Lenz publishes books on contemporary art, photography, architecture and design.
Our imprint includes catalogues, monographs, theory and artist books.
Through exquisite craftsmanship, and with reference to romantic nationalism, Ann Böttcher explores how aesthetic and political projections characterize notions of nature, and how such conceptions are taken up by countries, political movements, and other institutions.
Voices (Towards Other Institutions) is the final act of the coral, multiform, articulated, two-year-long experiment carried out by Open, the Russian Federation Pavilion at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition.
The book deals with Diego Marcon’s practice through the analysis of three film and video works. Monelle (2017), Ludwig (2018), and The Parents’ Room (2020) are his most recent and complex projects, and they are all emblematic of central aspects of his production.
Over the last ten years, Raphael Hefti has created an astonishingly body of work consisting of sculptures and installations, performance and “art-in-public-spaces.” The first comprehensive monograph is published on the occasion of his major exhibition at Kunsthalle Basel.
Between 1998 and 1999, the London-based art collective BANK operated the Fax-Bak Service. The group’s members proof-read and copy-edited more than 300 press releases by galleries. The publication is the most comprehensive record of this notorious project.
In the Villa Santo Sospir, Jean Cocteau conceived his pictorial work through accumulation, inspired by Greek mythology and the Mediterranean landscape. Architecture permeates the subjects of Mauro Restiffe from a viewpoint that amplifies and reverberates the simple historical record.
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