Art & Project Bulletins

ART & PROJECT BULLETINS 1968-1989

The exhibition will be at the Gallery  October 27th 2011

January 21th 2012.

Art is to change what you expect from it
Seth Siegelaub

A unique opportunity to purchase a complete set of this important archival document direct from the original source: 156 issues in 50 complete sets, boxed in a specially constructed acid-free box (320 x 460 x 60 mm) and released by Adriann van Ravesteijn and Geert van Beijeren, the founders of Art & Project in Holland who issued the bulletin 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 you own ideas".

This statement was to prove prophetic. The bulletin became well-known and as the gallery in Amsterdam grew,it  attracted artists all over the world who wanted to contribute to or use the bulletin to explore their own work. It appealed to artists in the Conceptual Art movement to whom the bulletin was a way of conveying art ideas from the artists to the viewer/reader at a 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 arttist, but the viewer/reader can read the material in any order but the artist présents it as s/he thinks it should be. As Lawrence Weiner, who made five bulletins states "THEY (BOOKS) ARE PERHAPS THE LAST IMPOSITIONAL MEANS OF TRANSFERRING INFORMATION FROM ONE TO ANOTHER".

The importance of the bulletins as an archival source on the period is unrivaled, both through the quality of the original pageworks and the calibre of the artists involved all the key artists from this period contributed one and often more bulletins : Robert Barry made four, Stanley Brown made seven, Jan Dibbets six, Hamish Fulton three, Gilbert & George four, Douglas Huebler four, Sol Lewitt five, Richard Long seven, and Allen Ruppersberg two.

From Daniel Buren’s transparent bulletin to Sol Lewitt’s beautiful bulletin folded into 48 small squares, from Bas Jan Ader’s final bulletin mailed during his last work in which he died to Gilbert & George’s fragile double portrait,thèse issues are a unique moving international artwork that stands apart from anything else in this period in its breath of artists included and quality of original work involved. It is increasingly included in exhibitions concerned with Conceptual Art and its influences.The complete set is of prime interest to major private collectors and muséums and libraries concerned with the artists involved with the bulletins. 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 strictely 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.
(via http://davietthery.wordpress.com/2011/09/)