""What is an Art book?" is a question that is defined by the density and the variety of responses it evokes. This is a complex question with many possible responses, which will become evident as you travel through the content produced by the 51 contributors. In these 390 pages you will find work by artists, writer, gallery directors, magazine publishers, curators and scriptwriters. Their individual languages collide bringing written language, drawing, video, performance, graphic design, painting, sculpture, photography, found materials as well as hybrids of all of the above.
This book was made as the Modern Language Experiment's response to the Whitechapel Art Gallery's Art Book Fair, at The Mews Project Space over the course of a weekend. Much of the content was produced on site in the project space surrounded by a constant stream of other contributors and audience members; but many more were made in isolation within the artists own studio and brought to the gallery. Through exposure, collaboration, isolation and constraints we hope that we can create an alternative model for art book production and in doing so question the books role and impact on today's society.
With this book we have instigated a conversation that we will continue to develop, a question which will be asked again and again for it is a good question. As the masochists in all of us yearn for the definitive in what cannot be cornered.
Long Live the Art book."--page 9
This book was produced as part of the Artists Book Weekend organised by The Mews Project Space, 23rd-25th September 2011.