October 13th - October 16th, 2011
Venue: Sala Rekalde, Alda. Recalde, 30 Bilbao
Organized by: Belleza Infinita, Bilbao
In collaboration with: Eremuak. Eusko Jaurlaritza
*Free entrance for all activities of the festival except for the workshops, booking required at salarekalde@bizkaia.net or calling 94 406 8707.
An artistic publication is one that values all the elements that make up its contents. The layout, paper, binding, size are all part of the "text" and can turn an illustrated story, a fanzine, a sticker album or commercial leaflet into a work of art beyond its mere subject matter.
For four days, Sala Rekalde is hosting exhibitions, workshops, conferences and talks that showcase the artistic possibilities of those media and their conditioning factors from their creation to dissemination. Authors, publishers, booksellers, designers, collectors and distributors have all added their specific approach to the current panorama.
The Artistic Publications Festival is organised by Belleza Infinita. Founded in Bilbao in 2002, Belleza Infinita creates events and edits publications, with the aim of questioning the limits of experience. www.bellezainfinita.org
Exhibition and sale of iconic publications.
In conjunction with ANTI Liburudenda, Bilbao.
De Zines Exhibition:
Magazines, fanzines and object magazines selected by Roberto Vidal and Óscar Martín. Winning project of the Inéditos 2010 curatorial event, organized by Obra Social Caja Madrid.
Festival ILDE collection exhibition.
Festival of the Artist Book and the Small Edition which is held annually (23 April) in Barcelona and then visits other cities.
TALK AND WORKSHOP PROGRAMME
THURSDAY: 13 October
5.00 p.m. Elisa Pellacani: The book as a form of artistic research
From the one-off item to publishing, the freedom and rigour of "making books".
6 p.m. Óscar Martínez: The books of Fischli and Weiss
During the more than thirty years of working together, Peter Fischli and David Weiss, the Swiss artists, has focused much of their work to publications as a further facet of their artistic production., They have preferred to produce artistic books instead of typical catalogues for the majority of their individual exhibitions. Designed as independent works, the formats vary according to the nature of the project, from modest black and white editions to bulky copies printed in full colour.
7.00 p.m. Specialist bookshops: specific features, trends, current scenario
Talk with:
Gabriel Pericás, from La Central (Barcelona-Madrid)
Javier Nevado, from Anti Liburudenda (Bilbao)
Javier Cámara, from Librería Cámara (Bilbao)
FRIDAY: 14 October
11.00 a.m. Craft book WORKSHOP with Elisa Pellacani: Developing an idea... as a book
From the prototype to the small edition. Shapes, colours and displays as the alphabet of visual narratives. Making books using paper, fabric, cardboard, glue and thread, which will become three-dimensional objects once opened: buildings of the cities of our dreams. The option to publish prototypes in series will be analysed and different options will be tried out and related to the sensitivities, personalities and artistic practices of each participant.
The workshop is aimed at the initiated and those wishing to have a go for the first time and have fun applying their imagination to the production of a book.
*Booking required at salarekalde@bizkaia.net or calling 94 406 8707.
5.00 p.m. Francesc Ruiz: comics, artist books and contemporary art
This journey, with different stops along the way, takes you through the most interesting spaces that are currently being generated by the relationship between contemporary art and comics, with special emphasis on the printed medium. He considers the use of autobiography as a radical narrative option, of the city and architecture as experimentation scenarios and the comic as a generator of critical thought.
6 p.m. Dada Company: illustrated stories for iPhone
José María Martínez Burgos, Hafo, showcases the digital book functionalities and services with the example of Dada Company, a publisher that develops and produces interactive, multimedia and digital contents, aimed at children between 0 and 14 (the “digital natives”). Illustrated books created for touch screen appliances (iPod, iPhone, iPad) where the images come to life and the child can see, hear, read, touch and move.
7.00 p.m. Media Vaca: Why not let children make their own books?
After thirteen years publishing children’s books, the Media Vaca publishers, Vicente Ferrer and Begoña Lobo, acknowledge that they do not know what a child is, what a book is for and if all that time could not have been better spent.
