Ian Wilson has been exploring spoken language as an art form since 1968. He has described his own work as “oral communication” and later as “discussion”. At Wilson’s own request, his work is neither filmed nor recorded, thereby preserving the transient nature of the spoken word. A discussion, based on the topic of The Absolute in Art, took place in May 2017 atKW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin and reassembled the artist, the director and current staff members of the institution.

Publication accompanying the first part of a diptych exhibition at S.M.A.K., Ghent, spread over two years, comprising new and existing work by artists and photographers including Lewis Baltz, Tina Barney, Mohamed Bourouissa, Moyra Davey, Marc De Blieck, Sara Deraedt, Patrick Faigenbaum, Peter Fraser, Alair Gomes, Jitka Hanzlová, Roni Horn, Stephanie Kiwitt, Aglaia Konrad, Jochen Lempert, Zoe Leonard, Jean-Luc Moulène, Zanele Muholi, Jean-Luc Mylayne, Trevor Paglen, Doug Rickard, Torbjørn Rødland, Michael Schmidt, Arne Schmitt, Allan Sekula, Ahlam Shibli, Malick Sidibé, Dayanita Singh, Wolfgang Tillmans, Marc Trivier and Tobias Zielony.

The Joke Book is the first printed edition of the complete jokes & messages file that was found on Seth Siegelaub’s computer by his partner Marja Bloem. It contains jokes, quotes, and pieces of advice, that he collected since 1999 and regularly redistributed via email amongst his friends. With contributions by Alex Alberto, John Baldessari, Marja Bloem, Myrna Bloom, Martin Browne, Alan Kennedy, David Kunzle, Joel Miller, Loren Miller, Kay Robertson, Laurent Sauerwein, Seth Siegelaub, Joan Simon, Kira Simon-Kennedy, Peter Sinclair, Steven Wright, and an introduction by Huan Hsu (written after a long conversation with Marja Bloem). Designed by Marc Hollenstein.

In 2015, the Frans Masereel Centre started a collaboration with Geys to publish parts of his archive. The first archive publication, Archief 1 and Archief 2, consists of two thick volumes in A4 format with more than 800 scanned archive documents, and appeared on the occasion of Geys’s solo exhibition in the SMAK in 2015. The material was presented as it was, without any explanation or hierarchy.

Archief 5 appeared on the occasion of Geys’ archive installation about the role of the media in the Gulf War in the M HKA, and was preceded by a brief pre-publication of documents relating to the execution process of the installation and an introduction by Bart De Baere.

An animation of the contents of the book courtesy of the Frans Masereel Centre can be seen here.

In 2015, the Frans Masereel Centre started a collaboration with Geys to publish parts of his archive. The first archive publication, Archief 1 and Archief 2, consists of two thick volumes in A4 format with more than 800 scanned archive documents, and appeared on the occasion of Geys’s solo exhibition in the SMAK in 2015. The material was presented as it was, without any explanation or hierarchy.

Archief 4 (2017) begins with a detailed index of Geys’ archive, a complete station novel with annotations by Geys, and continues with documents relating to cultural subsidies and correspondence concerning the foundation of an association for visual artists who fought in the early seventies for a social status for visual artists.

An animation of the contents of the book courtesy of the Frans Masereel Centre can be seen here.

Invitation card produced on the occasion of Manfred Pernice’s exhibition Kassetten/Cassettes II at Kulturkreis der Deutschen Wirtschaft, Berlin, January–December, 2017.