Accordion-Fold Artists’ Books

Leporellos by Kiki Smith, Kay Rosen, Nancy Karp, Emmett Williams, Diane Borsato, Raymond Pettibon, Miranda Maher, Robert Morris, Peter E. Clarke, Dave Dyment, Athena Tacha, Dennis Oppenheim, Hansjörg Mayer, Niki de Saint-Phalle and Lucio Fontana. 

Dennis Oppenheim | Flower Arrangement for Bruce Nauman

Dennis Oppenheim
Flower Arrangement for Bruce Nauman
New York City, USA: Multiples, Inc., 1970
[unpaginated], 16.7 x 24.5 cm. [folded], accordion-fold
Edition of 1200

A six-foot long, horizontal, accordion-fold black and white panoramic view of flowers in a forest. The work was produced in an edition of 1200 copies, 200 of which were included in the boxed edition Artists & Photographs, alongside projects by Mel Bochner, Christo, Jan Dibbets, Tom Gormley, Dan Graham, Douglas Huebler, Allan Kaprow, Michael Kirby, Joseph Kosuth, Sol Lewitt, Richard Long, Robert Morris, Bruce Nauman, Robert Rauschenberg, Ed, Ruscha, Robert Smithson, Bernard Venet and Andy Warhol.

The work references Nauman's 1967 National Center for Experiments in Television video Flour Arrangements, in which (in a mock talk-show setting) the artist pours over 50 pounds of flour on the studio floor and then shapes it into ephemeral sculptures.


Bruce Nauman celebrates his 73rd birthday today.

Seth Siegelaub | March 1969

Seth Siegelaub (ed)
March 1969
New York City, USA: Self-published, 1973
31 pp., 21.5 x 18 cm., staplebound, card covers
Edition size unknown

Also known as One Month, this calendar-as-exhibition featured a different artist's work for each day of the month. Siegelaub invited 31 contemporary artists to contribute a "work", and those that replied are featured in the publication.

The calendar opens with the letter sent to the artists:


"Dear Mr. ___________________ ,

I am organizing an International Exhibition of the “work” of 31 artists during each of the 31 days in March 1969. The exhibition is titled “One Month.”....

You have been assigned March ___, 1969. 

Kindly return to me, as soon as possible, any relevant information regarding the nature of the "work" you intend to contribute to the exhibition on your day. 

Your reply should specify one of the following:
1) You want your name listed, with a description of your "work" and/or relevant information. 
2) You want your name listed, with no other information. 
3) You do not want your name listed at all. 

A list of the artists and their "work" will be published, and internationally distributed. (All replies become the property of the publisher.)

Kindly confine your replies to just verbal information. 

All replies must be received by February 15th. If You do not reply by that time, your name will not be listed at all. 

Thank you for your cooperation. 

Sincerely, 

SETH SIEGELAUB. 
21 January 1969


Terry Atkinson, Michael Baldwin, Robert Barry, Rick Bartheleme, N.E. Thing, James Lee Byars, John Chamberlain, Ron Cooper, Barry Flanagan, Alex Hay, Douglas Huebler, Robert Huot, Stephen Kaltenbach, Joseph Kosuth, Christine Kozlov, Richard Long, Robert Morris, Claes Oldenburg, Dennis Oppenheim, Allen Ruppersberg, Robert Smithson, Dewain Valentine, Lawrence Weiner and Ian Wilson all contributed text works.

The no-replies (represented by blank pages) include Carl Andre, Michael Asher, Dan Flavin, Sol Lewitt, Bruce Nauman and Ed Ruscha. Andre and Lewitt had previously participated in Siegelaub's important Xerox Book project.

Huebler sub-divided his day into 30 forty-six minute sections, divided amongst the participating artists. Robert Barry released helium into the air. Christine Kozlov (the only woman invited1), 24 years old at the time, condensed a 24 hour recording into a single looped hour. Dennis Oppenheim buried pages of a science fiction novel. Allen Ruppersberg proposed a walk in the desert, in a straight line. Claes Oldenburg's contribution was simply "Things Colored Red".




1. Ingrid Baxter was a part of the N.E.Thing Co. at the time, but only the name of her then-husband Iain appears. 

Aspen Magazine – Art/Information/Science (#8)

Dan Graham (editor)
Aspen Magazine – Art/Information/Science (#8)
New York City, USA: Aspen Communications Inc., 1970
28.5 x 28.5 cm
Printed folder containing fourteen numbered items

Aspen #8 is often referred to as “The Fluxus Issue”, presumably because George Maciunas was responsible for the design. Though, other than Maciunas, the only artists involved with the publication who were active in Fluxus were Jackson MacLow and La Monte Young, who contributed the recordings on the flexi-disc. MacLow’s Young Turtle Assymetries, chance-generated poems for five simultaneous readers, was the A-side, backed with Young’s Drift Study 31 1 69.

The folder also included a poster version of Ed Ruscha’s Thirty-four Parking Lots, a text by Robert Smithson, and scores by Eleanor & David Antin, Philip Glass and Steve Reich. Other featured artists included Dennis Oppenheim, Richard Serra, Robert Morris, and Yvonne Rainer.

Brian Kennon | The Cindy Shermans I'd Like to Fuck

Brian Kennon
The Cindy Shermans I'd Like to Fuck
Los Angeles, USA: Self-published, 2003
82 pp., 22.5 x 20 cm, paperback
Edition of 250.
Kennon appropriates Cindy Sherman's self portraits to form a portrait of himself, or his libido, at least.

I remember seeing this at the New Museum bookstore a few years ago and kicking myself later for having decided that my luggage could not accommodate any more bookshopping. The title is now hard to come by, and more than five times it's original price. It would make a nice companion to Mike Kelley's Why I Got Into Art.






The Cindy Shermans I'd Like to Fuck is available for $300 US at Printed Matter, where it's currently on display as part of the exhibition HELP/LESS. The exhibition also includes Kennon's Untitled #1, 2006 (Mike Kelley, Silver Ball), Simon Morris' Re-Writing Freud, Dennis Oppenheim's Flower Arrangement for Bruce Nauman, The Festival of Plagiarism by Stephen Perkins, Richard Prince's Catcher in the Rye, David Hammon's Holy Bible, Joseph Kosuth's Purloined, Woman with a Camera (35mm) by Anne Collier, Greg Allen's Canal Zone; Richard Prince; YES RASTA and numerous other titles that "explore the fluidity of authorship in artists' books and multiples." The exhibition runs until September 29th, 2012.

For more information about the exhibition, visit here, and for click here for Brian Kennon's site.