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Commonsensual - The Works of Rut Blees Luxemburg

This monograph is the first comprehensive survey of the work of Blees Luxemburg covering the period 1995–2009. Thematic passages reconfigure her practice, making original connections between the final works and their development including the artist’s forays into opera and public art.

Blees Luxemburg’s artistic research concentrates on the photographic exploration of the urban environment and the expansion of its representation. The title Commonsensual refers to her research into an understanding of the city that is formed by the adductive quality of surfaces and sensual qualities of an urban perception, such as intensities of light, sensuality of surfaces and the proximity of the ground. The architect Sarah Wigglesworth identifies the sensual in Blees Luxemburg’s body of work as acknowledging a female experience of the city.

Black Dog Publishing launched Commonsensual with an exhibition of Blees Luxemburg’s photographs. It was reviewed widely (e.g. Source Photographic Review, Building Design (2009)), and the Guardian (2009) and L’Architecture D’Aujourd’hui (2011) published photo-essays. Blees Luxemburg was also interviewed in the Guardian (2009). Portfolio included her as one of ‘50 of the UK’s most significant artist photographers’ (2009).

Works from the monograph were included in group exhibitions including: ‘elles@centrepompidou’, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2009); ‘Observers: British Photography and the British Scene’, British Council, Galeria de Arte do SESI, São Paulo (2012); ‘New Narrative’, Digital Arts Centre, Taipei (2011); and a solo exhibition at Union Gallery, London (2009).

Blees Luxemburg presented this research widely, including at the National Photography Symposium, Derby (2010); The British Library, London (2010); ARCSOC, University of Cambridge (2009); The Architecture Foundation, London (2009); Le Point du Jour, Cherbourg (2009); and for the BBC World Service programme, The Forum, Night: Friend or Foe? (2012).