SATURDAY: 15 October
11.00 a.m. WORKSHOP with Francesc Ruiz: Autobiographical comic and city
The many voices and new narrative structures that the autobiographical genre has contributed to the contemporary comic have enabled a total overhaul of the medium. The workshop consists of different exercises that seek to relate the autobiography with the use that we usually make of the city. At the same time, different formats will be explored for a hypothetical publication. No drawing skills are needed to take part in the workshop.
*Booking required at salarekalde@bizkaia.net or calling 94 406 8707.
5.00 p.m. Antonio Gómez: Experimental magazines
A sample and commentaries of an international selection of magazines collected over the last 15 years.
6.00 p.m. Glòria Picazo: La Panera Art Centre and special editions
Aware of the growing interest in this creative sphere by the new generations of artists, La Panera Art Centre (Lleida) decided in 2004 to set up a collection of publications that has been expanded with the successive Leandre Cristòfol Art Biennals and the many activities being organised by its Documentation Centre: small exhibitions and presentations of new editions and materials (stickers, badges, etc.), grants, etc. Issue 10 of its Impasse book collection is proof of its will to continue working along this line of dissemination and be the driving force behind a theoretical reflection in this area.
7.00 p.m. Horacio Fernández: Photobooks
There are many differences between a book of photos and a photobook: a good photobook is similar to a work of art given its complexity, coherence and autonomy. Nonetheless, the knowledge of its history is limited and, in some cases, such as Latin America, nearly non-existent.
SUNDAY: 16 October
12.00 p.m. CHILDREN'S WORKSHOP with Mundanalrüido: Artist books out of recycled materials
There are materials with great inner life, which are calling out to become art and may just end up on the scrap heap. Yet there are also people with a special radar to assess, cradle and convert them into a book.
This workshop aims to develop this “radar” to search out the “unappreciated”, by learning to care for materials, mend them, combine them, poeticize them and turn them into a book that is inspiring to create many more.
15 participants. Materials included (although participants are welcome to bring any paper, photos or cuttings that they want to include).
*Booking required at salarekalde@bizkaia.net or calling 94 406 8707.
PARTICIPANTS
Elisa Pellacani (Reggio Emilia, Italy) is an illustrator and photographer. She graduated in History of Contemporary Art from Parma University (Italy) and studied Editorial Design at the ISIA (Urbino). She produces books by hand, using jewellery techniques for small editions or one-off items. Her work is displayed in galleries and museums. In 2008, she founded the ILDA Association, which organises the “Festival of the Artist Book and the Small Edition” which is held annually (23 April) in Barcelona and then visits other cities. With the “Book Travelling School”, she organises experimental encounters around the book in its multiple formats and with freedom of the contents.
Óscar Martínez Martín (Madrid, 1972) was awarded his doctorate by the Cuenca Fine Arts Faculty after completing a thesis on Fischli and Weiss. He has taught drawing at that university since 1999, which he combines with his art and publishing work at Ediciones Puré. His work mainly features drawing and photography in conjunction with other artists. He has exhibited in Madrid, Barcelona, Cuenca, Caceres, London, Hamburg, Washington DC, Helsinki, etc. He has been awarded several grants and prizes.
www.oscarmartinezmartin.net
Francesc Ruiz (Barcelona, 1971), a plastic artist focused on drawing, uses the comic as an expanded medium. Applying situationism and conceptual art strategies, it creates installations and interventions for specific contexts. His interest is focused on the history of the Latin-American and Arab comic, fright, détournement and shift, Barcelona, the porno parody, pastiche and the experimental curator. His latest individual exhibitions include Gasworks Yaoi (Gasworks, London, 2010), The Paper Trail, at the Contemporary Image Collective in El Cairo (2010) and Big Boom at the La Panera Art Centre (2008).
