Marion Bataille, Vues/Lues [Seen/Read], Zeug, France, 2018, ed. 1000

When I first got this accordion and took a look at it, I thought "what the hell," thinking that it was just a bunch of tourist postcards in a faux album, and in a variety of confusing orientations — I couldn't make any sense of it at all! So I did a little research and discovered two really cool other books that Bataille had published (both below). The first one titled ABCD (2008) was a clever alphabet book that when the reader opened a page it activated a folded letter to pop-up fully formed between the pages. The second book 10 (2011), also required the action of the reader, but this time when the pages were opened the folds revealed not only a number on the front, but a descending number on the back from 10-1, very smart stuff!

So, it became clear to me that Bataille was playing with pages in a rather unique and technically sophisticated manner. And then somewhere I read that Vues/Lues was also an alphabet book. It was only then that I both saw and read what she was doing with this accordion. It's an accordion in which she has sequenced these touristy postcards using the predominant shapes in each card to create the letters of the alphabet! This book though, was much simpler technically than the others, and is really a conceptual book. However, it also fits neatly within the arc of Bataille's exploration of the nature and form of the book, and especially the page itself.

12 double-sided pages, each 6" x 4", and when fully opened 4' 4".

A, B

C, D

G, H, I

reverse side

M, N, O

Q, R

 X, Y, Z

back cover

____________________________________________________________________

Marion Bataille, ABCD, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2008

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Marion Bataille, 10, Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2011

Carles Garcia O'Dowd aka G.O'D., Closer to Heaven: A visual opera, Stranedizioni, Italy, 2018, ed. 350

front cover

This accordion is a really wild ride! Taking the popular Mallorcan resort town of Magaluf as his subject, O'Dowd, a native Mallorcan himself, packs it with real and imagined scenarios of people having a seriously good time. All sorts of activities are taking place simultaneously, which this accordion both celebrates, and critiques at the same time. O'Dowd in his artist's statement reflects on this state of affairs and the effects of the global tourist industry when he writes, "In the long run, it's establishing itself as a contemporary form of colonialism; and places like Magaluf can be found everywhere around the globe. This drawing reflects on the reality that such economical models shape, using cartoon imagery from Carles G.O.D.'s fictional cosmogony: The Rise and Fall of Eden." But, in the meantime, everyone parties on!

7 double-sided pages, each 6.5" x 11.25", and when fully open 3' 9.5".

front and back covers

inside the cover with the artist's statement in four different languages

the artist's statement

front

back

back cover

Tydningen, #36, 2020, Sweden

A special accordion issue of this Swedish Journal of Poetry, Criticism and Theory edited by Erik Sandberg and Filip Lindberg, with featured contributors Cheena Marie Lo, Imri Sandström and Jennifer Hayashida.

On their website Tydningen is described as "...a literary journal for poetry, theory, art and critique, with a special interest in creating spaces for critical, exploratory, experimental and experimental practices within the framework of the journal format."  I say, way to go with breaking out into the accordion format and creating a new kind of space, and pages for their inquiries!!

For further information about his periodical: Prenumerera | Köp lösnummer – Tydningen | tidskrift för poesi, kritik och teori

6 pages double-sided, each 8.25" x 5.75", and when fully open 2ft 9.5".

back cover

Levi Sherman, Various Effects of Coffee on the Body, and Rich, Deep, Bittersweet, Center for Book and Paper Arts, Columbia College, Chicago, 2013.

Various Effects of Coffee on the Body, 2013

Two funky little accordions that take coffee as their subject matter and both come from Sherman's research into coffee, indeed in 2013 he traveled to Colombia "...to examine the relationship between Latin American coffee farmers and coffee consumers through photography, interviews and research." The images in both accordions of coffee laborers, were found in Chicago area coffee houses and tasting notes from coffeereview.com.

For a 2014 interview with Sherman about his work see: Featured Artist: Levi Sherman – The Columbia Chronicle

Both accordions: 8 double-sided pages, each 2"x2", and when fully opened 1ft 4".

Rich, Deep, Bittersweet, 2013

Isabella Rotman, Feel Small, This Might Hurt Studios, York, Maine, nd

A fun little accordion with a big message to bring to the world. For more of Isabella's work see: Feel Small — This Might Hurt Studios

4 double-sided pages, each 3" x 2.75", and when opened 1ft 11".

reverse side

PTT-Museum Bern, Mail Art, Switzerland, 1994

Just came across this rather unique accordion catalogue for an artists' stamp invitational exhibition of works from "longstanding participants in the Mail Art Network...", exhibited and produced by the Swiss Postal Museum in an edition of 200, and curated by H.R. Fricker, Gunther Ruch and M. Vanci Stirnemann.

4 single-sided pages, individually 12.5" x 8.75", and when fully open 2ft 1".

show explanation and curators signatures from front of the catalogue