The revolution of the artist book

The artist book, for many still an undefinable area. Which will remain subject of discussion for years to come. For now lets stick with the idea of the book as a concept, in which the artist interferes in every aspect of making the book. This does not necessarily mean that the artist indeed does all the photographing, writing, designing, typesetting, printing, distributing, selling or what may come in to the making of a book, him or herself.
The artist book, more then any other artistic medium is founded on the basis of revolutionary concepts. With beginnings in the Russian avant garde and the Russian revolution. Artists started to address a wider public using the book as interplay between visual and verbal modes of expression. The book was launched as a democratic multiple, underlining the concept of revolution, a social turnover. Within the constructivism movement the artists wanted art to penetrate everywhere and not to be secluded to the rich, a visualisation of the revolution. Also this was one of the first movements that included female artists. For several reasons, first the lack of influence in this region in contrary to Europe of Nietsche's philosophy being against female creativity, and secondly the staggering of societies foundation which nullifies social standards. Thirdly the diversion of visual art. In a way the paintings were literally taken off the walls and being looked at from another angle. Lissitsky amongst others experimented with the book format, itÕs printing methods, choice of paper, binding etc etc. They were creating visual literature, a frame by frame juxtaposition of images. Making art that matters by creating a interim post for architecture and painting The change of usage of the book from a text-based medium to an image-based medium was only underlined by this usage of text. El Lissitsky's constructions for Mayakovsky's "For the voice" (1923) showed how innovative Russian avant garde book design continued to be through the double use of letters on the title page, as well as a full use of typesetters repertoire and printing in red and black ink.

However the medium hadn't quite started to be as democratic* as was opted for until the 1960's. At that stage California based artist Ed Ruscha undertook the book as his medium. He produced a body of artist books, merely consisting of series of photographs, specifically ordered around a different theme with each book. Industrially printed staple bound on A5 with the cover only just revealing the content of every book.

The USA was one of the few countries to actually economically benefit from WWII. Its economy became prominent and the level of prosperity was high. Technical development saw the beginning of a whole new industrial production. With Eisenhower as somewhat uninspiring president the government took stand against communism and endorsed expressly principles of the "free western society" His successor Kennedy showed a new perspective by emphasising the possibilities mankind obtained in the sixties of the twentieth century. However many of his plans concerning health insurance and other issues, were rejected.

California especially was the land of dreams where swimming pool, billboards, urban sprawl and automobiles were the markers of post-war posperity. Ed Ruscha showed the reality of this prosperity as well as the pauperisation and the emptiness. It is a sometimes iconographic collection of facts or 'readymades' resembling industrial photography in which he utilises the camera as a recording device rather than an expressive tool. The photographic books corroborate the matter-of-factness of his working method and subject matter.
The titles of Ruscha's books range from twenty six gasoline stations (1963), Real estate opportunities (1970), Nine swimming pools (1968), to Every building on the sunset strip (1966). The structure of this last book is a leperello, an infinite extendible accordion folding that underlines the content of this book. As you can imagine it pictures every building on sunset strip. A conceptual and very democratic approach to making a book.
The validation of this work is not only in a conceptual manner but also as a document of a moment in American history, a time when roadside filling stations spoke of an increasingly mobile society and a time when the mechanical reproduction of images in Ruscha's books reflected an appetite and ambition in America for mass-produced consumer products. An era that created new possibilities for printing (methods), publishing (independent) and distribution.

Meanwhile on the other side of the Atlantic the European countries were still trying to get back on track after WWII. In May 1968 serious riots and demonstrations struck Paris. The main motive behind this rebellion was the call for democratisation of society. The credibility of the political parties declined severely. Anarchistic orientated students wanted to subvert the political and social system as this system was keeping up the consumption and achievement society. They used (stencilprinted) street posters as their activist weapon. In a way this was functioning as a democratic multiple, a public protest that made their voices heard. These visuals were later reinforced into an artist book. Dara Birnbaum isolates images from pop/contemporary culture and then uses them as 'readymades'. She employs this romantic notion of anarchism as subject matter for an artist book. Which can be a replacement for the experience of an exhibition hence the experience economy. Dara Birnbaum is a contemporary artist who is concerned with the (female) position within technocratic societies and the expression of alternative viewpoints by an individual within a dominant technological society. In order to adress this she employs a variety of forms. In her book "Every TV Needs A Revolution" ** preposses an activist attitude that reflects the actual event. In contrary to El Lissitsky who uses a then revolutionary medium, and Ed Ruscha who uses the medium in a revolutionary manner, Dana aims to enclose the revolution within the covers of the artis book. In doing so she makes the revolution a subject to fetishise.

