique collaboration between two of the world’s leading intellectuals, World-Changing Rage will leave every reader with a deeper appreciation of the human condition.

Send us an email to info@seagullbooks.org if you are interested in purchasing this edition.