This series of lectures and discussions with experts on the artist’s book will cover the key episodes in the history of the art form and review the different approaches to making artist’s books, drawing on particular works by contemporary artists, including those who took part in the Garage program Single Copy.
Understood broadly, an artist’s book is an art object that its author or creator defines as a book. Simple as this formula might seem, the artist’s book is a multifaceted phenomenon whose definition always provokes debate. While not aiming to settle this debate, the lecture series was developed to bring the subject to the attention of a broader audience, thus enabling participants to form their own opinions.
The format of the artist’s book has attracted artists from very different traditions and styles, hence the wide variety of forms it has taken over time. Its emergence is usually traced back to the modernist experiments of the early twentieth century. The livre d’artiste of the time was a non-traditional, unbound book—most often of poetry—illustrated by an artist as opposed to a professional engraver. The books by William Blake, which he wrote, illustrated, designed, and edited himself, are often cited as another precursor to the artist’s book as we know it today. To Blake, a book was not only a convenient medium but also the most organic art form for his visionary ideas. When trying to determine the place of the artist’s book within the history of art, some scholars see it as simply a medium that artists of different traditions have turned to, while others consider it an art form in its own right, which has its own tradition, legacy, and rules.
Mikhail Balan from the Department of Western European Fine Art of the State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg) will speak about the evolution of the artist’s book from the 1900s to the 1970s, while theorist and founder of The Artist’s Book Museum Mikhail Pogarsky will share his research, his understanding of the phenomenon, and his experience of its systematization. Artist Leonid Tishkov will discuss the history of the artist’s book in Russia in the 1990s, focusing in particular on the activities of his ephemeral publishing project Dablus. Artist Andrey Olenev will share his experience of making artist’s books, paying special attention to the technical aspects of their production.
The social element of the artist’s book is equally important: they are often a product of a collaboration, and sometimes gather entire communities around them. In this respect they are closely related to zines, which, although based on slightly different artistic principles, can sometimes be virtually indistinguishable from the artist’s book. Senior librarian and registrar of the collection of contemporary artist’s books at Garage Library Vitaly Sidorov will speak about zines and the history of the zine culture, including in Russia. The founders of SOYAPRESS Ivan Shpak and Daniil Nebolsin and the founder of the art publisher Plato Tolyatti Aleksandr Veryovkin will explain how limited-edition publications are produced and share their experience of working on books with artists.
The schedule, topics and speakers will be announced two weeks before the event.