* readily availible by means of editioning and low pricing.
** Every TV Needs A Revolution is published by Imschoot uitgevers

co-authored with Elysa Voshell

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The Relational Aesthetics of Archaeology and Squirrel Behaviour

Within the field of Archaeology, one focuses on the preservation of everyday objects. These objects are thoroughly analysed, systematic studies of past human life and culture, based on the recovery and examination of remaining material evidence such as tools. Relational Aesthetics (1) on the other hand, aims to invent new tools to look at (contemporary) (art) works differently; the aesthetization of everyday life and the socio-logical relationship framed within the Duchampian notion. We must, therefore, examine the role of (aesthetic) art as a small participant in a larger archaeological movement.

When separating aesthetics from art, we are only left with sociology or anthropology, the same roots that spawn research within the field of Archaeology. Even an attempt to physically oppose existing aesthetics still generates yet another set of visual values. It is that questioning of the possibility to establish relationships with the world in a practical realm that enforces aristocratic conception of arrangement.

This association of territorial acquisition leads us to research squirrel behaviour patterns. Being solitary animals, squirrels always need to analyse their relation to their surroundings in order to survive.

For archaeological purposes, we collect the mundane artefacts of ancestral groups in order to form conclusions about their cultures. Squirrels preserve everyday life in a similar way by hiding their valuables in many places, sometimes temporarily before moving them to a more convenient location. This is called 'scatter hoarding'. They will also apply a scent to their objects by licking them or rubbing them on their faces before the act of burying, which helps the squirrel to find them later Ð a way of striving for personal identity and inter-squirrel relations. However, squirrels regularly hide their fortune too well, preventing them from recovering the items.

Independent by nature, squirrels usually claim an area one to seven acres in size. In this space, they will build their nest as well as find and store food. It is the primary concern of the squirrel to defend this area, as their survival depends on the maintenance of their wealth. Therefore, they define their territory by urinating on surrounding trees. This alerts intruders that they are violating fundamental squirrel laws. The postmodernization of space, however, has created a permanent need for these instinctual laws to be broken. Urban squirrels tend to have a smaller territory; they sometimes have to share resources in order to survive. They also have learned to coexist with humans, developing a shifting attitude towards they exchange of communication.

Basically, this behaviour is a mirror mage of the standardisation of the globalised economy. Dissolving personal identity. Going beyond borders. The notion of otherness and difference is ever changing, forming a potential basis for cultural study. The linear formation of history, after all, is merely the result of a selected emphasis, based on archaeological assumptions about inter-human relationships. Is the aesthetication of the everyday, therefore, a necessary mechanism for survival?

Furthermore, humans must not deny their animal nature, but rather reinvent their instincts for survival. How does human understanding of the world through art affect this evolution? And how do inter-human relations establish new laws for creating history in the present?



(1) Nicolas Bourriaud's relational aesthetic theory consiss of judging artwork on the basis of the inter-human relations they represent. Their theoretical and practical point of departure is the whole of human relations and their social context, rather than an independent private space.

2003, thanks to A.C. Berkheiser

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The project

What you think you are seeing

Aims to provide a platform for thinking about the artist book as a medium and its intrinsic behaviour. It establishes a hierarchy of its own, hence the uce of the numeric system, the unknown languages, halftone photographs and the use of the grid in relation to the use of geographical drawings that are screenprinted onto cloth.It therefor asks for a new interpretation an researches the interplay between visual and verbal modes of expression.
Representing a powerful and contradictory message through a conventional format, offering a possibility to visit and revisit the content of the book. Bringing back the democracy to the artist book and its public, preserving the full collection( as is a designed book) and make them/it accesible to the greatest number of people, physically as well as intellectualy.
Enlarging perception of the book as an object and allowing a acces to its content creating a complex space with a dynamic tension in each suitcase which the visitor can experience on a physical level as he or she moves.

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*PrintRoom Q&A with the Artists*

