L’art de vérifier les dates

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This artist’s book presents two different narratives shot on location, as a filmic series of still photographs, in the coastal region of Brittany, France. Each ‘bande de lecture’ (reading band) is presented in the precise order in wich the richly structured photographs were taken.
To enhance the effect of a roll of film (or moie clip) the book is glued so that the pages unfold into a long continuous sheet, approximately 30 pages on each side. By keeping the sequence of images intact, and editing them, soto speak, before they are photographed, Michel Zumpf creates a powerful statement on memory, and the human capacity to organize emotions and history within a geographical location.
Zumpf’s work is a complex contemporary saga of birth, death, and the inbetween; his previous work has included a vast body of visiting cards created for actual, fictional, and historical characters; his most recent forays have taken place in the cinematic medium. Ref.1

Michel Zumpf (1957 Saint-Lô, France) has a "visceral" connection to images, and explores the world rather like a surveyor. One of his most recent works is le Géographe manuel, a kind of endless film conceived as a spiral. A producer of strange objects and of a poetry at the intersection of the real and the surreal, he juxtaposes images and the imaginary to invent a mental space-time that is both individual and collective. Ref.3

Imschoot Uitgevers In 1987 publishing house Imschoot (Ghent- Belgium) started an exceptional series of artists’ books made by international artists (Giovanni Anselmo, Sol LeWitt, John Baldessari, Lawrence Weiner, Hanne Darboven, Robert Barry, Christian Boltanski, Dan Graham, a.o.). Ref.4
In addition to the regular softcover edition (500 to 1000 copies), a deluxe hardcover edition was also issued in a very limited edition, numbered and signed by the artists.
The publishing house ceased its activities in 2006.

References

• Ref.1: Imschoot, uitgevers Catalogue 1993-1994, Artists’ books
• Ref.2: Imschoot, uitgevers Catalogue 1993-1994, IL-Series, The IL-series is a series of artists’ books brought forth by art historian and curator, Cornelia Lauf. The aim of the series is to provide significant artists with less than ten years exhibition history the opportunity to work in the book form. While artists are selected on the basis of their ability to translate their ideas into an artist’s book, experience with the book-making is not necessary. Rather, the artists are united in their awareness of the rhetorical or media impact of the book form, their sensitivity to type and design issues, and understanding of the narrative potential of the artist’s book.
• Ref.3: archives.lenouveauprintemps
• Ref.4: Johan Pas (Een essay door -), Het kunstenaarsboek in België: de voorzet tot een geschiedenis., Kunstenpunt