msdm a nomadic house-studio-gallery for photographic art and curatorial research, an expanded practice of the artist's book, photobook publishing and peer-to-peer collaboration created by contemporary artist paula roush
TITLE PROJECT: The Book Dispersed
CURATORS:
Media Instáveis/ Unstable Media
[margarida carvalho, ana carvalho,
sofia ponte, paula roush]
MEDIUM:
Exhibition of artist's publications
across two separate spaces, at
Casa das Artes a relational space
for publishing as social experience,
and at Sput&Nik The Window a
poetic experience of the book.
GALLERIES: Casa das Artes
+ Sput&Nik the Window
Porto, Portugal
DATES: Sept 24 -Oct 28, 2017
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Book Dispersed is a relational space
for practitioners to come together, read,
think and discussa highly significant
aspect of contemporary visual culture,
ie the rich and diverse methods
found in books produced by artists.
The book The Beauties of DECOMPOSITION
co-created by paula roush and Michael
Hampton, provides a meta-text
for the exhibitions.
With:
Beatriz Albuquerque
Patrícia Almeida &
David-Alexandre Guéniot
Ana Alvim
Isabel Baraona
Ricardo Basbaum
Stanislav Brisa
Jessica Brouder
Catarina F. Cardoso
Isabel Carvalho
Paulo Catrica
André Cepeda
João Paulo Serafim
Margarida Correia
Renato Ferrão &
Susana Gaudêncio
Julie Cook
Inês M. Ferreira
Os Espacialistas
Ana Fonseca
Lara Gonzalez
Dejan Habicht
Michael Hampton
Teresa Huertas
Andrea Inocêncio
Calum F. Kerr
Sharon Kivland
Sharon Kivland
Tanja Lažetić
Catarina Leitão
Ana Madureira
Fernando Marante
Daniela de Moraes
Eugénia Mussa
Eva-Maria Offermann
Andreia Alves de Oliveira
José Oliveira
Susana Paiva
Tadej Pogacar
Pedro Proença
Carla Rebelo
Eduardo Sousa Ribeiro
Mireille Ribière
Sara Rocio
paula roush
Ana João Romana &
Susana Anágua
paula roush
Manuela São Simão
Ana Santos
Kim Svensson
Francisco Tomsich
Francisco Varela
Rodrigo Vilhena
Emmanuelle Waeckerle
Gillian Wylde.
The Book Dispersed is a space for practitioners to
come together, read, think and discuss a highly significant aspect of contemporary visual culture,
ie the rich and diverse methods found in books
produced by artists.
In the 1960s and 1970s the artists’ book came to be
seen as an alternative, democratic platform largely
free from commercial and/or institutional control,
which could be accessed in the private sphere.
With the rapid development of digital technology
and the consequent rise of the internet one might
have expected the book to have become less relevant
as an artistic medium, yet this has not come to pass.
That digital technology has made it easier and less
costly for artists to produce and distribute their
work worldwide is certainly a contributing factor,
but given its creative potential, couldn’t the
artists’ book also provide a format that not only challenges exhibition norms, but actually expands
their horizons?
In this exhibition we engage with an audience interested in publishing as an artistic practice, emphasizing the complexity
of the historical moment. The exhibition is inspired in the concept of the ‘dispersed museum’ proposed by Charles Esche, a curator who understands that one of the greatest challenges in art museums today is not only to show the culture that existed in
a certain era but to intervene in the public sphere in a more meaningful way, encouraging, for example, the development of artistic practices that wish to establish a position for the future.
In a way, the exhibition The Book Dispersed hopes to contribute to the construction of an idea of contemporary art more synchronous with current concerns, proposing ways to circulate critical ideas that potentiate the interruption of the current logic of the more conventional art spaces. For this, through the possibilities of the fluidity of the arts and under an exploratory perspective of the artistic practices engaged with the text and the artists’ publications, we invited a group of artists to contribute with their work to the project. We assembled the works in two art spaces in the city of Porto with the aim to create a collective space to read, think and debate a remarkable aspect of contemporary visual culture: the rich and diverse practices evident in publications produced by artists.
Thus, we built a relational space at Casa das Artes that created
a space for publishing to be experienced as a social experience, removing the artistic work from its protective frame of uniqueness; and at Sput&Nik The Window we showed works that require a different encounter with the public, open to another type of poetic experience.
