Josef Koudelka, Teatro del Tempo, (2003) and Decreazione, (2013)

accordion with slip cover

Powerful two-page accordion spreads display Koudelka's gritty photographs taken in Rome between 1999-2003.

56 single sided pages, individually 8.25" x 11.5", when fully opened 53ft 8"

accordion with slip cover

"The Holy See participates this year for the first time in la Biennale di Venezia with a pavilion inspired by Book of Genesis. For the second of the interlinked exhibition trio named Creazione, De-Creazione and Ri-Creazione, the Vatican approached the photographer Josef Koudelka. A 22-page folder with design by Aleš Najbrt accompanies the exhibition of nine large format panoramic photographs speaking about “the opposition of man to the world and to moral and natural laws, and material destruction deriving from the loss of ethical meaning.” [Aleš Najbrt website]

21 single sided pages, individually 8.75" x 11.5", and when fully opened 20ft 1".

Agence MYOP, Sine Die: March 16 - May 11, 2020, André Frère Éditions, Marseille, France, 2020

This is a powerful photographic book that evolved in response to the imposition of the Covid-19 lockdown in France in 2020. The accordion is made up of works by 19 photographers from the agence MYOP group, and was designed under the artistic direction of Pierre Hybre, Stephane Lagoutte and Jean Larive, accompanied with an introductory essay by Michel Poivert. The sine die of the title (meaning: without any future date indicated) only serves to emphasize our then collective nervousness about this dangerous new virus, and how long it would be with us.

I'll let the statement on the inside flap of this book introduce its theme and how these photographs came to be created during the first 56 days of the lockdown:

"Ever since the lockdown was announced in France on March 16, 2020, photographers of the agence MYOP have felt the need to document this historic 

event.

For the whole 56 day duration, highly sensitive to the impact of Covid-19 on our environments, we photographed the parts of the country where we were locked 

in and restrained. Every day, the pictures we shot were pasted on our Instagram account, putting together online of 465 images reproduced on the back of the Leporello.

From this corpus we have selected 56 pictures, one per day, creating a new chronology of this period where the horizon disappeared. Michel Poivert has drawn free inspiration from them to write a series of antilegnedes."

On the side of the accordion with the 56 photographs there is a real sense of dislocation, of people isolated and confined, and the outside with its empty streets and everyone trying to adjust to the new 'space' of the virus. The variety of images brush up against each other in their depictions of this new environment and together they create a poignant momento to those early days of the pandemic.

The reverse side of the book has small reproductions of all 465 images shot during the 56 day time period, as well as a listing documenting the credits for each photograph (photographer/title/location)

59 double-sided pages, individually 8.5' x 6.25" and when fully extended 31ft 11.5".

reverse side

back cover

Zuzana Pustaiová, One Day Every Day, Bratislava, Slovakia, 2022, ed. 300

This is a beautifully produced high gloss accordion that feels great in one's hands. However, it's not a straightforward accordion either, as it has a number of folded in fold outs that surprise the reader as you navigate the publication. Speaking about this new book Pustaiová said the larger themes were, "...about stereotypes and everyday life." Indeed, a majority of the photographs in the book depict daily activities and its objects, but usually with some kind of twist as well. But food, bodies and how we look and dress is the structure on which this accordion was constructed. It's a funny, amusing, and surreal sequencing of her cool photographs.

The book is accompanied with an essay by the photography curator, Branislav Stepanek, in which he expands upon the theme of book concluding, "The book could be an authentic testimony of a conformist rebel whose life taught them that any attempt to break the social rules conclusively means they will never fully fit in. It is about a path more difficult, the need to belong and, at the same time, not bending under the pressure of education, social bubbles, media, gender roles and even one's own social beliefs. Someone has truly taken this path. Only time will tell how viable it is."

62 double-sided pages, individually 9.5" x 6.5", 8' 6.5".

slipcover and the accordion

reverse side

back cover

Marco Marzocchi, Oyster, Void, Athens, 2019, ed. 480

This is a really powerful photographic accordion book, with the feel of a family album, in which Marzocchi reckons with the legacy of his upbringing with his parents by splicing together a variety of different types of photographs. Created over ten years the artist states that: 

"This work represents my experience in recovering and understanding my parents, their life and their relationship with me. I never knew them well because they split when I was 6 years old, and they both died young. Drugs, addictions, jail and dysfunctional environment, these were constant elements. This work is focused on dealing with and replacing all the doubts and fears that I had. Exorcising the pain and searching for love."

The snake on the front cover is a reference to the 'Ouroborus', an ancient Egyptian and Greek symbol symbolizing the unity of all things, as well that of rebirth. The pacing of this book, the use of the white space of the page and the careful placement of the photographs, coupled with the varied types of imagery, all seem to be part of the larger work of the book — the creation of a new narrative of Marocchi's relationship with his parents, and the opportunity to move forward towards a more positive future, a rebirth of sorts.

84 single-sided pages, individually 6.5" x 5.25" and when fully opened 36' 9".

back cover

Picasso Gaglione, A Accordion Book, self-published, Knoxville, 2022

My mate Picasso Gaglione has been sending me a bunch of his DIY accordions over the last year or so, and some are more wacky than others (search this blog!). But this one combines a photograph of us both from when I visited Picasso in his lair deep in the Knoxville countryside, and I'm assuming he must have been showing me the latest issue of his artists' periodical Stampzine. To participate in this cool rubber stamp assembling zine, see below for submissions info: Stamplandchicago.com - Posts | Facebook

And then with the flick of a wrist the attached accordion comes to life. Nice one, Picasso!

6 single-sided pages, size 1" x 1.5", and when unfolded 9".

Paul Éluard, Liberté, Flammarion, Paris, 1945/2012

This accordion is based on the poem of the same name by the well-known French Surrealist poet Paul Éluard (1895-1952). Written in 1942 in the dark days of the German occupation the poem consists of 22 quatrains. It's only in the final quatrain that Éluard plays his hand and specifically declares what he is writing about.

By the power of the word

I regain my life

I was born to know you

And to name you Liberté

One side of this French edition of the accordion reproduces the 22 quartrains that make up the poem, and the other side features cutouts at the top of the pages, along with information about the German occupation, an appreciation of Éluard as an 'engaged poet', and a recounting of how this resistance poem would become so well known. 

This accordion's rather unique design was conceived by Anouck Boisrobert and Louis Rigaud.

20 double-sided pages, page height is variable, width 7.5", when fully open 12ft 6".

back cover