Marinus BOEZEM
Paper Events
Belgium: Multi-Art Press, 1970 2 copies: 1 to keep as original, 1 to rematerialize according to the artist’s instructions 29,8 x 21,5 cm., [16]pp., softcover in plastic pouch. Pas, n° 192 Ref.1 Edition of 250 signed and numbered copies. The label outside the pouch with the signature and numbering is missing from our copies. Due to the artist’s ‘instructions’, the number of 250 original copies has been greatly reduced.
Conceptual Art, Artist Book, Avant-Garde
Info
The work ‘Paper Events’ is a DIY (Do It Yourself) multiple and therefore more than an artist book. The cover and the first page inside have already been done by Marinus Boezem. From page three instructions are given:
page 3 – cut with a pair of scissors
page 5 – wrinkle and throw away
page 7 – cut with a pair of scissors
page 9 – tear
page 11 – soak in water
page 13 – hang in open window
page 15 – burn rest of the book and keep in plastic bag.
Ref.2
‘On reflection, however, the conceptual artists, despite their progressive ideas concerning art, employed the book in a rather traditional manner. It was used primarily as a passive carrier of their ideas, and the material parameters of the medium of the book itself were hardly ever questioned. This would change soon enough. In 1970, the Dutch conceptual artist Marinus Boezem (born 1934) paved the way for the postconceptual, ‘rematerialized’ artist’s book with his Paper Events. 4 The booklet was entirely blank, and came in a transparent plastic cover containing readers’ instructions for every single page: they were to be cut, fumbled, thrown away, ripped, drowned in water, or hung out of an open window. Finally, the reader was told to burn the booklet and keep the ashes in the plastic cover.’ Johan Pas. Ref.3
See also the declaration of love by blogger and booklover Dave Dyment on artistbooksandmultiples Ref.4
Marinus Boezem (1934) is a Dutch artist and is seen as one of the main representatives of conceptual art and arte povera in the Netherlands in the late 1960s. represented worldwide in exhibitions (such as S.MA.K., Ghent; Kunsthalle, Bern; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Stedelijke Museum, Amsterdam; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Musée d’Art Contemporain, Lyon; M HKA, Antwerp; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo) and collections ( including Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; MCA, Chicago; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; and MoMA, New York.) Ref. 5
References
- Ref.1: Johan Pas; Artists’ Publications: The Belgian Contribution; Koenig Books; London; 2017
- Ref.2: RKD Nederlands instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis
- Ref.3: Johan Pas, Performing the page, material as a strategy in the postwar artist’s book. Paper events: Marinus Boezem and George Macionas. p.12, Het vertaalcollectief
- Ref.4: artistsbooksandmultiples.blogspot.
- Ref.5: artlead.net
Sale
Shipping: Free (Europe)
Item reference: 001061
Terms of Sale
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