  • Were you aware that your "printed matter" was a part of the PrintRoom traveling collection?
    YES
  • Are you mainly working with printed material? How does the production of your booklets/pamphlets/artist book relate to the other artwork you make?
    YES I DO MAINLY WORK WITH PRINTED MATERIAL, EITHER PHOTOGRAPHS OR PRINTMAKING. AND I HAVE USED THE BOOK AS A MEDIUM SINCE I CAN REMEMBER. HOWEVER I DO NOT CONSIDER MYSELF TO BE A 'BOOKARTIST' BUT AN ARTIST WHO MAKES USE OF THE BOOK. I APPRECIATE THE BOOK FOR ITS NARRATIVE AND TIMEBASED QUALITIES, AND ITS LO-FI APPEARANCE. I COULD CONSIDER ALL MY WORKS TO BE BOOKS, BUT THEY ACTUALLY AREN'T ALTHOUGH THEY ARE BASED ON THE NATURE OF THE BOOK. AND OFCOURSE "EVERYTHING IN THIS WORLD EXISTS TO END UP IN A BOOK"
  • Does the "book" fulfill your ambitions as an artist?
    ONLY TO A CERTAIN DEGREE. MAKING A BOOK IS A VERY FULFILLING ACTION ITSELF, IT IS SOMETHING TO GIVE PLEASURE. AND I APPRECIATE THE SLOW TRAVELLING OF THE BOOK AND ITS INTIMACY. I MAKE THEM CHEAPLY AS WELL AS LUXURIOUS SO THAT EVERYONE CAN BASICLY OWN ONE. IÕM INTERESTED IN HEARING THAT PEOPLE HAVE BOUGHT MY BOOKS AND REALLY LIKE THEM. AND I WOULD SURE NEVER STOP MAKING THEM CAUSE THEY ARE EASY ACCES. BUT THERE ALWAYS HAS TO BE SOMETHING NEXT TO THE BOOK IN MY ART-PRACTICE AS WELL.
  • Is there a "real" return from the printed work? Is there a message that you communicate and receive a direct response from?
    I'VE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS RETURN OF THE BOOK BEFORE, SIMULTANEOUSLY I STARTED TO NOTE A CERTAIN COME BACK OF PRINTMAKING IN CONTEMPORARY ART, WHICH I THINK IS VERY MUCH INTERTWINED. BUT I M STILL NOT SURE WETHER THIS IS REALLY THE CASE, MAYBE THINGS HAVE JUST NOT ALWAYS BEEN AS VISIBLE. I THINK THERE ARE A FEW THINGS GOING ON, THE OVERLOAD OF PRINTED MATTER IN THIS ERA ALMOST IN JUXTAPOSITION WITH THE POPULARITY OF THE INTERNET. BUT IS THIS REALLY SPECIFIC FOR PRINTED MATTER? I DONÕT THINK SO, HAVE A LOOK AROUND, THERE IS ALSO A HUGE OVERLOAD OF CLOTHING AND FILMS FOR INSTANCE, AND SOMEHOW PEOPLE ARE STILL INTERESTED. PERSONALLY I AM ALWAYS MOST INTERESTED WHEN LESS THINGS ARE ON OFFER, THE SEARCH IS MORE INTERESTING
  • In your opinion, how is the book medium (or printed matter) related to different genres in art?
    THERE IS THIS WHOLE BOOKARTS SCENE GOING ON, THOUGH MOSTLY IN THE ANGLO-COUNTRIES, WHICH IS A WORLD OF ITÕS OWN. BUT MY INTEREST IS MORE IN THE BOOK AS A INGREDIENT OF CONTEMPORARY ART, BY MEANS OF CONVEYING A MESSAGE. I THINK ALMOST EVERY ARTIST AT A CERTAIN MOMENT IS INTERESTED IN MAKING A BOOK OR PUBLICATION, EVEN IF JUST A DOCUMENT OF HIS/HER ARTISTIC PRACTICE. ART BOOK PRODUCTION TODAY IS STILL VERY RELATED TO THE FLUXUS WAY AND DUCHAMPÕS BOITE EN VALISE. BUT THEY ALSO FIT OR CAN FIT PERFECTLY IN THE CURRENT INSTALLATION BASED TREND.
  • Do you think that the book, as distributable media, defies institutional structures? Is your publication about challenging accepted forms of art production and art viewing?
    I WOULD SAY SO, THE BOOK IS MORE ACCESIBLE THEN ANY OTHER MEDIUM AS PEOPLE ARE ALREADY ACQUINTED WITH IT, HOWEVER IT SOMETIMES MAKES IT MORE DIFFICULT AS WELL. MY BOOK ÔDEBRIEFING BOOKNESSÕ TRIES TO INVESTIGATE THE POSITION OF THE BOOK. IN MY OTHER BOOKS I ASSES THE VIEWING OF ARTIST BOOKS AND THE EXHIBITING METHODS WITHIN EXHIBITIONS, AS THEY ARE OFTEN IN DENIAL OF THE BOOK AS A MEDIUM.
  • Can the book (or printed matter), whether self-produced (budget) or sponsored (through subsidie, etc.) function as a legitimization of your other artwork?
    YES DEFINETELY, MY BOOKS ARE A PART OF MY PRACTICE, SOMETIMES I MADE CHEAPLY IN ORDER TO BE DISTRIBUTED CHEAPLY, SOMETIMES MORE PRECIOUS.
  • Is the goal to reach the widest audience through producing editions in a printed medium, or is it the book medium itself that is the foremost interest
    IT IS THE BOOK ITSELF, BUT OFCOUSE AS A BEARER OF THESE QUALITIES.
  • How can the self-initiated book travel and function as a representative of your individual viewpoint? Are you concerned with passing on a message in your books?
