Marie jo lafontaine - Tapa dura

In 1987 the Belgian artist Marie-Jo Lafontaine created Les larmes d'acier (Steel Tears) for documenta 8 in Kassel - a video sculpture which aroused greater interest than might have been expected and which made a lasting impression on all who saw it. This was the international breakthrough for an artist whose work had already been widely recognised, but who was now acclaimed for her work heralding new dimenions in video art.
Following Immaculata, published by Cantz in 1992, we now present this monograph. It has been produced in close co-operation with the artist and covers the various aspects of her work over the last fifteen years. This has been concerned above all with the existential conditions of human existence - portrayed in video sculptures, spatial installations, photoworks with monochrome painting and text. Carefully selected visual material, texts and quotations from writers and philosophers draw a complex portrait of this artistic personality, as sensitive as it is powerful.