Long-term project on artist novels (2012-2013), in collaboration with curator and writer Joanna Zielinska
Participating institutions: M HKA (Antwerp), EFA Project Space (New York City), among others
Sometimes we totally immerse ourselves in a novel. We feel like we are part of it, we dream of what is going to happen next. Printed words are transcribed into events, images and places in our heads… Visual arts books have been used for years but it is only now that narrative writing is becoming an artistic practice. Many avant-garde artists wrote but their writing was divorced from making art. In recent years, more and more projects have appeared combining literature with visual works. The strategy is reminiscent of the work of Henry Darger, who was probably the first to create a complex piece on the border of writing and art – a fantasy novel of over 15000 pages with numerous illustrations.
Works created in relation to a written book do not have to be illustrations; they can serve as an autonomous work of art, a continuation or an addition to the novel. Thus the convention of an artist’s book (or book as an object) or a graphic novel where text and illustrations are inseparable and complement each other is defied. Has literature become a new tool for creating expanded narrations in visual arts? Is it justified to talk about a new phenomenon in contemporary art? What are the consequences for the production process when adopting a purely textual form, moreover a narrative? What link remains to visual arts? Is it possible to find a relation to conceptual art, or is this an entirely different artistic form?
The project The Book Lovers is divided in three parts, an online database and collection of artist novels – an exhibition – and a public program with performances, talks, interviews, public reading of artist novels… Currently we are working on the first part: We are gathering a collection of artist novels and creating a parallel online database that will complement the background information of each item, from the literary and the artistic perspectives. Both collection and database are being hosted by M HKA (contemporary art museum, Antwerp, Belgium). There will be a public presentation in the museum later on this year. The collection of artist novels includes, among others: Carl Andre, Bernadette Corporation, Keren Cytter, Salvador Dalí, Liam Gillick, Goldin+Senneby, Pablo Helguera, Joseph Kosuth, Jana Leo, Mai-Thu Perret, Tom McCarthy, Richard Prince, Alexandre Singh, Andy Warhol… to a total of around 90 titles.
