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artists & participants
Abäke,
Ignasi Aballi,
Adam David & Matthieu Saladin,
Bill Adler,
Kasper Andreasen,
Michael Asher,
Fiona Banner,
Robert Barry,
Luciano Bartolini,
Alexis Beauclair,
Walter Beckers,
Jeremie Bennequin,
Pierre Bismuth,
Irma Blank,
Barbara Bloom,
Marinus Boezem,
Christian Boltanski,
Hans Bossmann,
Heinz Brand,
George Brecht,
AA Bronson,
Marcel Broodthaers,
Evelin Brosi,
Joan Brossa,
Stanley Brouwn,
Stefan Brüggemann,
James Lee Byars,
Patrice Caillet,
Ulises Carrion,
Mariana Castillo Deball,
Les Coleman,
Mathieu Copeland,
Sebastian Cremers,
Nicolas Cuestas,
Noelle Cuppens,
Simon Cutts,
Char Daley,
Hanne Darboven,
herman de vries,
Jeremy Deller,
Mirtha Dermisache,
Arnaud Desjardin,
Jason Dodge,
Eric Doeringer,
Doro Boehme & Eric Baskauskas,
Enrique Doza,
Hugo Duchateau,
Mette Edvardsen,
Olafur Eliasson,
Paul Elliman,
Pieter Engels,
Roberto Equisoain,
Leif Eriksson,
Joseph Ernst,
Cerith Wyn Evans,
Experimental Jetset,
Enric Farres-Duran,
Federico Antonini & Alessio D Ellena,
Hans-Peter Feldmann,
Robert Filliou,
Ian Hamilton Finlay,
Michel Francois,
Ken Friedman,
Maxime Gambus,
Ryan Gander,
Heinz Gappmayr,
Dora Garcia,
Kendell Geers,
Nicolas Geiser,
Jef Geys,
Michael Gibbs,
Gloria Glitzer,
Keith Godard,
Fernanda Gomes,
Sigurdur Gudmundsson,
Kristjan Gudmundsson,
Bruce Harris,
Paul Heimbach,
Jochem Hendricks,
Anne Heyvaert,
Ake Hodell,
I.T.U. ,
Inaki Bonillas & Roger Willems,
Parker Ito,
Jason Fulford & Tamara Shopsin,
Peter Johansson,
Ana Jotta,
Jean Keller,
Martin Kippenberger,
Per Kirkeby,
Michael J. Knowles,
J.H. Kocman,
Katsumi Komagata,
Joseph Kosuth,
Jaroslaw Kozlowski,
Mikko Kuorinki,
Frederic Lae,
Paul Laidler,
Lorenzo Le Kou Meyr,
Jürg Lehni,
Lemonodo ,
Jochen Lempert,
Craig Leonard,
Jeffrey Lew,
Sol LeWitt,
Micah Lexier,
Christos Lialios,
Camille Llobet,
Richard Long,
Anne Lydiat,
George Maciunas,
Sara MacKillop,
Ilan Manouach,
Piero Manzoni,
Rachel Mari Simkover,
John McDowall,
Christian Megert,
Felix Meyer,
Jonathan Monk,
Francois Morellet,
Fraser Muggeridge,
Maurizio Nannucci,
Jaime Narvaez,
Bruce Nauman,
Julien Nedelec,
Richard Olson,
Willem Oorebeek,
Jean-Michel Othoniel,
WT Papier,
Mark Pawson,
A.R. Penck,
Ximena Perez-Grobet,
Sergio Pesutic,
Michalis Pichler,
Simon Popper,
Prill Vieceli Cremers,
Raul Davila & Giulia Paradell,
Lukas Richarz,
Childe Roland,
Dieter Roth,
Francesc Ruiz,
Allen Ruppersberg,
Ed Ruscha,
Claude Rutault,
Colin Sackett,
Emil Salto,
Karin Sander,
Ed Sanders,
Sarkis,
Klaus Scherübel,
Adrian Schiess,
Martin Bruno Schmid,
Tomas Schmit,
Yann Serandour,
Ariadna Serrahima,
Idries Shah,
Sonia Si Ahmed,
Jessica Smith,
Ettore Spalletti,
Veronika Spierenburg,
Diana Sprenger,
David Stairs,
Simon Starling,
Mladen Stilinovic,
Derek Sullivan,
Christophe Terlinden,
Super Terrain,
Nik Thoenen,
Elisabeth Tonnard,
Endre Tot,
Timm Ulrichs,
Jiri Valoch,
Paul van Dijk,
Katerina Vazoura,
Richard Venlet,
Oriol Vilanova,
Bernard Villers,
Martin Vitaliti,
Jan Voss,
Wolf Vostell,
Robin Waart,
Dan Walsh,
Eric Watier,
Russell Weekes,
Christiaan Wikkerink,
Karen Willey,
Euan Williams,
Ian Wilson,
Oystein Wyller Odden,
Heimo Zobernig,
Rahel Zoller
curator
press release
Blank. Raw. Illegible... Artists' Books as Statements (1960-2022)
14.05.2023 - 03.09.2023
opening: 14.05.2023 - 12 h
With "Blank. Raw. Illegible... Artists' Books as Statements (1960-2022)" the Leopold-Hoesch-Museum shows a representative selection of international positions dedicated to the blank book as an artistic medium. The number of 259 artists' books on display, among others by Michael Asher, Luciano Bartolini, Irma Blank, Marcel Broodthaers, Ulises Carrión, Olafur Eliasson, Ryan Gander, Dora Garcia, Martin Kippenberger, Sara MacKillop, Piero Manzoni, Bruce Nauman, Olaf Nicolai, Ed Ruscha, Simon Starling, and Heimo Zobernig refers to the legendary exhibition "Book as Artwork 1960/72" curated by Germano Celant and Lynda Morris, but the selection focuses exclusively on the qualities of blank, raw, illegible, empty, unprinted, tautological, hermetic, dysfunctional, and mysterious.
Curated by curator, editor, and collector Moritz Küng, the exhibition explores how contemporary artists and artist collectives exploit and activate the conceptual potential of a blank sheet of paper or a book with empty pages for their artistic practice. In the process, the empty, non-existent, and invisible become meaningful, and the refusal of legibility in the conventional sense becomes a telling statement. A seemingly absent content reveals a multitude of unexpected perspectives on conventions of communication and themes of speechlessness, origin, and disappearance. Starting with a significant exploration by artist Herman de Vries of the designation of the color white, the exhibition opens up the diversity of artistic concepts in reflecting on emptiness, purity, and raw material in relation to the formal and functional criteria of books in 15 chapters, the headings of each of which are taken from one of their book titles.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a comprehensive catalog published by Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König, Köln, with details of the works, references and illustrations of all the books exhibited.