Pornografie

First published in 1971 by Anabas Verlag under the Edition Kolling imprint, Pornografie is a landmark of German political artist's-book making by graphic artist and satirist Klaus Staeck. The book juxtaposes press photographs of street violence, war casualties, and torture with staged body-art pictures and everyday objects, building a visual argument, taken from Herbert Marcuse, that it is not the naked body but the general displaying medals earned in a war of aggression that is truly obscene. Its title deliberately misleads readers expecting explicit sexual content, redirecting attention instead toward the panopticon of violence, exposure, and monitoring that pervades everyday life. Photobook historians Parr and Badger singled it out as one of the most expressionistic artist's books of its era, in a genre generally prized for restraint. Steidl reissued the book as a facsimile edition in 2005, edited by H. C. Schmolck, keeping the original German-language format and black-and-white reproductions intact.