New publication: Pièce de Cinéma

An artist’s book by Ines Lechleitner. Through images, sound and text the publication follows Isabelle Oglivie, a mentally handicapped young woman who is engaged in making a film. Lechleitner acts as Isabelle's assistant as well as her chronicler, accompanies her as she discusses her film project with filmmakers, artists and a philosopher, and documents her approaches to image-making and language. In ten chapters, each of which comprises an audio segment, a printed text and a series of photographs, Pièce de Cinéma approaches the absent film medium, as well as photography, drawing, and language, in a protean meditation on representation and image-making. more info

Publishing in the arts. Expert meetings

The Jan van Eyck Academie has taken the initiative to organise a number of meetings with experts in the field of art and artist’s books in general, and, more particularly, of their distribution and marketing. The idea of the expert meetings is to come to an exchange of ideas in a small and informal setting that may stimulate and improve the situation of publishing in the arts. Each meeting is dedicated to a specific subject and case study.

            At the first meeting (April 2007), Jan Voss of Boekie Woekie elaborated on the history, daily practice, ideals and ambitions of his twenty-year-old bookshop devoted to artists’ books. Boekie Woekie is a shaky business, he concludes, “it is about art, life and friendship. It is life itself...”. In the discussion which followed more practical aspects were tabled, including suggestions on how to be successful as a publisher or maker of artists’ books. Emphasis was paid to the presentation of books, the mediation between maker and buyer and general selling strategies. The text on Boekie Woekie and a report of the meeting including a list of practical tips are now published.

            Participating experts were: Sarah Bodman (Research Fellow for Artist’s Books, Centre for Fine Print Research, University of West-England, Bristol), Johan Deumens (Artist’s Books, Heemstede), Wim Drijvers (Boekbeeld, Ghent), Jane Rolo (director and founder member of Book Works, London), Anne Thurmann-Jajes (head Study centre for artists books and Archive for Small Press & Communication, Bremen), Roger Willems (Roma Publications, Amsterdam).