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MULTIPLE ART DAYS becomes (Made Anywhere), a new scene of artistic publishing practices dedicated to objects with poetic reaction.
(Made Anywhere) responds to a need for encounters around objects that are sources of inspiration, creation, collection and observation; a decompartmentalization of artistic forms that sometimes escape the market and the institution. From research to archiving, creation takes free and inspiring forms, often editorialized: iconography, collections, recordings, notations, publications or archives.
Print-on-Demand hat die Welt der Bücher revolutioniert: Seit Anfang des Jahrtausends treffen immer bessere und günstigere Digitaldruckverfahren auf die Möglichkeiten des globalen Online-Handels. Daraus entsteht eine Produktionsmethode, bei der Bücher nicht mehr auf Vorrat vervielfältigt werden. Sie werden erst gedruckt, wenn konkreter Bedarf besteht: „on demand“, also auf Nachfrage.
Digitale Plattformen wie Kindle Direct Publishing, Blurb oder Lulu prägen aktuell die Produktion von Books-on-Demand im Selfpublishing-Segment. So wird es prinzipiell allen ermöglicht, ihre Arbeiten sofort und weltweit zu publizieren, ohne dafür auf einen Verlag angewiesen zu sein und ohne große finanzielle Risiken eingehen zu müssen. Die Bücher lassen sich mit wenigen Klicks erstellen und in den globalen Buchhandel einspeisen. Dies eröffnet einen Raum voller Möglichkeiten jenseits des klassischen Buchmarkts und trägt zur Demokratisierung der Produktion bei. Dabei werden etablierte Gatekeeper umgangen und alte Wertzuschreibungen aufgehoben; zugleich entstehen aber neue Abhängigkeiten, etwa von den Plattformen und deren Vorgaben und Interessen.
Vielfach beklagt wird auch der inhaltliche Qualitätsverlust, wenn alle alles drucken können. Zudem sind Digitaldruck und Bindung häufig nicht hochwertig, und die Fehlerquote in der vollautomatisierten Produktion ist recht hoch. Im Gegenzug ermöglichen die Print-on-Demand-Plattformen Teilhabe und Experiment und öffnen das Buch für neue Anwendungs- und Denkbereiche. Diese Dynamik hat eine lebendige Subkultur im Bereich künstlerischen Publizierens entstehen lassen, die das Medium Buch auf der Suche nach möglichen Inhalten, Ästhetiken, Materialitäten, Ökonomien und Öffentlichkeiten neu auslotet, gleichzeitig unsere digitale Gegenwart kritisch hinterfragt und verhandelt.
Die Bücher zeigen, wie sich diese innovativen Produktions- und Publikationsbedingungen kreativ nutzen lassen, dabei aber auch explorativ eingesetzt und differenziert reflektiert werden. Zugleich demonstrieren sie die ungebrochene Strahlkraft und Relevanz des gedruckten Buchs.
KONTEXT
Die „Library of Artistic Print on Demand“ kartografiert mit 244 Titeln erstmals dieses Experimentierfeld. Sie erkundet dessen globale Verbreitung, historische Tiefe und politische Relevanz. Alle Publikationen sind in einem Webarchiv umfassend dokumentiert zugänglich. Seit 2024 werden all diese Bücher von der Bayerischen Staatsbibliothek (Künstlerbuchsammlung) in physischer Form bewahrt und können dort im Lesesaal eingesehen werden. Ein umfassender Katalog mit Aufsätzen von Personen aus Theorie und Praxis erscheint bei Spector Books, Leipzig.
Die „Library of Artistic Print on Demand“ geht auf ein Forschungsprojekt von Annette Gilbert und Andreas Bülhoff an der Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg zurück (2019–2022). Es wurde von der Deutschen Forschungsgemeinschaft gefördert. Die Auswahl der über 110 hier versammelten und einsehbaren Bücher kuratierte Annette Gilbert. In jedem Exemplar befinden sich Zettel mit der Beschreibung des jeweiligen Projekts auf Deutsch und Englisch.
