As well as the original sets of the bulletins we have just PUBLISHED A NEW SEMINAL REFERENCE SOURCE on the bulletins "Art & project Bulletins 1 - 156 September 1968-November 1989. Published by Cabinet Gallery, London, 20th Century Art Archvies, Cambrdige and Christophe Daviet-Thery Paris, Text by Clive Phillpot. Interview between Adriaan van Ravesteijn and Ton Geerts. Edited by Louise Riley-Smith. Design by Jérome Saint-Loubert

Pictorial wrappers
offset-printed
sewn bound
black-and-white
22.5 x 22.5 cm.
84 pp.
ISBN 9782953934717
Edition of 1000 copies.
Priced at £35.00 see further details and images under Art & Project in "search books for sale" box.


Boxed complete original sets of the bulletins:

156 issues in 50 complete sets, boxed in a specially constructed acid-free box (320x460x60mm) and released by Adriaan van Ravesteijn and Geert van Beijeren, the founders of Art & Project in Holland who issued the bulletins over a period of 21 years.

From the earliest days in 1968 when the bulletin appeared under the title of 'Architectural Research' the small statement printed on the bottom of the front page rings out with the spirit of its' time. "Art & Project plans to bring you together with the ideas of artists, architects and technicians to discover an intelligent form for your living and working space. Art & Project invites you to participate in its exhibitions which will explore ways in which art, architecture and technology can combine with your own ideas."

This statement was to prove prophetic. The bulletin became well-known and as the gallery in Amsterdam grew, it attracted artists in the Conceptual Art Movement to whom the bulletin was a way of conveying art ideas from the artist to the viewer/reader at low cost: it did not have a value except for the ideas it contained; bulletins were mailed free to an international mailing list or distributed from the gallery to visitors. The bulletins contained original material in a sequence which is determined by the artist, but the viewer/reader can read the material in any order but the artist presents it as s/he thinks it should be. As Lawrence Weiner, who made five bulletins states "THEY (BOOKS) ARE PERHAPS THE LEAST IMPOSITIONAL MEANS OF TRANSFERRING INFORMATION FRON ONE TO ANOTHER (SOURCE)."

The important of the bulletins as an archival source on the period is paramount, both through the quality of the original pageworks and the calibre of the artists involved. All the key artists from this period contributed in one and others more bulletins: Robert Barry made four, Stanley Brouwn made seven, Jan Dibbets, six, Hamish Fulton, three, Gilbert & George, four, Douglas Heubler four, Sol LeWitt five, Richard Long, seven, and Allan Ruppersberg two.

From Daniel Buren's transparent bulletin to Sol LeWitt's beautiful bulletin folded into 48 squares, from Bas Jan Aders's final bulletin, (see above) mailed during his last work in which he died to Gilbert & George's tender drawn double portrait, these issues are a unique moving international artwork that stands apart from anything else in this period in its breadth of artists included and the quality of the original work involved due to the freedom given to the artists to express themselves by Art & Project. It is increasingly included in exhibitions concerned with Conceptual Art . Most recently it was included in the major exhibition 'Eye on Europe, Prints, Books & Multiples, 1960 to Now, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2006, (colour illus full page 102), where it formed a part of the section on Language. The complete set is of prime interest to major private collectors and museums and libraries concerned with this period, these 156 issues encapsulate an era.

In response to increasing interest, Art & Project have decided to release from their own stock of original bulletins, 50 strictly limited sets - no further sets will be issued. To achieve this aim and to complete these 50 sets only, each set will contain 7 reprints (clearly marked) and 149 original bulletins. The production of the reprints has been overseen by Adriaan van Ravesteijn (who produced the original bulletins) working with the original printer, thus the reprints are of identical quality to the originals. Each set will also include a new complete full inventory of all the bulletins prepared by Art & Project, this is the only complete listing which is available of the bulletins.

Already these individual bulletins are attracting high values, particularly the Gilbert and George 4 bulletins, including Bulletin number 47 (December 1971) which is a photographic piece signed in red ink by Gilbert and George - ALL 50 SETS HAVE ORIGINALS OF ALL THE GILBERT & GEORGE BULLETINS.

References: Lucy Lippard, Six Years: The dematerialization of the art object from 1966 to 1972, pp 50, 76 (illus), 103, 123, 124, 133, 155, 165, 167, 186, 200, 202, 208, 210 illus, 211, 219, 233, 240, 243, 245, 262. Seth Siegelaub, July/August, Exhibition Book, Studio International, London 1970 pp 41-43 illus Bulletin 15 (Dibbets). Information organised by Kynaston McShine, Museum of Modern Art New York, 1970, p14 illus Bulletin 21 (Matsuzawa). L'Art Conceptuel, Une Perspective, Musee d'Art Moderne de a Ville de Paris, November 1989pp 120-121 illus Bulletin 17 (Barry). Eye on Europe, Prints, books & multiples/1960 to Now, The Museum of Modern Art New York, November 2006, col illus, p. 102.

Viewing can be made by special arrangement.

20th CENTURY ART ARCHIVES IS SOLE DISTRIBUTOR WORLDWIDE OF THESE ITEMS FOR THE WORLDWIDE MARKET - THEY ARE ONLY AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE.

PRICE: Please inquire (postage, packing and insurance not included)

Anne Moeglin-Delcroix writes in 'Extra Art: A Survey of Artists' Ephemera, 1960-1999' California College of Arts and Crafts, San Francisco, 2001 on the process of the bulletins:

"Nearly all the of the "bulletins" published by Art & Project in Amsterdam between 1968 and 1989 are in the format of a large sheet of paper folded in half along the vertical axis so that there are four pages; these are then folded in three horizontal sections so that the bulletin can be sent as a letter. On the first page, in addition to the number of the bulletin - thus presenting it as a kind of periodical - the name of the artists appears, and where appropriate, the dates of the exhibition. The three other pages are put at the artist's disposal so that he or she can create a work for the occasion and for the format. Several of the issues are particularly remarkable, such as No. 43, for which Sol LeWitt simply folded the white paper into squares; or No. 24, a nonproject by Daniel Buren, who decided that this issue would not have a material existence but would nevertheless be numbered in the series. The role of these bulletins thus goes beyond the straight forward announcement of an exhibition. They immediately suggest little movable works that travel by post or are taken away from the gallery by the visitor. In this way, art and information about art become one. They also make it possible for the artist to reach a much wider public than that of the gallery. But above all, the traditional relationship between publication and exhibition is reversed: following a strategy similar to that of the catalogues published by Seth Siegelaub (also as of 1968) the publication becomes more important than the exhibition and sometimes takes its place."



At the bottom of this entry we have images of various installations and exhibitions of the bulletins since 2007.