Mariana Castillo Debar, Kaleidoscopic Eye, Bom Dia Books, Berlin, 2019, ed. 600

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Originally published as part of this Mexican artist's exhibition, Kaleidoscopic Eye, in 2009 at the Kunst Halle Sankt Gallery, Germany, it has now been republished in this new 2019 edition. Aside from the accordion format, this publication also includes two booklets inserted into the book that reproduce three texts by Debar, and one by Dario Gamboni. Debar writes that "...the kaleidoscope serves as a metaphorical lens in which a viewer's gaze is returned, fragmented, and augmented in a similar way that cultural artifacts are pieced together as a reflection of a particular historical narrative". And further she states about her 'kaleidoscopic' practice that it mediates "...between science, archeology, and the visual arts and exploring the way in which these disciplines describe the world. Her installations, performances, sculptures, and editorial projects arise from the recombination of different languages that seek to understand the role objects play in our identity and history." Further, she writes "...to initiate a dialogue with institutions and museums beyond contemporary art, she collaborates with ethnographic collections, libraries and historical archives, in order to explore how they might generate new territories. Weaving her way through the fields of anthropology, philosophy, and literature". (Mariana Castillo Deball)

This is an unusual accordion in that it takes as its subject the fields of science and the visual arts and is grounded in a research practice that seeks to present a polyphonic panorama of her subject(s) informed by her work in ethnographic collections, libraries and historical archives. 

22 double-sided pages, individually 7" x 4.5", and unfolded 8ft 3"

reverse side with titles of works

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Mark Grotjahn, 50 Kitchens: 2013-2018, Mark Grotjan Studio, 2022, ed. 1500

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                                                  accordion with title page

In 2018 Grotjahn had an exhibition at LACMA (Los Angeles) and premiered what he calls his "Butterfly" compositions, and this cool leporello reproduces, on a smaller scale, all the works in this fascinating series. I'll let the LACMA statement about the show describe the works: "Conceived as one work, 50 Kitchens takes its inspiration from a single composition (in black and cream-colored pencil) that Grotjahn made to meet the dimensional specifications of a wall in his kitchen. The more than 50 subsequent chromatic drawings explore pairs of radiating colors (like Tuscan Red and Chartreuse, or Grass Green and Canary Yellow) and together create a prismatic display. The works allude to artists interested in color, light, and optics, such as Wassily Kandinsky and the Op art painters of the 1960s, and also incorporate residual traces of earlier drawings that have been seamlessly integrated into the new works".

The reverse side of each page of the leporello has the title of the individual works and here's an example:

Untitled

(Muted Turquoise and Nectar Butterfly 49.02)

Here's a link to further information about Grotjahn: Mark Grotjahn « Artists « BLUM

55 double-sided pages, individual pages 5.75" x 3.25" and when unfolded 14ft 10.75"

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