Weitere Informationen finden Sie auf www.apod.li einsehbar.
BETEILIGTE KÜNSTLER*INNEN
0x0a, Åbäke, ABC (Artists’ Books Cooperative), Hartmut Abendschein, Greg Allen, AND Publishing, Anonymous, Hannes Bajohr, Nanni Balestrini, Hester Barnard, Fred Benenson, Olivier Bertrand, Christian Bök, Mimi Cabell, Étienne Candel, Francesca Capone, Giulia Ciliberto, Paolo Cirio, Albert Coers, Felipe Cussen, Kris De Decker, Alexia de Visscher, Eric Doeringer, Karen ann Donnachie, Geraint Edwards, Jasper Otto Eisenecker, Ben Fry, Gauss PDF, Angela Genusa, James Goggin, Mishka Henner, Elaine W. Ho, David Horvitz, Jason Huff, Intern, Jason Jadick, Marina Kampka, Jean Keller, Dagmara Kraus, Paul Laidler, Maxime Le Bon, Joyce S. Lee, Silvio Lorusso, Nicolas Maigret, Michael Mandiberg, Michael Maranda, Holly Melgard, Luca Messarra, Joseph Mosconi, NUPoD2017 Collective, Julian Palacz, Beatrix Pang, Kathrin Passig, Frank Philippin, Michalis Pichler, Vanessa Place, Jake Reber, Aaron A. Reed, Maria Roszkowska, paula roush, Rafaël Rozendaal, Zoë Sadokierski, Joachim Schmid, Sebastian Schmieg, Andy Simionato, Danny Snelson, Paul Soulellis, Mark Staniforth, Students of the faculty of Design at the University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt, Isabelle Sully, Surfaces Utiles, Stephanie Syjuco, Chris Sylvester, Kyndal Thomas, Elisabeth Tonnard, Troll Thread, Ubermorgen, Undocumented Press, Stéphanie Vilayphiou, Angie Waller, Thomas Walskaar, Barron Webster, Gregor Weichbrodt, Yin Yin Wong, Joey Yearous-Algozin, Hermann Zschiegner, Erin Zwaska.
Preview: June 12th, 2024, 15:00 - 18:00
Fair / Exhibition: June 13th - 16th 2024, 11:00 - 18:00
In late October 2023 Miss Read was approached by the head of the library of Goethe-Institut China, asking for advise in order to start a collection of the “Indie-print Szene/Zine-Szene”, which were to be permanently exhibited in the space of Goethe-Institute, located
in the art quarter 798 in Beijing.
One of the strong networks that have appeared in the 21st century are Art Book Fairs. Eventually, we agreed, that Miss Read would tap into its network and invite recent exhibitors at the fair, who could qualify or even had self-declared as Zine makers.
Our working definition of Zine is: a publication that is stapled and that is rather inexpensive. And often self-published and within the realm of cultural activism. With zines, legal control over the distribution, exhibition, and exchange of artworks is less left to art dealers or book distributors. On the contrary, in autonomous publishing, especially indie publishing and zine culture, this division of labor is reversed, with artists and authors taking on a variety of different and related roles: creators, designers, producers, printers, publishers, and distributors.
Our definition of Zines also includes publishers, artists or collectives, who self-define their practice to lay within the realm of zines.
Curated by Michalis Pichler and coordinated by Julia Gwendolyn Schneider for Miss Read.
Exposition littéraire autour de Mallarmé, recalls an exhibition of the same name by Marcel Broodthaers in 1969 at Wide White Space in Antwerp, Belgium. The exhibition is centered around re-readings and re-writings of Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard across different media, around that icon of the avant-garde. The exhibition will be a 1-on-1 appropriation of a historical exhibition, hence a “greatest hit” in its own right.
