“Books not only describe their own contents but also the eras in which they were created. Conceived as a color inventory, this publication gathers a selection of titles that I have dealt with, exhibited, and produced since the early 2000s. Many of these books came to me; I did not seek them out, but provided them a home. For me, books are an archive of ideas and their materialization, a mapping of my engagement with the material world. I appreciate objects that can be held, traded, and hidden. They allow me to contemplate, negotiate, and share art without the need to seek out the fetish of the original. The collection does not showcase the most beautiful or best books of their time. It consists art books on themes, colors, and production techniques, all of which have piqued my interest in one way or another. The objects in this book were collected, exhibited, and re-contextualized in various forms within my long-term project Salon für Kunstbuch. I have read some of them, while others served as models for new works. I have traced them, catalogued them, woven tapestries from their covers, and marked their ownership status. Books are objects that lead their own unique lives.”
“Body to book” is an upcycling project that explores the relationship between the human body and books. It comprises six sculptures assembled from coat fragments and books, each covering a naked body. This arrangement invites explorations of sensuality and intimacy and encourages direct interaction with the subject. Through calling us to examine the subtle interactions between the body and the books, it offers new perspectives for artistic, philosophical and personal reflection on matter, media and the human condition.
Vit Havránek in conversation with the artist (5pm) ____________________________________________
Motto – 38 rue du Vertbois – 75003 Paris ____________________________________________
“body to book” is an upcycling project that explores the relationship between the human body and books. It comprises six sculptures assembled from coat fragments and books, each covering a naked body. This arrangement invites explorations of sensuality and intimacy and encourages direct interaction with the subject. Through calling us to examine the subtle interactions between the body and the books, it offers new perspectives for artistic, philosophical and personal reflection on matter, media and the human condition.
Bernhard Cella lives and works in Vienna and Trieste. Recent and past exhibitions include Color Inventory Booklaunch, Secession, Vienna (2024); Location Advantages, Vesch, Vienna (2024); Systema, Marseille (2024); Radical Matter, dieAngewandte, Vienna 2024; Xhibit – Various Exhibition Practices, Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna (2024).
Vít Havránek is an art historian and curator with a focus on contemporary art and critical studies. Since 2019, he has served as Vice-Rector at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague and currently resides at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. From 2002 to 2019, he was the director of tranzit.cz15(12.5%), part of a network of organizations active in five Central and Eastern European countries. He has also worked as an external editor for JRP Ringier and curated or co-curated exhibitions of various scales on different continents, including In the Matter of Art in Prague, U3 Triennale in Ljubljana, Jakarta Biennial 2017, and Manifesta 8. He is a co-founder of the group PAS, and his articles have been published in books and catalogues by JRP Ringier, Centre Pompidou, MoMA, MIT Press, Sternberg Press, and others.
Ein Jahrhundert der verletzten Männer / A century of injured men
Authors: Bernhard Cella Publisher: Salon für Kunstbuch Year: 2022 Pages: 152 Dimensions: 12.8 x 20 cm Language: English / German ISBN: 978-3-85164-210-0
Bernhard Cella’s sweeping pictorial documentary of convalescent men present us with an iconography of a century of medical progress and, by the same token, with a typology of the mise en scenes of soon-to-be homecoming patients. These staged pictures open up a counter narrative to that of vigorous, unscathed, and invulnerable masculinity. They invariably invoke calamitous moments, sustained injuries, the scars of war as well as the causes and circumstances preceding a fateful event that no camera was there to capture. Their insistence on calm, deceleration, casual gestures, and lightheartedness in the photographer’s presence cannot hide this fact. Or, as Paul Virilio put it, “images are ammunition, cameras are weapons.”
Bernhard Cellas Panoptikum an rekonvaleszenten Männern – quer durch ein Jahrhundert – demonstriert nicht nur eine Ikonografie des medizinischen Fortschritts und die Typologie der mise en scène der bald wieder in den Alltag Zurückkehrenden. Es legt in seiner jeweiligen Inszenierung auch einen Bruch offen, der dem Bild der vitalen, unversehrten und unverletzbaren Männlichkeit zuwiderläuft. Jedes fotografische Abbild trägt in sich unweigerlich auch den Moment des Unfalls, der Verwundung, der Kriegsverletzung, bei dem kein Aufnahmeapparat zugegen war. Die Insistenz auf Ruhe, Entschleunigung, Unbefangenheit und Unbeschwertheit für das Objektiv kann nicht drüber hinwegtäuschen. Oder wie Paul Virilio formulierte: “Bilder sind Munition, Kameras sind Waffen”.
