Are You...Friends with Books? Public Programmes 2019

Saturday, 21 September

13:00 h
Art Historian Fiona Geuss and artist Martin Ebner of Starship discuss conversational formats in art from 1969 to the 1990s and how publications not only accompany exhibitions, but can also be an integral part of artistic practices due to their ephemeral format. Presented by Friends with Books.

14:00 h
Artist Caio Reisewitz and curator Dr. Daniela Labra in conversation about his book of photographs, Altamira (Artphilein Editions, 2018), exploring the environmental and social impact of Brazil’s hydroelectric Belo Monte Dam on the Amazon basin’s flora and fauna, and its indigenous and riverside communities. Presented by Artphilein Editions.

15:00 h
Artist Marlena Kudlicka speaks with art critic Agnieszka Gratza about her practice, and in relation to her publication, Marlena Kudlicka (Distanz Verlag, 2016). During Friends with Books, Kudlicka’s installation unprotected 0 fig. 120, 2015, and unprotected 0 fig. 120, 2015, is on view with her new limited edition poster velvet mind marble thoughts, 2019, commissioned by Friends with Books and available for free to the public. Presented by Distanz Verlag and Friends with Books. [Please note, this programme has been updated to reflect a change in date, it was previously scheduled on Sunday, September 22.]

16:00 h*
Co-curators Sandra Bartoli, Silvan Linden and Florian Wüst discuss the book concept for the project Licht Luft Scheiße: Perspectives on Ecology and Modernity (nGbK, 2019). Two exhibitions are on display at the Botanical Museum Berlin and nGbK, presenting a diversity of 20th century concepts and practices resonating with current ideas of sustainability. Presented by nGbK. *(Programme in German).

17:00 h
Co-editors and publishers Yon Natalie Mik and Micaela Terk of The Invisible Archive, a new performance and time-based art journal, present how performative writing can document the experience of performance artists and how their knowledge production can expand beyond the art community. As part of the performative lecture, artist Lara Salmon performs mnemonic gesture, 2019, relating action and text, writing and archiving movement as it unfolds. Presented by The Invisible Archive in collaboration with Goodbye Books.

18:00 h*
A performative discussion by Black Palm with video and sound for their new publication, Unangenehme Gefühle 2: Lügen (Black Palm and SIG, 2019), examining the influence of individual experience. Part two of a work performed at Kunsthalle Wien. Participants include Sonja Cvitkovic, Catalon, Verena Dengler, Marine Drouan, Anke Dyes and Megan Francis Sullivan. Presented by Black Palm. *(Programme in English and German).

Sunday, 22 September

13:00 h*
Authors and editors Micha Bonk, Ulrike Boskamp, Joerg Franzbecker, Annette Hans and Sebastian Stein discuss each other’s kuratieren booklets published as part of Verlag der Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung’s publication series examining curatorial formats and ideas beyond exhibitions. Booklets include (some annotations), 2017; Request How To: The flow of spirit in order to master the unbridgeable, 2018; and on [working title], 2019. Presented by Verlag der Arthur Boskamp-Stiftung. *(Programme in German).

14:00 h
Artist Mette Edvardsen performs Black, 2011-ongoing, in connection to her artist book Not Not Nothing, (Varamo Press, 2019). Making things appear, and through spoken words and movements in space, a world will become visible where the performer is the mediator between the audience and what is there. Presented by Varamo Press.

14:30 h
Writer Jeroen Peeters performs The elusive eloquence of dozing off, 2019, following some characters of the Argentine writer César Aira and their exploration of the art of not writing. Presented by Varamo Press.

15:00 h*
Artist Nanne Meyer in conversation with Lena Kiessler of Hatje Cantz on Meyer’s new monograph publication of drawings Gute Gründe. Zeichnungen 1979–2019 (Hatje Cantz, 2019). Meyer explores the diverse relationships between word and image, with a primary focus on shifting processes, such as repetition, transformation, transparency, disappearance and becoming. Presented by Hatje Cantz. *(Programme in German). [Please note, this programme has been updated to reflect a change in date, it was previously scheduled on Saturday, September 21.]

16:00 h*
Artists from around the world decide to live and work in Berlin. Is it due to artistic, personal or political reasons that keep them here? Moderated by journalist Simone Reber, authors Birgit Rieger and Claudia Wahjudi speak about challenges, expectations, coincidences and chances in the city and their book Berlin Interviews (Argobooks, 2019). Presented by Argobooks. *(Programme in German).

17:00 h
Taking Erik Göngrich’s publication series Atlas of Sculptural Situations (EECLECTIC, 2019) as a starting point, Chiara Capodici of Leporello photobooks et al., Janine Sack of EECLECTIC and the artist Erik Göngrich talk about creating audiences via different publishing practices. The Atlas of Sculptural Situations series aims to make a variety of public spaces aesthetically and politically tangible. Presented by EECLECTIC.

18:00 h
Artist Tamami Iinuma in conversation with curator Thibaut de Ruyter about her photographic work, publishing practice, and interactive installation on view during Friends with Books, Piece of colonne, Fragment of waves, 2018-19. In this installation, the booklets’ pages appear and disappear as they are turned, recalling the continuously ebbing and flowing of waves or the ‘breath of architecture’. Presented by Friends with Books.