Art Metropole

#12593

Unbound: A Reader

Artist

Alice Taranto

Date

2016

Publisher

Alice Taranto

Format

Artists' Books

Size

8.5 × 11 in

Length

352 pages

Genre

Books on Books

Description

Unbound is a comprehensive survey of eight historical and nine contemporary serial artists’ publications. The reader is not focused on artists’ books or typical art magazines. The serial publishing projects in Unbound are themselves art/design — the publication is the art, rather than the publication covering art criticism or reviews. Unbound is made in the style of art history course book readers with a heterogenous layout that combines new content with annotated sources. The seventeen publishing projects profiled in Unbound share certain qualities:

—Periodical/serial, not one-offs
—Range from the mid-1950s to present day
—Were generally curated/edited/organized by one person or a small group
—Tend to be experimental in format (not limited to bound printed matter)
—Contributed to by multiple artists
—Intended for public distribution, although generally with limited circulation
—Independently funded/operated—rather than profit, the goal was often creative expression and cultural advancement

The historical publications include Aspen, Fluxus Editions, the Great Bear Pamphlets, the Gutai Journal, the International Society of Copier Artists (or ISCA) Quarterly, Radical Software, SMS aka Shit Must Stop, and the Zero Group’s printed matter. The contemporary publications include Esopus, North Drive Press (or NDP), Printed Web, SP Weather Station, The Thing Quarterly, This is a magazine, Visionaire, Works That Work, and YTB Zine.

Open edition perfect-bound, black and white.

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