Art&Girls
Authors: _ Publisher: Salon für Kunstbuch Year: 2023 Pages: 204 Dimensions: 14.8 x 10.5 cm Language: English / German ISBN: 978-3-902374-23-3
Text by Valie Djordjević Translation by Andrea Scrima
We see women looking at art, everything an exhibition has to offer: paintings, sculptures, installations. If we’re women, then one could say they’re women looking at women looking at art. And if the Instagram account “art.n.girls,” which reposts images of women looking at art, is also art, then we have women looking at art in which women are looking at art. The images are gleaned from the Instagram accounts of museums, galleries, art magazines, art blogs, and auction houses. Women looking at art embody a particular image of commodified femininity that shows its bourgeois roots. Thus, they reflect the commodification of an art that’s become a mere investment. Their bearing in these PR photos is receptive, moved, submissive, and might be intended as a stand-in for the artwork’s aura, but ultimately it remains empty and devoid of meaning.
Wir sehen Frauen, die sich Kunst anschauen – alles, was die Ausstellungsorte so hergeben: Gemälde, Skulpturen, Installationen. Wenn wir Frauen sind, dann könnte man sagen, hier schauen Frauen sich Frauen an, die auf Kunst schauen. Und wenn der Instagram Account “art.n.girls,” der Bilder von Frauen repostet, die sich Kunst anschauen, auch Kunst ist, dann schauen Frauen auf Kunst, auf der Frauen Kunst anschauen. Die Bilder stammen aus Instagram Accounts von Museen, Galerien, Kunstzeitschriften, Kunstblogs oder Auktionshäusern. Die Kunst schauenden Frauen verkörpern ein ganz bestimmtes Bild von warenförmiger Weiblichkeit, die ihre bourgeoise Herkunft nicht versteckt. Sie spiegeln damit die Warenförmigkeit einer Kunst, die lediglich Investitionsobjekt ist. Ihre Haltung in diesen PR-Fotos – empfänglich, bewegt und unterwürfig – soll möglicherweise als Surrogat der Aura des Kunstwerks dienen, bleibt aber letztendlich leer und ohne Bedeutung.
In 2022 the Niagara Region welcomes the Canada Games; 2022 also marks the reintroduction of the Indigenous game of lacrosse. By thematizing lacrosse, this book celebrates the role sport plays in promoting cultural diversity. It features work by poet Jason Stefanik / Jay Stafinak, who grew up and lives in a Métis / mixed environment; photographer Marjorie Kaniehtonkie Skidders of the Mohawk Nation at Akwesasne; Franco-Ontarian author Paul Savoie; and the Toronto Experimental Translation Collective (TETC). They invite us to discover lacrosse from a creative perspective. Their talent and their enthusiastic participation to this volume in French and English are a poignant demonstration of kindness and mutual appreciation. The book reflects our diversity.
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En 2022, la Région du Niagara accueille les Jeux du Canada ; 2022 marque aussi la réintroduction du jeu autochtone de la crosse. Par cette thématique, le présent ouvrage veut célébrer le rôle du sport dans la promotion d’une plus grande diversité culturelle. Il inclut des contributions du poète Jason Stefanik (Jay Stafinak), qui a grandi et vit dans un environnement mixte et métis ; de la photographe Marjorie Kaniehtonkie Skidders de la Nation Mohawk à Akwesasne ; de l’auteur franco-ontarien Paul Savoie ; et du Collectif torontois de traduction expérimentale. Ielles nous invitent à découvrir le jeu de la crosse d’une perspective créative. Leur talent et leur participation enthousiaste à ce volume en français et en anglais nous proposent généreuse expérience d’appréciation mutuelle. Ce livre reflète notre diversité.