List of all the book works, bilingual portuguese and english
[pdf, 388k ]
Self-reflective text about the project by Unstable Media:
Unstable Media, constructions and disruptions,
Portuguese Small Press Yearbook 2017]
Take Away Manifestos (1994)
Ricardo Basbaum
EN
Sheets of colored A4 paper and 4 acrylic boxes “When you arrive at the site you will see four boxes, of different colors. The boxes may be scattered around the space, in different places, making you go through the work of other artists until you reach them; or they can be side by side, forming a single object. From inside each of them you will take a sheet of paper, with the same shade as the boxes, where a short, succinct, fast, compact phrase is printed. As the title says, these manifests are to be collected and taken home. ” Ricardo Basbaum.
PT
Folhas de papel colorido A4 e 4 caixas
de acrílico
“Ao chegar ao local você verá quatro caixas, de cores diferentes. As caixas podem estar espalhadas pelo espaço, em lugares diversos, fazendo com que você passe por trabalhos de outros artistas até chegar até elas; ou podem estar lado a lado, formando como que um objeto único. De dentro de
cada uma delas você irá retirar uma folha de papel, com a mesma tonalidade das caixas, onde está impressa uma frase curta, sucinta, rápida, compacta.
Como o próprio título diz, estes manifestos são para serem coletados e levados para casa.”
Ricardo Basbaum.
REPRODUCTIONS I
Domobaal editions (2012)
Sharon Kivland
REPRODUCTIONS I
55 x 34 x 6 cm (Caixa de arquivo)
21 x 29.7 cm (Interior)
Impressão a laser a partir de desenho original
Edição limitada de livros produzidos a partir da extensa
coleção de postais da artista e outro material efêmero.
REPRODUCTIONS 1
Reproductions 1 consists of a series of thirteen books, in an
edition of 100, in a stapled 26×20cm format,printed on
120 gsm Munken paper with a sewn/stapled cover with
between twelve and twenty–four pages each
which draws on Kivland’s extensive and particular
collection of printed ephemera and postcards,
classed thematically according to the whim of the
artist (see below).
Frères et Sœurs
Communiants et Communiantes
Pierrots et Pierrettes
Nus exotiques
Les Chiens des Pyrenées
Les Chalets Suisses ISBN
Les Amants Modernes
La Neige sur les montagnes
Les Reflets
Femmes et roses
Les Cascades
Les Fontaines
Messages de lointain
REPRODUCTIONS III
Domobaal editions (2013)
Sharon Kivland 15 x 19 cm
Série de 13 livros
Edição de 50 exemplares
Cada livro, entre 16 e 36 páginas
Impresso em papel 120 gsm Munken com capa cosida / agrafada.
Edição limitada de livros produzidos a partir da extensa coleção de postais da artista e outro material efêmero.
REPRODUCTIONS 2 Du Monde/Of the World If you will forgive a perhaps grandiose notion, the artist has been thinking about Maurice Merleau–Ponty’s account of vision and visibility (that we are looked at, in the spectacle of the world), and Jacques Lacan's commentary thereon (that the world is not exhibitionistic, it does not provoke our gaze, but when it does, the feeling of strangeness begins). But enough of that! There are thirteen books in the series limited to an edition of 50 each. Each book, between 16 and 36 pages, draws on the artist's collections of postcards, magazines, cuttings, and other printed ephemera, in another attempt to organise, catalogue, and archive. There is little text, apart from the title and usual colophon material. The books are black and white, printed on an ivory 120gsm Munken paper, stapled with a square spine, each: 19cm by 15cm.
Femmes du Monde (For a woman of the world is sophisticated, experienced in the ways and manners of society)
Amants du Monde (Si nous parlions un peu de l'amour – sujet à la mode toujours)
Œufs du Monde (On ne fait pas d'omelette sans casser des œufs) Hommes du Monde (L'homme du monde se distingue du commun des mortels par sa parfaite éducation, son élégance et ses talents de société – ou, tout au contraire, par son ambition, son extravagance et son charisme naturel)
Enfants du Monde (L'enfance a des manières de voir, de penser, de sentir qui lui sont propres; rien n'est moins sensé que d'y vouloir substituer les nôtres)
Arbres du Monde (Quand un arbre tombe, on l'entend, quand la forêt pousse, pas un bruit)
Danseurs du Monde (Quand tu veux danser, vois à qui tu donnes la main)
Enfants du Monde (L'enfance a des manières de voir, de penser, de sentir qui lui sont propres; rien n'est moins sensé que d'y vouloir substituer les nôtres)
Arbres du Monde (Quand un arbre tombe, on l'entend, quand la forêt pousse, pas un bruit)
Danseurs du Monde (Quand tu veux danser, vois à qui tu donnes la main)
Rosiéristes du Monde (De mémoire de rose, il n'y a qu'un jardinier au monde)
Arrangements Floraux du Monde (Le cœur le plus sensible à la beauté des fleurs est toujours le premier blessé par les épines)
Chats du Monde (Il faut appeler un chat un chat)
Philosophes du Monde (Se moquer de la philosophie, c’est vraiment philosopher)
Poissons du Monde (Il n'y a pas de poisson sans arête)
Femmes du Monde (encore) (La femme n'existe pas)
Freedom Super Highly Charged (2016)
Eva-Maria Offermann, Fred Dewey (conceito)
59.4 x 84.1cm Série de 12 posters
Tinta de jato sobre papel fotográfico
Os posters foram originalmente desenvolvidos em
colaboração com a General Public em Berlim.