Coup de Dés (Collection) unites a vast number of editions of Mallarmé’s chef d’oeuvre as well as many of its historical and contemporary editions and appropriations by other authors such as Claude Balif, Fritz Balthaus, Derek Beaulieu, Jérémie Bennequin, Christopher Brennan, Marcel Broodthaers, Bernard Chiavelli, Jim Clinefelter, Lucien Desalmand, Mario Diacono, Sammy Engramer, Marie Louise Erlenmeyer, Cerith Wyn Evans, Ernest Fraenkel, Rodney Graham, Paul Heimbach, Angela Grasser, Barry Guy, Felix Philipp Ingold, La Bibliothèque Fantastique, Brian Larosche, Alexandra Leykauf, Benjamin Lord, Stéphane Mallarmé, Michael Maranda, Guido Molinari, Monchas, Francoise Morel, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Aurélie Noury, Michalis Pichler, Henri Pousseur, Nicolas Richard, Mitsou Ronat, Sam Sampson, Camille Soula, Ultralab, Klara Vith, and Eric Zboya.
The collection also includes a variety of publications (backgammon tutorials, pulp fiction, and militaria books) that feature the phrase “Coup de Dés” on the cover without explicitly referring to Mallarmé. Coup de Dés (Collection) is ongoing and subject to open submission.
The exhibition includes Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira Le HasardSCULPTURE, a close copy of the 1914 edition of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem, but with all the words cut out by laser, in a way that corresponds directly to the typographic layout used by Mallarmé. When turning the pages, numerous shadows are generated by the cutouts. Pichler’s version is juxtaposed with editions by Broodthaers and Mallarmé, who had written Un Coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard. POÈME in 1897, and also saw it published in a magazine called Cosmopolis. Mallarmé left copious notes as to how it should be typeset, instructions that were finally carried out 16 years after his death, in 1914. In 1969 this work was appropriated in three renditions as Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira Le Hasard. IMAGE by Marcel Broodthaers, who replaced the words by black stripes.
A glass version of Un Coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard. SCULPTUREis installed in the airspace of the gallery as a spatial installation or walk-through book, even though there is no text displayed on the plates. Through its “strategic illegibility,” it seems to establish what Jacques Derrida would call “a text, that is, a readability without a signified”.
Somewhere in the gallery, a player piano rocks away with a that somehow resembles aleatoric music. The turn-of-the-century pianola is indeed playing Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira le Hasard. MUSIQUE, created by running a 288mm tracker roll of Pichler’s cut-out windows/verses.
The exhibition is accompanied by a Catalog with texts by Craig Dworkin, Annette Gilbert, Luc Boltanski, Arnaud Esquerre, Ryoko Sekiguchi, and Michalis Pichler, and reproductions of the works, co-published by Center for Book Arts and Spector Books in Germany.
“Review of “COUP DE DÉS (COLLECTION)”” by Robert Bolick on BooksonBooks: https://books-on-books.com/2024/03/19/review-of-coup-de-des-collection/
Exposition littéraire autour de Mallarmé, recalls an exhibition of the same name by Marcel Broodthaers in 1969 at Wide White Space in Antwerp, Belgium. The exhibition is centered around re-readings and re-writings of Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’Abolira Le Hasard across different media, around that icon of the avant-garde. The exhibition will be a 1-on-1 appropriation of a historical exhibition, hence a “greatest hit” in its own right.
Coup de Dés (Collection) unites a vast number of editions of Mallarmé’s chef d’oeuvre as well as many of its historical and contemporary editions and appropriations by other authors such as Claude Balif, Fritz Balthaus, Derek Beaulieu, Jérémie Bennequin, Christopher Brennan, Marcel Broodthaers, Bernard Chiavelli, Jim Clinefelter, Lucien Desalmand, Mario Diacono, Sammy Engramer, Marie Louise Erlenmeyer, Cerith Wyn Evans, Ernest Fraenkel, Rodney Graham, Paul Heimbach, Angela Grasser, Barry Guy, Felix Philipp Ingold, La Bibliothèque Fantastique, Brian Larosche, Alexandra Leykauf, Benjamin Lord, Stéphane Mallarmé, Michael Maranda, Guido Molinari, Monchas, Francoise Morel, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Aurélie Noury, Michalis Pichler, Henri Pousseur, Nicolas Richard, Mitsou Ronat, Sam Sampson, Camille Soula, Ultralab, Klara Vith, and Eric Zboya.
