According to author Kobena Mercer, “Odenbach’s video art insists upon an attitude of openness towards uncertainty about the world. In this respect, his art criss-crosses the structural hybridization of video-based conceptualism with reflection on the lived experience of globalization.”

Since the mid-1970s, Marcel Odenbach has produced an extensive body of tapes, performances, drawings and installations, and has gained international recognition as one of Germany’s most important artists working in video. His works engage in a provocative discourse on the construction of the “self” in relation to historical and cultural representation. Using excerpts from films and newsreels, along with his own footage, the artist explores the ways images of the past shape our perception of the present. With its comprehensive illustrations and essays, including a text by the artist, this book features Odenbach’s most important works.