Artists’ books are seldom in the spotlight of the art and culture business. You can’t nail them to the wall like paintings, you can’t make them heard in concert halls, you can’t give them a big stage in the theatre. Exhibited at fairs and in galleries, they offer the viewer only a small section of themselves – everything else can only be experienced by taking them out of their showcases and exploring them, sheet by sheet. The presentation on the internet as a sequence of photos and/or videos does show each individual page and thus what could be called “content” – but the most important thing is missing: the haptic exploration of their three-dimensionality.
Despite all this: Fraktalwerk Projektraum opens a new long-term project and presents artist’s books in loose succession by Robert Krokowski und Marlen Wagner, who says with Guy Schraenen that artist’s books are works of art in the form of a book.
In the large hall of Kunstquartier Bethanien on Mariannenplatz in Berlin Kreuzberg and on the ground floor, Robert Krokowski and Marlen Wagner presented their books together with over 100 artists, many small publishers and collectives.
Fraktalwerk mit Marlen Wagner und Robert Krokowski auf der artbook.berlin2024: eine internationale Ausstellungsplattform für Kunstwerke, die von konzeptionellen Eigenschaften der Buchform und der grafischen Drucktechniken inspiriert sind.
Some personal highlights from Friday, the second day of the festival at WIRWIR in Stuttgarter Straße: interesting conversations, nice people and lots of fun!
Hosting over 70 publishers and book artists, spread over 3 independent spaces the 4-day Flyleaf Festival is all about connecting, and sharing knowledge between publishers, artists, readers, zine enthusiasts, and book lovers.
Marlen Wagner has been working with labyrinths since 2005. In her land art installations in Berlin and on the Baltic Sea, she uses a wide variety of materials.
We were at Indiecon 2023 in Hamburg and presented Marlen Wagner’s Artist Books there, made contacts with other exhibitors, publishers and galleries, had many conversations and presented our projects.