The collection also includes a variety of publications (backgammon tutorials, pulp fiction, and militaria books) that feature the phrase “Coup de Dés” on the cover without explicitly referring to Mallarmé. Coup de Dés (Collection) is ongoing and subject to open submission.
The exhibition includes Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira Le HasardSCULPTURE, a close copy of the 1914 edition of Stéphane Mallarmé’s poem, but with all the words cut out by laser, in a way that corresponds directly to the typographic layout used by Mallarmé. When turning the pages, numerous shadows are generated by the cutouts. Pichler’s version is juxtaposed with editions by Broodthaers and Mallarmé, who had written Un Coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard. POÈME in 1897, and also saw it published in a magazine called Cosmopolis. Mallarmé left copious notes as to how it should be typeset, instructions that were finally carried out 16 years after his death, in 1914. In 1969 this work was appropriated in three renditions as Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira Le Hasard. IMAGE by Marcel Broodthaers, who replaced the words by black stripes.
A glass version of Un Coup de Dés jamais n’abolira le Hasard. SCULPTUREis installed in the airspace of the gallery as a spatial installation or walk-through book, even though there is no text displayed on the plates. Through its “strategic illegibility,” it seems to establish what Jacques Derrida would call “a text, that is, a readability without a signified”.
Somewhere in the gallery, a player piano rocks away with a that somehow resembles aleatoric music. The turn-of-the-century pianola is indeed playing Un Coup de Dés Jamais N’abolira le Hasard. MUSIQUE, created by running a 288mm tracker roll of Pichler’s cut-out windows/verses.
The exhibition is accompanied by a Catalog with texts by Craig Dworkin, Annette Gilbert, Luc Boltanski, Arnaud Esquerre, Ryoko Sekiguchi, and Michalis Pichler, and reproductions of the works, co-published by Center for Book Arts and Spector Books in Germany.
“Review of “COUP DE DÉS (COLLECTION)”” by Robert Bolick on BooksonBooks: https://books-on-books.com/2024/03/19/review-of-coup-de-des-collection/
The sixth edition of Focal Point, Sharjah Art Foundation’s annual art book fair showcasing a selection of printed material by more than 100 participants, takes place from 24 to 26 November 2023 at Bait Obaid Al Shamsi, a heritage house in Sharjah’s historical district. Featuring artists’ presses, bookmakers, self-publishers and non-commercial cultural producers, this year’s edition encourages the community to engage with independent publishing and the central role of books as tools for social mobilisation and the development of a free and just world.
Focal Point will also feature workshops on reading, libraries and zine making as well as activities exploring resources on Palestine and the significance of global liberation struggles. Some of the highlights include the release of new books published by the Foundation, Risograph live print station in partnership with Fikra Design Studio and a selection of graphic novels and manga curated by the UAE book retailer Kinokuniya.
During the fair, the Foundation will announce the recipients of the 2023 Publishing Grant, together with the launch of winning publications and research projects from the previous year’s grant cycle. For this year’s grant, a total of 30,000 USD, including publishing and distribution support will be awarded to multiple grantees. Inaugurated in 2018, Focal Point places a special focus on UAE-based publishers and functions as a critical space for knowledge sharing and community building.
