Exhibition | bookworks | Monash University Museum of Art

24 July – 21 September 2019

Participants: Adam Cruickshank (AU), Will Holder (UK/BE), Olaf Nicolai (DE), Roma Publications (NL), Batia Suter (NL), Ella Sutherland (NZ/AU)

Guest curator: Warren Taylor (Program Coordinator, Communication Design at Monash Art Design & Architecture)

bookworks is an exhibition of contemporary artists’ book publishing. Organised by guest curator, designer and educator, Warren Taylor, it brings six leading artists, graphic designers, book-makers and publishers together to explore the materials, procedures, ambitions, economies and critiques around art publishing.

The term ‘bookworks’ was first used in the 1960s to refer to inexpensive, mass-produced books conceived and designed by artists and published independently in large or unlimited editions. Distinct from the traditional and precious ‘art object’, the book became a legitimate medium for conceptual artists, operating as:

VEHICLES FOR ARTWORK
DOCUMENTS OF ARTISTIC PRACTICE AND
DEMOCRATIC SITES FOR THE COLLABORATION OF DISCIPLINES

In his influential text ‘The New Art of Making Books’, 1975, Mexican artist Ulises Carrión promoted the book as a ‘space-time sequence’, rather than a mere object of literary work. Carrion’s independent bookshop Other Books and So, along with New York’s Printed Matter, were among the first to support publishing as a site for the exchange of artistic ideas. Books were affordable, popular, sold from the shelf and distributed by mail.

In this spirit, Bookworks is a contemporary examination of art publishing that features the work of a diversity of practitioners as well as the independent Art Library, workshops and a lecture series held in partnership with Monash’s School of Design.

The exhibition explores the thematic connections between books, art and publishing from the conceptual, technical and material form of artist books – their history, production, classification and distribution. Featuring the work of artists, graphic designers, book makers and publishers, the exhibition will host workshops and forums, as well as an independent art library. Curator, influential Australian designer and educator Warren Taylor, has brought together a group of leading practitioners including Adam Cruickshank (AUD), Will Holder (UK), Olaf Nicolai (GER), Roma Publications (NDL), Batia Suter (NDL) and Ella Sutherland (NZ). In addition, up to 800 artists books and publications from 100 national and international publishers will be exhibited in the ambitious Art Library. Taylor notes: ‘The Art Library will capture contemporary art publishing at a particular moment. It will be an alternative space for research and design and explore systems of classification and collaborative filtering through the intersection of print and digital media’.

bookworks opens Wednesday 24 July until Saturday 21 September 2019 at Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) Ground Floor, Building F, Monash University, Caulfield Campus, 900.

More information and details of events and public programs: https://www.monash.edu/muma/exhibitions/exhibition-archive/2019/BOOKWORKS