Lenz publishes books on contemporary art, photography, architecture and design.
Our imprint includes catalogues, monographs, theory and artist books.
This richly illustrated publication combines artwork, archival and process imagery, and includes an extended interview with the artist, as well as new essays by key thinkers in the fields of anthropology, philosophy, political economy and art history.
In the first monograph on the feminist conceptual artist collective Claire Fontaine, political theorist and somatic practitioner Anita Chari explores the artist’s theoretical and political innovations to illuminate a more haptic, embodied approach to the practice of critical theory.
Shahryar Nashat inserts his art in the pages of this new artist’s book, which takes the form of a catalogue-turned-manual: but instead of explaining its meaning, he strips it of its aura, flaunts its nature as an object and describes step-by-step how to create it.
Martin Heidegger, Glenn Gould, Jacques-Louis David, Cy Twombly, Paul Engelmann and Ludwig Wittgenstein: characters that Francesco Arena has chosen or rediscovered in multiple contexts over the time recur in this book. Ranging from philosophy, to music, to visual arts, they embrace the whole world of knowledge.
This first institutional monograph on the multimedia practice of artist and director Ali Cherri aims to highlight the themes and formal concerns running through his most recent, highly significant projects at GAMeC, Bergamo; Frac Bretagne, Rennes; Swiss Institute, New York; Biennale Arte 2022, Venice; and the National Gallery, London.
The book highlights the main characteristics of the collective trauma that gave rise to Rachel Whiteread’s project for GAMeC. The psychoanalysts Angelo Antonio Moroni and Pietro Roberto Goisis map out a composite picture, starting from the sense of vulnerability and collective loss associated with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Edited by Laura Barreca and Giovanna Fiume
Texts by Laura Barreca, Naor Ben-Yehoyada, Giovanna Fiume, Gabi Scardi, Jane C. Schneider, Peter T. Schneider
Designed by BIFFIPOL
2026, English / Italian, softcover, 24 x 15.6 cm, 384 pages
ISBN 979-12-82771-01-6
MAXIPROCESSO showcases the first-ever presentation of Maria D. Rapicavoli’s complete photographic series of the same name: 360 photographs, one for each of the archival folders that collectively document the largest mafia “Maxi Trial” in history, held in Palermo from 1986 to 1987. A selection from Rapicavoli’s series was exhibited at the Court of Palermo in 2026, housed in an installation designed by architecture firm Supervoid. The photographs convey the physical dimension of the exacting work underpinning the trial: reports, interrogations, wiretaps, depositions, and other documents charting Cosa Nostra’s activities. Together, they form the material footprint of the Palermo antimafia team’s vast investigation, which reconstructed and exposed the organization’s hierarchical structure for the first time.
In photographing the folders as a series, Rapicavoli moves beyond documentary representation. The images’ apparent repetition conveys the sheer volume of evidence produced by the investigation, making visible the scale of an archive whose contents usually remain inaccessible. By publishing the complete sequence, this volume communicates the materiality and magnitude of what is a crucial body of archival heritage. Thirty of Rapicavoli’s photographs have entered the permanent collection of the Museo Civico di Castelbuono, which has committed to ensuring their enduring accessibility and to fostering continued awareness and discussion of the historical legacy they represent.
The project also extends into the digital space through a series of podcast interviews pairing young Sicilian students with figures personally involved in the history of the Maxiprocesso. The initiative aims to encourage younger generations to interact more closely with this history and to develop a heightened sense of social responsibility. As Laura Barreca, Director of the Museo Civico di Castelbuono, observes: “As a public museum, today we reflect on the active role that cultural institutions can play in building a more aware, responsible, and engaged society. In Sicily, this duty assumes a still deeper meaning: here the memory of the Maxiprocesso will continue to be preserved, reinterpreted, and handed down to new generations, lending full expression to the power of contemporary art as as a tool for interpretation, dialogue, and dissemination.”
MAXIPROCESSO was staged by the Museo Civico di Castelbuono with the support of the 2025 Strategia Fotografia open call promoted by the Italian Ministry of Culture’s Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity, and with the assistance of nctm e l’arte: A project by ADVANT Nctm. The project was developed with the support of Antonio Balsamo, President of the Court of Appeal of Palermo, and Alessandra Camassa, President of the Court of Trapani, and marks the fortieth anniversary of the start of the Maxiprocesso. Through photography and contemporary art, it reaffirms the trial’s landmark role in late-twentieth-century Italian history while exploring the connections between justice, cultural institutions, and social responsibility, and how this pivotal event can be interpreted and transmitted to new generations.
Photos: Alessio Keilty