The sixth edition of Focal Point consists of three main sections: - International (works from art and independent publishers in the international art community) - Edit (curated publications and special interest books not distributed by local retailers) - Local (publications from within the UAE’s arts community)
Details about each section as well as more information about this edition’s programming and grants follow below:
Focal Point International Section
In the International Section, art and independent publishers from around the world showcase and distribute their books within the global publishing community. This year’s international exhibitors are:
89books (Palermo), Afrikaada (Paris/Dakar), Bad Student (Manila), Bao Books (Tunis), BANGKOK CITYCITY GALLERY (Bangkok), Binatang Press (Jakarta), Cairo Art Book Fair (Cairo), Cráter Invertido (Mexico City), ElHarf Publications (Amman), MASP - Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (São Paulo), Michalis Pichler (Berlin), Miss Read: The Berlin Art Book and Fair (Berlin), Mkuki Na Nyoti (Dar es Salaam), Nepal Picture Library (Kathmandu), Panther's Paw Publications (Nagpur), Primary Information (New York), Recreo: Valencia Art Book Fair (Valencia), Savvy Contemporary (Berlin), shashasha (Tokyo), SOCCOCHICO (London/Geneva), Suburbia Projects (Petaling Jaya), Tara Books (Chennai), Temporary Press (Singapore), Think Tanger (Tangier), Vasl Artists’ Association (Karachi), Waraq (Beirut), Zine Coop (Hong Kong)
Focal Point Edit Section
In the Edit Section, Focal Point presents a curated selection of art journals, magazines, comics and special interest books not distributed by local retailers and bookstores. Exhibitors include:
421 Arts Campus (Abu Dhabi), Afterall (London), Al Hayya Magazine (Beirut/Delaware), Artbook / D.A.P. / Distributed Art Publishers (New York), Barjeel Art Foundation (Sharjah), bin atiah studio (Riyadh), Black Dog Press (London), Blaft Publications (Chennai), Can Can Press (Mexico City), Carbon12 (Dubai), Diwan Egypt (Cairo), Emirates Fine Arts Society (Sharjah), Gulf Photo Plus (Dubai), Hanoot Store (Baghdad), Idea Books (Amsterdam), Inga Books (Chicago), Jacana Media (Auckland), Kalimat Foundation (Sharjah), Kaph Books (Beirut), Kawon Bookstore (Madaba), Litmus Press (New York), Locale (Abu Dhabi), Machi Mashy (Cairo/Rabat), Maraya Art Centre / 1971 Design Space (Sharjah), Mauzoun Writing & Publishing (Jeddah), Middle East Archive (Amsterdam), Misk Art Institute / Rizzoli: The Art Library (Riyadh), Mizna (Saint Pauls), Moniker Press (Vancouver), Dr Noha Farran (Sharjah), NYUAD al Mawrid Arab Centre for the Study of Art (Abu Dhabi), Pangolin Studio (Zagreb), Raking Leaves (Colombo), Saqi Books (London), Sharjah Commerce & Tourism Development Authority (Sharjah), Sienna Store (Cairo), Sternberg Press (London), Tashkeel (Dubai), te editions (Hong Kong), The Third Line (Dubai), The Chutney Magazine (London), The Funambulist (Paris) Focal Point Local Section
The Local Section spotlights books made by the UAE arts community—cultural institutions, galleries, publishers and nonprofit government cultural entities—as well as printed matter, illustrations, zines, comics, photography, stationery and screenprints produced by independent artists and booths by local retailers. This year’s local exhibitors are:
- Cultural Organisations and Book Retailers
Sharjah Art Foundation, Art Jameel, Kinokuniya, Sharjah Architecture Triennial, The Africa Institute
- UAE-based Artists
A Victorian Clown, Alreem Almannaei, Aysha Al Hamrani, Bayan Samman, Darrel Perkins, Eman AlRaeesi, Fatima Alketbi, Fatima Bahya Assalam, Halo, Hari, Hessa Almarzooqi, Hessa Alzarooni, Hyper House Publishing / Ahmad Makia, Lubna Aziz Omar, Maged Abbas, Mahnoor Bari, Mai Ayman Awwad, Maitha Al Omaira, Mariam Abdullah Al Ali, Mathalan, Medyyah Altamimi, Mitali Sampat, Mohammad Assaad Alhussaini, Mohammed Ameer, Morvarid Mohammad, Mouza Al Hamrani, Natalie Najjar, Noor Al Khamiri, Rasha Dakkak, Sana Haroon Abdulmajeed, Sara Al Khayyal, Shahed Shashaa, Shoug Tariq AlHeloo, Sohaib Nasir, Sondos Eatamadi, SWALIF Collective, Tawfik, Thalath x Mouza, The Noor Creative, Waggish
Focal Point 2023 Programme
As part of the book fair, Focal Point offers a programme of new publication releases from artists, authors and winners of the SAF Publishing Grant. Learning activities for children and families are also part of this year’s programme.
