14 August, 2014 - 08 January, 2015
Palacete del Embarcadero, Santander
Curated: Giorgio Maffei

A collection of artist books is the narration of the desires, intelligence and intuitions of their author. An exhibition on artist books brings all these elements in touch with the public, bringing the intellectual and visual capabilities, taste, knowledge, curiosity and emotions of the visitor into play. The title of this exhibition, "What is an Artist Book?" is, at the same time, the question which has given rise to the selection of materials and a confession on our inability to provide an answer. It therefore falls upon visitors to come up with their own response, based on their own experience of the exhibition.

The exhibition begins in the early twentieth century and expands into the contemporary era, grouping together published works from highly diverse fields of poetry and art. The central core brings together books of the historical avant-garde, who projected their methods and themes towards works from the aftermath of Second World War and whose influence continues to this day. Four thematic lines extend from this core, categorising the chosen books into ‘Form, sign, colour’, ‘Concept, theory, archive’, ‘Word, writing, narration’, and ‘Vision, participation, utopia’.

Featured artists include Carl Andre, John Baldessari, Alighiero Boetti, Augusto de Campos, Alberto Carneiro, Ulises Carrión, José Castillejo, Hanne Darboven, Sonia Delaunay, Robert Delaunay, Wlademir Dias Pino, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Natalia Goncharova, George Grosz, Wassily Kandinsky, El Lissitzky, Stéphane Mallarmé, Fernando Millán, Antoni Miralda, Bruno Munari, Clemente Padín, Francisco Pino, Dieter Roth, Edward Ruscha, Daniel Spoerri and Valcárcel Medina, among others.

LINKS
Catalogue