The Irish-born artist James Coleman became known throughout the eighties and nineties with audiovisual works that are extraordinarily precise, both with respect to their pictorial and their literary qualities. Artists such as Douglas Gordon, Stan Douglas or Steve McQueen profess to have been greatly influenced by them. His videos, films and theatre projects and especially his large-scale slide projections are quite exceptional: Coleman presents tightly orchestrated social situations in colourful multiple fade-over stills accompanied by spoken text with a highly differentiated sound track. Although the pictures shown are reminiscent of scenes from daily life, film or literature, their narrative structure remains enigmatic. Questions of perception are supplied with psychological, cultural and historic dimensions. In a detailed essay, the film theorist Kaja Silverman comments on the slide projections Lapsus Exposure (1992-94) and Photograph (1998/99), among others, works which constitute the book's focus together with two 16 mm films from the early seventies. The slide projection Seagulls from 1973 was specially reconstructed and so made available to a broader audience for the first time. Exhibition Schedule: Kunstbau der Städtischen Galerie im Lenbachhaus, München April 20 - July 21, 2002 • Sprengel Museum Hannover October 6, 2002 - January 12, 2003