Vanessa Beecroft: Jane Bleibt Jane - by Chris Kraus (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

In extensive interviews with collaborators and artists, Beecroft discusses the motivations behind (and audience reactions to) her provocative performances

Performance artist Vanessa Beecroft (born 1969) is best known for her large-scale, regimentally choreographed performances and tableaux vivants involving naked or nearly naked women. In the 2010s she was a frequent collaborator with Kanye West, serving as creative lead for his "Runaway" music video and designing the first four presentations of his Yeezy collection. In Jane Bleibt Jane, Beecroft reflects on her career thus far through six in-depth conversations. Originating from a 2015 conversation between Christian Krachet and Walther Konig about the artist's work, the publisher then invited her to reflect upon her own performances. The title refers to a conversation with model Stacey McKenzie that Beecroft recorded in 2022 in collaboration with Chris Kraus--and to a film admired by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, though no one involved has seen it.