On December 1, 2025,
Juergen Staack's first monograph, entitled ‘expanded’, was published by Hirmer.
The retail price from the publisher is €50
Hard Cover
320 pages, 34 art series, 4 texts
(Sabine Maria Schmidt, Ory Dessau, Stefanie Kreuzer, Peter Friese), 1 Interview
The book is published by Sabine Maria Schmidt
Designed by Lai Ping So
22 x 28,5 x 3,5 cm
Publischer: Hirmer
ISBN 978-3-7774-4726-1
Critic by A.Gerlach
"A book that doesn't ask if you're ready, but simply clears the table and says: Take a closer look. Expanded is not a classic coffee table book, not something to leaf through casually, but a serious conversation about photography, power, time, and meaning. And yes, that can feel exhausting at times—but in a good way.
Juergen Staack deconstructs the photographic image without destroying it. His works move between concept, performance, and language, and that is precisely what makes this monograph so exciting. Images never stand alone here; they find themselves in situations, are questioned, age, and almost disappear again. While reading, this thought constantly arises: When is an image still an image—
and when is it just a memory of one?
The texts accompany the works intelligently without seeming didactic. Instead of art-theoretical fog, there are clear thoughts on authorship, reproduction, and the overheating of our visual world. Especially in times of endless scrolling, this is astonishingly accurate. Again and again, there is this brief pause: Right. I've never thought about that before.
Visually, the book is restrained, almost austere, and that's exactly how it should be. No sensationalism, no glossy circus. Expanded trusts that thoughts can carry weight. You don't close it with the feeling that you've understood everything – but with the desire to look at images differently in the future. And that is perhaps the greatest compliment you can pay an art book."
