Keeping in mind the overproduction in our own practice, and as a homage to a multiple of Kippenberger, MOREpublishers is working on a collection box; a curated edition that functions as an object and as an exhibition.
Participating artists: Jacques André, Jakup Auce, Denicolai & Provoost, Gaillard & Claude, Erwan Mahéo (with Gijs Milius), Sophie Nys, Christophe Terlinden, Michael Van den Abeele, Leen Voet
The collector seduced
Written by Indra Devriendt
Who doesn’t have a collection? Collecting gives us a good feeling, because it activates our reward network, which encourages us to keep doing it. Besides the excitement and enjoyment, it is the unique and infinite character of a collection that draws us in. It is a form of nostalgia and a tendency towards fetishism, or a love of things: the urge to possess something and to be intensely involved with it.
Amélie Laplanche and Tim Ryckaert love collecting, with a specific preference for the limited collection. With that interest in mind, in 2009 they set up ‘MOREpublishers’. A publishing house with a focus not only on producing, but also exhibiting prints. They invite artists to react or to mediate in formal, technical or context-related limitations. An artist is given a framework to think about, and within which he or she can create something. Whether that be an edition, a postcard, a poster or a series of objects, artists are asked to make the medium their own and to furnish it with something that typifies their practice. In contrast to a unique artwork, the technical reproducibility is part of the process here.
Laplanche & Ryckaert have in the meantime realised five different series, each of which perform to a different rhythm. They are currently being hosted by the Frans Masereel Centre with ‘More Music Box’. This concerns the exhibiting of a box which contains a series of posters and a music medium. The whole is a limited series, which gives you a multiple of multiples. MOREpublishers asked nine artists (Jacques André, Jakup Auce, Denicolai & Provoost, Gaillard & Claude, Erwan Mahéo (in cooperation with Gijs Milius), Sophie Nys, Christophe Terlinden, Michael Van den Abeele and Leen Voet) to choose a song and to create a corresponding poster. This forms a compilation of songs that only come together on the basis of formal characteristics which MOREpublishers gives to the artists. Some select a favourite song, others even create one themselves, according to how it fits with their artistic practice. The poster form of the box is determined by MOREpublishers and refers to the little houses of the Frans Masereel Centre and their residents.
The background to this exhibition is a work by Martin Kippenberger. In the course of twenty years, his print output was so prolific that he was said to be producing too much. Kippenberger responded to this explicitly with multiples in a multiple. He made a lid for a piece of drainpipe, into which he put five posters. MOREpublishers loves the multiple function, i.e. of curating, as both art object and exhibition model. While packaged, it is a sculpture, and when the posters are presented, it is an installation with the box as the centre of the space. MOREpublishers also applies this concept to ‘More Music Box’, which forms an ensemble in order to create an exhibition that depends on the space in which it is shown. They are now presenting the entire series of the object, just as Kippenberger did when he showed a multiple for the first time. The repetition of the same object emphasises the reproducibility, but it is also the only occasion on which MOREpublishers can show the collection box as a whole. Afterwards, each copy will lead its own life and the owner will decide what will happen to it. For those who are already looking forward to collecting this curio – unfortunately, only those who participate in this exhibition will receive a copy. Those who invest time and energy into it will receive the work, rather than those who put money down. The fact that they are not allowed to sell because of the music is one aspect, but much more interesting is the fact that this limited version is beyond the public’s reach. Or, how an unfulfilled collecting craze can generate frustration.
Keeping in mind the overproduction in our own practice, and as a homage to a multiple of Kippenberger, MOREpublishers is working on a collection box; a curated edition that functions as an object and as an exhibition.
Participating artists: Jacques André, Jakup Auce, Denicolai & Provoost, Gaillard & Claude, Erwan Mahéo (with Gijs Milius), Sophie Nys, Christophe Terlinden, Michael Van den Abeele, Leen Voet
The collector seduced
Written by Indra Devriendt
Who doesn’t have a collection? Collecting gives us a good feeling, because it activates our reward network, which encourages us to keep doing it. Besides the excitement and enjoyment, it is the unique and infinite character of a collection that draws us in. It is a form of nostalgia and a tendency towards fetishism, or a love of things: the urge to possess something and to be intensely involved with it.
Amélie Laplanche and Tim Ryckaert love collecting, with a specific preference for the limited collection. With that interest in mind, in 2009 they set up ‘MOREpublishers’. A publishing house with a focus not only on producing, but also exhibiting prints. They invite artists to react or to mediate in formal, technical or context-related limitations. An artist is given a framework to think about, and within which he or she can create something. Whether that be an edition, a postcard, a poster or a series of objects, artists are asked to make the medium their own and to furnish it with something that typifies their practice. In contrast to a unique artwork, the technical reproducibility is part of the process here.
Laplanche & Ryckaert have in the meantime realised five different series, each of which perform to a different rhythm. They are currently being hosted by the Frans Masereel Centre with ‘More Music Box’. This concerns the exhibiting of a box which contains a series of posters and a music medium. The whole is a limited series, which gives you a multiple of multiples. MOREpublishers asked nine artists (Jacques André, Jakup Auce, Denicolai & Provoost, Gaillard & Claude, Erwan Mahéo (in cooperation with Gijs Milius), Sophie Nys, Christophe Terlinden, Michael Van den Abeele and Leen Voet) to choose a song and to create a corresponding poster. This forms a compilation of songs that only come together on the basis of formal characteristics which MOREpublishers gives to the artists. Some select a favourite song, others even create one themselves, according to how it fits with their artistic practice. The poster form of the box is determined by MOREpublishers and refers to the little houses of the Frans Masereel Centre and their residents.
The background to this exhibition is a work by Martin Kippenberger. In the course of twenty years, his print output was so prolific that he was said to be producing too much. Kippenberger responded to this explicitly with multiples in a multiple. He made a lid for a piece of drainpipe, into which he put five posters. MOREpublishers loves the multiple function, i.e. of curating, as both art object and exhibition model. While packaged, it is a sculpture, and when the posters are presented, it is an installation with the box as the centre of the space. MOREpublishers also applies this concept to ‘More Music Box’, which forms an ensemble in order to create an exhibition that depends on the space in which it is shown. They are now presenting the entire series of the object, just as Kippenberger did when he showed a multiple for the first time. The repetition of the same object emphasises the reproducibility, but it is also the only occasion on which MOREpublishers can show the collection box as a whole. Afterwards, each copy will lead its own life and the owner will decide what will happen to it. For those who are already looking forward to collecting this curio – unfortunately, only those who participate in this exhibition will receive a copy. Those who invest time and energy into it will receive the work, rather than those who put money down. The fact that they are not allowed to sell because of the music is one aspect, but much more interesting is the fact that this limited version is beyond the public’s reach. Or, how an unfulfilled collecting craze can generate frustration.
