Artists’ Books

Often, an idea slowly builds up over time. It appears one day and then pops up again a few days later, reappearing over time. It slowly takes form, becoming clearer. We mistakenly think it’s intuition wrongly believing it’s our own, the fruit of our well-known intelligence. We ignore, like fools, that it is something our context (which we can access) has placed in our thoughts, without any further ado, until it becomes unavoidable.

We asked ourselves: the artist’s book is it that it hasn’t died or that it’s once again on the attack? To us it was clear. To corroborate, we shared out some interviews. There could have been many others, but we’re delighted with those here and have added a text that keeps pace alongside about the artist’s book (publication), delving into the genesis of self-publication and the fanzine in its various international guises. And if April is the month of the book par excellence, talking to people about books seemed to us the most appropriate way to approach the subject.

We began the month with an interview with a producer of books–amongst other things- whom we consider a figure of reference. Alex Gifreu, designer, and Cecilia Martín reviewed the work of the former, from the type of publications he makes, how he approaches them, where his fonts stem from, how he works.

Daniela Hermosilla on her part authored a text through which we traversed different historical and geographical contexts, looking at publications that functioned as printed exhibitions, which escape the current traditional (and elitist) circuits of art. But at the same time presented original works from Latin America, United States and Europe through the fanzine as an artist’s publication linked to do-it-yourself and an evident grassroots political resistance.

In an interview with Marina Vives, Moritz Küng spoke the third week of this April of books. Consultant for the content of the fair Arts Libris, we talked to him about the fair that took place in Arts Santa Mónica between 21 and 24 April (Sant Jordi). But also about “Permit yourself…” a marvellous exhibition that can be visited at Arts Santa Mónica until 3 July, as well as about other books and projects by the curator and Swiss editor who lives in Barcelona.

And finally, Rosa Lleó interviewed Anna Pahissa, the person at the helm of múltiplos that to us seems one of the most vibrant and recommendable independent projects on the Barcelona scene at the moment. For her pace, instinct, and tenacity, and because as Anna herself says, it’s impossible to think of múltiplos as “just” a bookshop, given that she is “working with material – publications and people- that has a huge potential to generate other things, and it goes way beyond the objects and their commercial circulation.”