![A Child's Machiavelli, Penguin Editions, New York, 1998](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/727aeb70c947d7cea1f3505626e46918291e88472c0112721c5e5849b0ca2d43/Cover_machiavelli.jpg)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, one of a series of thirty-one paintings, each 18” x 12”, oil on linen](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/798cd2bae8e3286739e0b8baa942f4d3a283a10f951c9fae73490b6e0d86a253/1-machiavelli_Painting.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1996, installation with 31 paintings from 1995, 18” x 12”, oil on linen, Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain de Haut Normandie, Rouen, France](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/6d31c2dd00fed53e067e8b29feb5ca7dcb5c086ef9f4237d9a92effbb51b1bdd/2-machiavelli_Installation.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, one of a series of thirty-one paintings, each 18” x 12”, oil on linen](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8d7c00e2b438c6d224d552de3094ac18729439bc670959096a7d4d6080d2e447/4-machiavelli_Painting.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1996, installation with 31 paintings from 1995, 18” x 12”, oil on linen, Fonds Regional d’Art Contemporain de Haut Normandie, Rouen, France](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e883e078248bff0921be0cd9d3be0dfdfff971cfbf8440761392cf1f0cbde7f3/3-machiavelli_Installation.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, one of a series of thirty-one paintings, each 18” x 12”, oil on linen](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0d177a0d5de518316a3d37a0a8917c139c0c5d258043c703410d4a2b23da6ae7/8-machiavelli_PaintingHR.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, one of a series of thirty-one paintings, each 18” x 12”, oil on linen](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/354b18d03482ae9d88a7ce313fff82fe60feec9a63131ed79897b4e901f695e6/7-machiavelli_Painting.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, one of a series of thirty-one paintings, each 18” x 12”, oil on linen](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbcd42964546a70b7bf7feb825bba3a55f0f970ef623b1c897485e4ef83959ea/6-machiavelli_PaintingHR.png)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, 4.375” x 5.5”, artist’s book made in collaboration with the Realismus Studio of the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0ab95bda899d80861607fb399120970ba71a3b464f8fd4b95725dacf83c90b9d/bookpage03_machiavelli.jpg)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, 4.375” x 5.5”, artist’s book made in collaboration with the Realismus Studio of the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e91b57dc19d94f8ba6524a6a84e49da1fe4709bc883ab788f01451e78e4bb0eb/bookpage02_machiavelli.jpg)
![A Child’s Machiavelli, 1995, 4.375” x 5.5”, artist’s book made in collaboration with the Realismus Studio of the Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst in Berlin](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f8200927d17d49459a704511741021de2f2d2577a79704ab49eee3975ffb4c5e/bookpage_machiavelli.jpg)
A Child' s Machiavelli, 1995-1998
The Machiavelli series was initiated by an off-handed remark. The young and burgeoning post-Wall Berlin art world where I was living in the nineties was immensely competitive. My ironic observation to a friend was that what was required was Machiavelli, but in that context, a special Machiavelli "for kids" I produced the text and the 31 small oil paintings that visualized it in a matter of weeks. The project seemed to expand of its own accord. A Child's Machiavelli was eventually published in 3 languages and several editions. Although it is out of print, I recently learned that it has become part of a high-school curriculum, as means of teaching young people political philosophy.
A Child's Machiavelli began as a series of paintings, imaginary pages from what I envisioned as a first-grade primer instructing the uninitiated on how to seize and hold power. I tried to keep precisely to Machiavelli's original aphorisms for the Prince, which he wrote in the 16th century as words of wisdom for a young king. Babyrap (1996) was music inspired by it, a sound work in which a sugary sweet infant, played by me, morphed into Rosemary's baby, then back again. It was produced in collaboration with Assassin, the French hip-hop band. The next step was animation, about which I new nothing at that time. In fact, the impulse behind my learning animation was to create a Machiavelli series, intended for MTV. Although I did ultimately create a series of short animations, my first work in 3D, ultimately it transformed my artwork rather than bringing me into the commercial context as I thought it might.
BOOKS
Book Editions
A Child's Machiavelli, Penguin Editions, New York, 1998
Le Petit Machiavel illustré, Abbeville Press, Paris, 1998
Machiavelli für Kids, Edition Nautilus, Hamburg, 1995
INSTALLATIONS
A Child's Machiavelli, The John Hansard Gallery,
Southampton, 1998
Galerie Wohnmachine, Berlin, 1996
Fonds Regional d'Art Contemporain de Haute Normandie, Rouen,
France, 1996
A Child's Machiavelli, Kunstlerhaus Am Acker e.V., produced by the Realismus Studio, Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst,
Berlin, 1995
A Child's Machiavelli, Galerie Christian Gögger,
Munich, 1995