It isn't what it used to be and will never be again
Bik Van der Pol
Published by CCA Glasgow, 2009, 80 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 14.8 × 21 cm, English
Price: €4

For this solo exhibition in CCA, Glasgow, entitled It isnt what it used to be and will never be again (with reference to La révolution n’est plus ce qu’elle était, by Henri Lefebvre with Catherine Régulier, 1978), Bik Van der Pol have brought together works that are are hoovering around questions of information, what distribution of information might or might not set off in the public realm, and if action can, should or is tak(e)(ing) place when seemingly nothing seems to happen.

With contributions from the following writers and artists; Francis McKee, Anthony Iles, Jan Verwoert, Fiona Jardine, Neil Davids, Jon Bywater, Neil Gray, Darren Rhymes, Angelique Campens, Alexander Trocchi, Camcorder Guerillas, Sarah Pierce, Simon Yuill, Sarah Tripp and Bik Van der Pol.

#2009 #anthonyiles #bikvanderpol #francismckee #janverwoert
Book of Games
Published by Metropolis M, Amsterdam, 2009, unpaginated (b/w ill.), 17 × 17 cm, English
Price: €8 (Out of stock)

Produced as a supplement for Metropolis M No. 5, 2009. Featuring games by Bik Van der Pol, Maria Barnas, Keren Cytter, Daniel Roth, Amalia Pica, Falke Pisano, Carla Zaccagnini and others.

#2009 #amaliapica #bikvanderpol #falkepisano
KEMPENS INFORMATIEBLAD: Speciale Editie Biennale Venetie
Jef Geys
Published by Jef Geys, Balen, 2009, 64 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 29.2 × 44.5 cm, English / Italian / Dutch
Price: €5

Commissioned by the Flemish Ministry of Culture for the Belgian Pavilion, 53rd International Art Exhibition—La Biennale di Venezia. Curator: Dirk Snauwaert

Kempens Informatieblad, was a newspaper published by Belgian artist Jef Geys between 1971 and 2018.

Since the early 1960s, in addition to his interlocking artistic and pedagogical work, Geys was also involved in the production and distribution of a local newspaper, the Kempisch Reklaamblad, on whose pages he began to publish various textual and pictorial material among the advertisements placed therein. After it was discontinued, Geys took over the paper and continued it under his own direction as Kempens Informatieblad.

Functioning as an alternative to the conventional artist catalog, the issues, over 50 in total, were mostly published in connection with his exhibitions. As an information system directed by the artist, it successively developed into a kind of meta-medium within his practice, through which he himself organized his representation and mediation—beyond the exhibition context.

#2009 #dirksnauwaert #jefgeys #kempensinformatieblad
Michel Foucault Letters
Kevin Immanuel
Published by Werkplaats Typografie, Arnhem, 2009, 16 pages, 15.4 × 22 cm, English
Price: €7

Michel Foucault Letters documents artist Kevin Immanuel’s ongoing project archiving the supposed correspondence between the famous philosopher and a number of galleries and art institutions throughout Europe, North America, and China. The letters were, in fact, written by Immanuel himself, both as a literalization of Foucault’s emphasis on the importance of cultivating an “ironic stance” toward one’s present situation (in Immanuel’s case, the crisis of being a young artist trying to strike up a meaningful discourse with art institutions), and as a poignant critique of the relationship between art institutions and their patrons. Each letter contains a polite request to become a member of the institution, offers a monetary donation, and actively attempts to initiate a critical dialogue with the institution about its programming and exhibitions.

#2009 #werkplaatstypografie
Post #1
gerlach en koop
Published by gerlach en koop, Den Haag, 2009, 64 pages (b/w ill.), 20.7 × 29.8 cm, English
Price: €2 (Temporarily out of stock)

An artist publication produced by gerlach en koop, “One and a half second from the film ‘Late Spring’ by Yasujiro Ozu from 1949, shortly after one of the two main characters leaves the house of her friend in a hurry, and just before we see her walking down the street.”

#2009 #gerlachenkoop
The Sun as Error
Shannon Ebner
Published by Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography, LACMA, 2009, 64 pp. (b/w ill.), 27.95 × 36.85 cm, English
Price: €165

The Los Angeles based artist Shannon Ebner extends her exploration of photography, sculpture and language in this remarkable book, The Sun as Error. In collaboration with Dexter Sinister (design duo David Reinfurt and Stuart Bailey), The Sun as Error re-investigates the meaning and language of photographs, creating both an open-ended reading of her practice and also rethinking the idea of an artist’s monograph. Far from straightforward, the book interweaves her bodies of work, previously unseen one-off pieces, with the language of technical diagrams, optical illusions, and graphic design. One of the persistent motifs through the book’s sequence is an asterisk and, specifically, one imbued with the legacy of the graphic designer Muriel Cooper. As the first design director for MIT Press and the cofounder of the Visible Language Workshop, Cooper’s legacy for reorienting and repositioning the direction of an artist’s monograph is imaginatively explored in the creative partnership of Dexter Sinister and Shannon Ebner.

#2009 #davidreinfurt #dextersinister #shannonebner #stuartbailey