Primary sources at work. Artists’ publishing practices: from the studio to the library (and back again)
July 2–13, 2018
Place Georges-Pompidou
75004 Paris
France
The Bibliothèque Kandinsky’s Summer University is a Musée National d’Art Moderne/Centre Pompidou research program installed on the very premises of the museum. It focuses on modern and contemporary art primary sources: archives, documentary materials (both written and visual), interviews, records, as well as new forms of artistic appropriation and documentary production. Interdisciplinary in format, the Summer University brings together young researchers: historians, art historians, anthropologists, sociologists, artists, critics and curators who share a collective reflection with art professionals and various scholars around primary source materials. It will be held in one of the museum rooms, around a conference table, used at the same time as a workspace and an exhibition device for the display of documents. Facsimiles, reproductions, and archival material will be unfolded in the space during the working sessions. Several writing workshops will rhythm the program, as well as visits to various documentary collections. Editorial work is at the heart of the Summer University: a new issue of the Journal de l’Université d’été de la Bibliothèque Kandinsky—conceived both as a critical anthology based on the debates during the sessions and as an experimental production—will be released at the end of the session.
For its fifth session, Bibliothèque Kandinsky’s Summer University will address the plural phenomenon of publishing in the art field in all its diversity. It will seek to capture the various networks, exchanges, contexts, and the multiple geographies that inform the creative decisions at stake in an extremely variegated production.
Flexible in nature, artists’ publications and editions will be confronted to different approaches: history of the book, media studies, visual communication theories, graphic design. The communication proposals will have to address the very multiplicity of formats, techniques and mediums that are essential to the art of publishing: artists’ books and periodicals, fanzines, underground production, multiples, photobooks, architecture books, curator catalogues, ephemera and hybrid editorial practices, digital experiments, e-books by artists, DIY and self-publishing.
From underground engagement to patrimonial status, the Summer University will address the circuits and economies at stake in artistic editorial practices. What are the tactics of content production that are mobilized? What kind of creative writing is invented? How knowledge production circuits (in the academia or the arts) affect the published object? How to work with economic risks and market pressure? What kinds of education and pedagogy inspire—or are inspired by—editorial creativity? What kind of “collection-making” for objects that move merrily between the library, the museum, independent spaces and their digital avatars?
Application procedure
The Bibliothèque Kandinsky’s Summer University is aimed at young historians, art historians, anthropologists, sociologists, curators, librarians, graphic designers and artists at large (PhD candidates, PhDs, PostDocs).
Application file:
–written proposal (4,500 characters/700 words) either in English or French, PDF format
–CV and language proficiency
Candidates are expected to bring along a selection of sources used in their research.
The proposal dossier will be sent to: bibliotheque.kandinsky [at] centrepompidou.fr by March 4, 2018.
All applicants, whether selected or not, will be personally contacted before March 16, 2018.
A participation of 150 EUR will be required from each participant, who will be provided with tuition. The participation will cover transportation on site and institutional entries.
Scientific Committee
Aurélien Bernard, bibliothécaire en charge des imprimés contemporains, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Mnam/Cci, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Mica Gherghescu, historienne de l’art, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Mnam/Cci, Paris
Stéphanie Rivoire, conservatrice des fonds et collections, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Mnam/Cci, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Didier Schulmann, conservateur, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Mnam/Cci, Centre Pompidou, Paris
Benjamin Thorel, historien de l’art, École supérieure des Beaux-Arts de BordeauX/fondateur de Section 7 Books / After 8 Books
For any inquiry, please write to:
bibliotheque.kandinsky [at] centrepompidou.fr / T +33 (0)1 44 78 46 65