SOME CURATORIAL REFLECTIONS UPON SECOND SITE

In The Century of Artist Books (2004), Johanna Drucker writes that “If all the elements or activities which contribute to artists’ books as a field are described, what emerges is a space made by their intersection, one which is a zone of activity”. For Second Site, an exhibition based on artists’ books, a further locus has been added to this zone of activity: All the book-works in the exhibition have the unifying distinction in being anchored to, extended from or pivoting around a separate artwork or artefact made by the artist. They are, as such, a new (second) site of enquiry springing from the first work.

An invitation outlining the proposal (also shown on this page) was extended by the co-curators to six other artists/collectives* whose practices all embrace a strong artist’s book element. Their wholehearted engagement resulted in this exhibition. All the original art-works will be shown in the gallery along with their related books. Ranging from poetry, film and sculpture to sonic and sensory art, photographic work and documentation of trans-continental walking art experiments also figure. This richness of response should lead to the unearthing of some novel and perhaps surprising connections which will hopefully evolve and develop as we hang the show, through dialogue between the art-works and their books but also between the array of art-works and book-works as a whole, when activated in the space. Further exploration through questions and debate between the individual artists, curators and a wider audience will ensue when we gather for the Artist Panel Discussion.

Jessica Cochrane, in the Journal of Artist Books (Issue 48, 2019), writes of the acknowledged “discursive legacy” emanating from the field of artist books. It seems possible to hope that this show will contribute to this legacy in some way, with plans to produce a collaborative artists’ book to document the show, as a kind of post-exhibition publication.

Second Site seems to be becoming a particularly dynamic creature. This energy might be partly to do with the freshness and diversity of the work, but also, perhaps, due to a kind of concentration brought about by the imposed structural commonality at its heart, which lends the kind of strong conceptual framework sympathetic to a flourishing discourse.

*Footnote: It did not escape our notice, as curators, that all the artists we chose to invite are women. Although this was not a conscious decision, since historically the artist’s book developed as a deliberate and subversive means to democratize art, it is perhaps not surprising. As a means to remove power from the grip of institutions and galleries, artists’ books are inherently political and thus, a feminist issue. They are a space for discourse, quick, easy production and dissemination (pardon the gendered word) where women can take control. Away from the monumental, the neo-liberal, the $$$, and back to the thoughtful, the playful, the intimate, the relatable. And far flung from the kind of dick-swinging sometimes encountered in Big Art.

The proposal sent to artists:

Our overarching theme is book-works that act as an extension to other artworks (visual, performative or conceptual, for example). We are not looking for artist books that are standalone works in their own right on this occasion.

So, a book as after-form, companion, an echo, an extension, a re-articulation, perhaps? An artist book as second site.

Our idea is that the books might be presented in the gallery alongside the artefacts that they sprang from or inspired (or a trace or fragment thereof), or some form of documentation of it.

Examples would be as follows: a book and an object/a print/ a film/ an artefact/a performance. Not limited to these, of course, and any other ideas you might like to explore with us would be welcome.