TRADUÇÕES
01 – Hoje estamos fechados.
02 – Freedom, super highly charged.
03 – Quantas pessoas estão directamente
preocupadas das que usavam o espaço antes da
evacuação?
04 – E o facto de que não estás chocado é chocante.
05 – Berlim foi ingénua, um recreio, maravilhoso
durante vinte anos, mas agora tens mesmo de
considerar com quem te relacionas.
06 – Hoje estamos fechados.
07 – Atingimos o ponto em que temos que mudar
alguma coisa. É o que eu realmente queria dizer.
08 – Todos os dos projectos ausentes estão mortos,
eles disseram.
09 – Alle der vermissten Projekträume sind tot, heißt es.
10 – Nós tinhamos um contracto de aluguer correcto.
Tinhamos opções para o futuro. Tinhamos tudo o
que desejavamos.
11 – Abertos, espaços indefinidos – Soa utópico..
12 – Wir hatten einen ordentlichen Mietvertrag.
Wir hatten Optionen auf Zukunft. Wir hatten alles,
was man sich wünscht.
Freedom Super Highly Charged (2016)
Eva-Maria Offermann & Fred Dewey (concept)
59.4 x 84.1cm Series of 12 posters
Ink on Photographic paper
The posters were originally developed in collaboration with General Public in Berlin.
TRANSLATIONS
01 - Today we are closed / We are closed today.
02 - Freedom, super highly charged.
03 - How many people are directly concerned
about those who used the space before the
evacuation?
04 - And the fact that you are not shocked is shocking
05 - Berlin was naive, a playground, wonderful
for twenty years, but now you really have to
consider who you relate to.
06 - We are closed today.
07 - We have reached the point where we have to change
something. That's what I really want to say.
08 - All of the missing project spaces are
dead, they say .
09 - Alle der vermissten Projekträume
sind tot, heißt es.
10 - We had a proper lease
agreement. We had options for the future. We had
everything you could wish for.
11 - Open, undefined spaces - this sounds utopian.
12 - Wir hatten einen
ordentlichen Mietvertrag. Wir hatten Optionen auf
Zukunft. Wir hatten alles, was man sich wünscht.
M.A.N.L.S (Europe / Revolution) (2017)
Calum F. Kerr
55 x 34 x 6 cm (Archive box)
21 x 29.7 cm (Interior)
Laser printing from original design
Instruction:
Remove a copy of Mário Soares' drawing. You can color it, add drawings or write messages. Ideally, his contribution should be related to his feelings and thoughts about "Europe" and the
concept of "Revolution". When finished, place the sheet in the
left tray. If you want to take the sheet with you, send a photo
of your intervention in the drawing to: europe.revolutionary@gmail.com
The final publication will be made up of the total contributions
and displayed in this file box.
M.A.N.L.S (Europe / Revolution) (2017)
Calum F. Kerr
55 x 34 x 6 cm (Caixa de arquivo)
21 x 29.7 cm (Interior)
Impressão a laser a partir de desenho original
Instrução:
Retire uma cópia do desenho de Mário Soares. Pode colori-lo adicionar desenhos ou escrever mensagens. O ideal é que a sua contribuição esteja relacionada com os seus sentimentos e pensamentos sobre a "Europa" e o conceito de "Revolução". Quando terminar coloque a folha na bandeja à esquerda. Se fizer questão de levar a folha consigo, envie uma foto da sua intervenção no desenho para: europe.revolutionary@gmail.com
A publicação final será constituída pelo total das contribuições e exposta nesta caixa de arquivo.
contact
paula roush ::: paularoush@gmail.com
msdm studio ::: msdm@msdm.org.uk