Maurizio Cattelan and Myriam Ben Salah, FAQ, (Le Dictateur #5), Milan, Italy, 2016

Front cover

This is a really wild 25 foot accordion that serves as the 10th anniversary issue (2006/16) of the Italian magazine Le Dictateur. Double-sided and totally visual the curated images are an uneven series of very disparate works that rub up against each other in an unsettling manner. However, this book fits well with the other experimental magazines with their layouts and subject matter that has been the focus of Cattelan's activity within the magazine genre.  Included also is a small booklet with a brief interview about FAQ and a listing that includes details of the 110 works featured in the publication. Le Dictateur was started in 2006 by Frederico Pepe and Pierpaolo Ferrari, and is published in Milan, Italy.

The interview in this booklet answers some questions regarding the publication:

What is FAQ?

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions, referencing an attempt to synthesize a recurrent flow, a tenor, an ideal visual representation and very subjective "now."

How was FAQ conceived?

Born out of an acute image eating disorder, FAQ reflects the mental assimilation of a relentless roving within physical and virtual art spaces: from galleries to tumble account, museum or artists studios.

Why is FAQ developed on an accordion paper format?

FAQ is conceived as a portable exhibition, a show on paper, a project of restitution, a hybrid object that you can both leaf and scroll through. It allows the immediacy of a linear exhibition display while being contained in terms of space, time and resources. 

Is FAQ based upon a theme or concept?

Far from being a rational enterprise because of its lack of rules, hierarchy, order - or concept for that matter - it is expressly and brazenly as personal and biased as possible and only reflects the obsessive mannerism of its authors.

What do the artists featured in FAQ have in common?

Like the above, in theory, nothing. In retrospective, they all produce - in different realms, times and materials - strong images that speak loudly through their immediacy.

Booklet of interviews with the artist and a list of the images in the publication.

Back cover. Double-sided, individual pages 8.25" (h) x 5.75" (w), with a total of 54 pages and fully extended at 25ft 10.5 inches.