Media Vaca (Valencia) has worked on inventing atypical books since 1998, which are highly illustrated and for readers of all ages. The care and work required for each project means that only three new titles are published per year. The publisher currently has forty-four titles between its five collections: Libros para niños, for children of all ages; Últimas lecturas, for the non-children and also the non-reader; Grandes y pequeños, reserved for projects of different sizes and format; Mi hermosa ciudad, an alphabet of cities, and El mapa de mi cuerpo, which considers some interesting parts of the human body. It has established a proven track record, endorsed by numerous awards, including several prizes from the Spanish Ministry of Culture and from the Department of Culture of Valencia for the Best Edited and Best Illustrated Books, and three Bologna Ragazzi Awards at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, which is the most important in the world. www.mediavaca.com
Antonio Gómez (Cuenca, 1951) has been actively experimenting in poetry since 1968. As a creator and reader-spectator, he has lived and enjoyed poetry intensely in all its forms: visual, concrete, object, phonetic, performances, etc. His work has appeared in publications in around twenty countries and in over eighty national magazines. His visual work is owned by museums and private collections. He regularly exhibits at ARCO and other fairs such as Foro Sur, Tránsito, Hotel y Arte, Contenedores, Puerto de las Artes, Arte Lisboa, etc. Built up over thirty years, his archive of object books, artist books, put-together magazines and ex libris is a benchmark among scholars of this discipline.
Glòria Picazo graduated in History of Art from Barcelona University. An art critic and exhibition curator, she has worked with museums of the ilk of capcMusée d’art contemporain (Bordeaux) and the MACBA (Barcelona). Since 2003, she has run the La Panera Art Centre (Lleida). She regularly teaches contemporary art and exhibition curator classes at Zaragoza, Barcelona, Catalonia International and Politécnica de Valencia universities. She has been the curator of exhibitions including Gina Pane (Palau de la Virreina (Barcelona) and the Huesca Provincial Council Exhibition Rooms), Orientalismos y Nómadas y Bibliófilos (Orientalisms, Nomads and Bibliophiles) at the San Sebastián KM and El instante eterno (The Eternal Instant) at the EACC of Castellón, along with Paisajes después de la batalla (Landscapes after the Battle) and Mediterráneo(s) (Mediterranean(s), at La Panera Art Centre. She has contributed to Transversal, L'Avenç, ExitExpress and ExitBook.
Horacio Fernández (Albacete, 1954) has a PhD in History of Art and is a senior lecturer in the History of Photography at the Cuenca Fine Arts Faculty. He has been an art critic for the El Europeo magazine and El Mundo newspaper, and is a member of the editorial team for Buades and Kalias magazines. Between 2004 and 2006, he was the head curator of PHotoEspaña, and has curated numerous exhibitions, including Mexicana, Fotografía Moderna en México 1923-1940 (Mexicana, Modern Photography in Mexico 1923-1940), at the IVAM; Fotografía Pública- Photography in Print 1919-1939 (Public Photography – Photography in Print 1919-1939) at the Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid) and Fine Art Museum of Bilbao; Variaciones en España. Arte y Fotografía 1900-1980 (Variations in Spain. Art and Photography 1900-1980), at MARCO (Vigo), Centro Cultural de la Villa (Madrid) and CAAM (Las Palma)s; Del Paisaje Reciente (From the Recent Landscape), at the ICO Collections Museum (Madrid); De viaje (Travelling) at the Cervantes Institute of Madrid, Prague, Rome, Rio and Sao Paulo. He has just published a history of Latin-American photobooks.
Mundanalrüido is a bookshop in Santander. An ideal excuse, just like any other case, to spend time browsing books and applied arts without raising suspicions. The space is eclectic and mobile, and can be a bookshop, workshop, meeting or work area. It has a collection featuring illustration, design and artist items. Cosseted editions that meet a fetishist criterion of the book as an object. They organise different activities and artistic experimentation laboratories where artists and craftspeople come together to share their view of the arts (normally applied ones). Its self-destructive aspect is behind the reason to be a publisher according to its whims (with two books on the market) and to be involved in cultural management as curators, driving forces and designers of artistic events and activities. Aspiration, design and decadency in equal parts. www.mundanalruido.es
