corelations between independant publishing and artists book practice
correlations between independent publishing and artists book practice
To what degree can/does independent publishing‘s engagement with the field of artists book shape creative practice within the field, and inform the emerging critical discourse on it.
Within an Australian context artists books are commonly associated with fine arts practice and the aesthetics of autographic printmaking. The striated machine aesthetic of printed matter from the design, printing and publishing industries are far less prevalent. This point was highlighted by Dr Amir Brito Cadôr (Professor of Graphic Arts at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil) during his keynote lecture at the State Library of Queensland's 2015 Siganto Foundation Artists Book Seminar. Cadôr’s observation was made in contrast to the Brazilian context of artists books, generally produced within the machine aesthetic of the commercial printing industry. He nominated the scarcity of accessible printmaking studios in Brazil as a significant factor for this quality.
The recently established Art Book Fairs at Sydney's Artspace and the NGV have placed the Australian context under a new scrutiny, one that challenges both the "fine art" and "independent publishers" positions in the field. What these fairs make particularly evident within contemporary independent publishing practices is a highly intuitive engagement with printing that designers are pursuing in counterpoint to the tight space of commercial publishing.
This project is supported by the Grifftih Centre for Creative Arts Research. It has generated a small collection of books that identifies intersections between independent publishing and artists book practices, and places both within the framework of print culture. Its primary outcome is the collection and a catalogue documenting the collection supported by critical essays by S Bodman, M Crawford and T Mosely. Initially shown in the "... & So" exhibition at Griffith Library QCA 2017 the collection will be toured nationally and internationally.
Memorandum (detail), Ana Paula Estrada (Siganto Foundation Creative Fellow), 2016
Stephen Fowler - Cosmic Forces
Georgia Maitland - limbo
Louis Lim - An Opened Letter
Marian Crawford - Picturing the Island
Ana Paula Estrada de Isolbi - Memorandum
Sarah Bodman - GM Future
Dominic Ford - Ramps, Pools, Ponds and Pipes
Christopher Day - New Reading Order
Thomas Raat - An Inquiry into Meaning and Truth and More…
The Codex Foundation - <usus>, typography, and artists’ books
Nuala Gregory - Exploded View
Catherine de Zegher - the (hemi)cycle of leaves and paper
Erin Coates - Kinesphere
Jan Novák - DUST gamebook
indigenous action media - Accomplices not allies
Mark Wingrave - A journey from one reality to another
Bruno Munari - Seeking comfort in an uncomfortable chair
Brad Freeman, AK Milroy & Tim Mosely - Trumped up empathy
Adolfo Aranjuez & Nina Read - Fragmented (# two)
Michael Phillips - The Democracy of Disease
Sarah Nicholls - Wipe the Slate
Rose Nolan - ENOUGH
Bruno Munari - Libro illeggibile
Leonard McDermid - Twelve Sea Pictures
Elizabeth Newman - Whereof one cannot speak…
Bartolomeo Celestino - Surface Phenomena (120416-150608)
Katherine Moline & Peter Hall - Experimental Thinking / Design Practices
Uta Schneider & Ulrike Stoltz - mindmap
Lyn Ashby - Wall to Wall
Angela Gardner & Caren Florance - The future, un-imagine
