Tell me a book. Artists’ books in the cinema

On the occasion of its tenth anniversary, in 2019 ArtsLibris extends its range of activities to include cinema for the first time. There are multiple connections between artists’ publications and film, which can take varied and very rich forms, ranging from documentary films to the ‘expanded versions’ of their publications that some artists make for the big screen. This first screening session focuses on the documentary, and presents three medium-length films made by different visual artists, in which – as often happens with artists’ books – the conventions of the documentary genre are interpreted with different degrees of freedom.

Films

The Books of Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha (director), Mason Williams | 1969 | 38 min | In English without subtitles

Forming part of Ed Ruscha’s occasional forays into filmography, in this piece the Californian artist composes an ironic ‘documentary’ about his own artist’s books in which the absence of a prepared script and the intended solemnity of the presentation are combined, as in his previous film works, as a tongue-in-cheek self-parody. The protagonist of the film is the guitarist and composer Mason Williams, who, with his cavalier attitude at times verging on the irreverent, leafs through, rereads and comments on Ruscha’s iconic titles – Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Some Los Angeles Apartments and Every Building on the Sunset Strip, among others – while enjoying a drink and taking in the sunset.

Bookworks Revisited.

Part 1: A Selection Ulises Carrión | 1987 | 36 min 33 sec | Video transferred to digital Colour, sound | In English with Spanish subtitles

Looking straight at the camera and holding the books in his hands, in this film Ulises Carrión comments one by one on about ninety titles from his archive. His comments and descriptions act as an excellent introduction to the genre of artists’ books, in which he analyses the different ways in which artists have approached the creative reinvention of the book, while simultaneously laying claim to their full status as works of art.

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Valérie Mréjen | Produced by Association Bob Calle pour le livre d’artiste, Paris | 2019 | 13 min | Digital video | Colour, sound | In French with Spanish subtitles

On the occasion of the launch of the Bob Calle Award for the Best European Artist’s Book, founded in 2017 by the Association Bob Calle pour le livre d’artiste (Paris), the French visual artist and writer Valérie Mréjen made a documentary featuring interviews with artists who have played an important role in the genealogy of Conceptual artists’ books, such as Annette Messager, Jean Michel Alberola, Christian Boltanski and Peter Downsbrough, together with the two winners of the first edition of the Bob Calle Award: the Swiss artist Stevan Sulzer and the Catalan Francesc Ruiz.