- Book Launches
Guests can attend releases of the Foundation’s latest publications—Corniche and Bait Al Hurma(Arabic and English). The fifth edition of the annual comic anthology Corniche expands on previous editions by sourcing comics and narratives from artists based throughout the GCC region. Contributing artists will share their stories that explore myriad themes, including heritage, science fiction, fantasy, metaphysics, dreams and myths. Bait Al Hurma features a volume of fantasy fiction revolving around the Foundation venue Bait Al Hurma, an old coral reef structure in Al Mureijah that served as a muse for a series of writing workshops. Five writers use the building’s symbolic value to speculate on its interlayered histories, meanings and portals.
- Workshops
Visualising Typographic Form with Riso (Arabic and English): Led by calligrapher, graphic designer and artist Ibrahim Khamayseh, this session will help participants develop their typographic artwork by learning about different calligraphy styles and scripts, as well as explore the most effective way to visualise calligraphic script using the Riso machine.
Put Together a Pop-up Book (Arabic and English): In this session, learners will design an interactive pop-up book using recycled materials, as they become familiar with paper engineering techniques, including methods for crafting dynamic pop-up elements.
Recreate a Book Cover (Arabic and English): Participants can make a cover for a book of their choice. They will be able to create a design that fits the theme of the book, choose an appropriate colour palette to make the title stand out and print their book cover.
Reimagining Library Practices (English): Drawing inspiration from the stages of the water cycle, this workshop will be led by Lubnah Ansari and Haewon Yoon/Seeds Collective. Participants will take part in four creative exercises to explore embodied reading practices and collectively contemplate the historical implications of libraries and texts.
Reading Session and 3D Story Scenes (Arabic and English): Participants will read and listen to a range of interesting stories. After the reading session, they will make a 3D version of a scenario from the story, using coloured paper, markers and other materials.
Experiment with Archival Cooking Zines (Arabic and English): In this workshop, learners will explore hidden treasures in historical cookbooks containing recipes and culinary techniques not commonly used today. Participants are encouraged to bring their own traditional family recipes, photos and illustrations to share with others as they create cooking zines together.
Palestine in Print (English): Participants will produce a personal zine about Palestine under the guidance of Ahmad Makia. As they put together information and images for the work, they will be able to delve into a compilation of open-source files that visualise and tell stories about Palestine, including poems, essays, interviews, illustrations, graphics, police files, newsprint and academic articles.
[EXHIBITION] Michalis Pichler: The Term Artists Book Is Problematic (Pedestal Problem)
June.7 2023 – July.2 2023
Michalis Pichler is a contemporary artist known for his multidisciplinary practice that encompasses visual art, writing, publishing, and curating. He explores themes of language, communication, and the dissemination of information in his works.
The exhibition at Bananafish Gallery Artist’s Book as a Term Is Problematic seeks to challenge the traditional understanding of the term “Artist book” as a static and limited concept, exploring Michalis Pichler’s perspective that the term itself is problematic and restricts the possibilities of book-based artistic practices. Through multimedia installations, text-based sculptures, and performative elements, Pichler blurs the line between literature and visual art. By showcasing Pichler’s decades’ of works which push the boundaries of bookmaking. The exhibition also encourages visitors to reconsider their preconceived notions of what constitutes an artist book.