    I DO NOT THINK THIS IS ANY DIFFERENT TO OTHER FORMS OF ART PRODUCTION. ALTHOUGH THE BOOK IS SEEN AS A CONTAINER OF INFORMATION, AND BECAUSE IT IS IN A BOOK IT MUST BE TRUE. SO I THINK I MAKE USE OF THIS CONCEPT. BUT MY LINGUISTIC APPROACH IS ALWAYS MULTI-INTERPRETABLE AND CHALLENGES THE VIEWER TO THINK, WHICH I THINK IS ALWAYS QUITE INTERESTING.
  • While the book can undermine a concept of the unique art object, an "artist's book" (depending on invested qualities) can in itself become a unique and thus a cherished object. Do you consider this dilemma in relation to printed matter you produce?
    YES, AND THERE REALLY IS NO SOLUTION TO THIS. THE BOOK IS A PRECIOUS AND DELICATE OBJECT, WHICH DOES DAMAGE EASILY. IT IS ALSO ONE OF THE FEW ART PRODUCTIONS THAT ARE TO BE HANDLED WHICH MAKES IT REALLY QUITE COMPLICATED. SO THE SOLUTION OFTEN SEEMS TO BE TO PUT THE BOOK BEHIND GLASS, IN A NICE CABINET, WHICH OFCOURSE COMPLETELY UNDERMINES THE FUNCTION OF THE BOOK. THEREFORE I WOULD OPT FOR MORE CREATIVE SOLUTIONS, AND TRY TO ASSESS THAT IN MY INSTALLATION BASED BOOKS.
  • Would you agree that the "self-published zine" supports the voice of the underground artist?
    I WOULD THINK SO, HOWEVER IF THE ZINE BECOMES POPULAR, HOW UNDERGROUND IS IT STILL. MAYBE I AM JUST NOT SO FOND OF THE TERMINOLOGY UNDERGROUND ARTIST, IS IT ART THAT IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH, IS IT ART THAT TECHNICALLY ISNÕT VERY SUCCESFUL OR IS IT JUST ART THAT CONVEYS THE MORE UNDERGROUND CONCEPTS. BUT THE SELF PUBLISHED ZINE IS I THINK AN IMPORTANT FORM OF THE ÔARTIST BOOKÕ IT IS ABLE TO REALLY VOICE, AS MOSTLY MADE BY MORE THEN ONE ARTIST.
  • Are there other printed matter/books you could recommend to the readers of this interview?
    IF YOUR REALLY WANT TO GET INTO IT, READ THE JOHANNA DRUCKER BOOK (century of artist books), IT TALKS ABOUT EVERY PAINSTAKING DETAIL IN ARTIST BOOK (HISTORY), UNFORTUNATELY NOT SO MUCH ABOUT MORE UNDERGROUND ZINE LIKE PUBLICATIONS. ALSO ARTIST/AUTHOR BY CORNELIA LAUF AND CLIVE PHILLPOT IS VERY GOOD. AND ALSO THE CURRENT ÔCURATIONÕ DEBATE IS VERY INTERESTING IN RELATION TO ÔBOOKMAKINGÕ

Greetings.
My name is SR Kucharski. I work in the visual arts in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and recently have been invited by Karin de Jong and PrintRoom (also know as ROOM) to select certain publications/books/zines/documentation and interview the makers of these same works (please visit http://www.roomweb.nl for more info). You are one of the people of whom I would like to request an interview.

My goal in looking through PrintRoom was to find a relationship between certain works, and find a theme for which I could ask a similiar set of questions to a small group. I located works in the collection that were about either a)giving artists more of a "voice" in printed media, b)a book that was attempting to make a directed social/political statement in a distributable medium, c) a publication about challenging accepted forms of art production or was a documentation of that. I choose your publication/book/collection of images because I think you are interested in these issues. Now, would you be interested in participating in an interview in the format of a questionnaire?

I am going to prepare a set of basic questions (10 or so) which hopefully will inspire some follow up questions. These questions and your responses will be posted online at http://www.roomweb.nl in conjunction with the current exhibition of PrintRoom at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Please let me know if you are willing to participate. I will then shortly send you the questions via email and we can see how things progress from there.

I apologize for this formulaic letter but it reaches many people at once. If you are wondering about what specific piece I am contacting you from, please reply with this question and I will answer.

I look forward to your response.

Best,

SR Kucharski