Ian Hamilton Finlay, Echoes Series, Wild Hawthorn Press: Little Sparta, Scotland, 1994

I don't pretend to know what's happening in this accordion by the incorrigible Scottish poet Ian Hamilton Finlay. With this piece he takes up one of his persistent themes — the post-revolutionary period in France and the Jacobins, one of the more radical groups formed in this period, and who were responsible for the Reign of Terror from 1793-94.

The first quote is from Guillaume Apollinaire, the second by Finlay himself and the third by the distinguished art historian Stephen Bann, a friend who has written and lectured extensively about Finlay's fascinating and complex works.

4 pages, one-sided, individual pages 5.25"(h) x 4"(w), when opened 16".

back pages

Igor Hofbauer, Grrad, Strane Edizioni: Seripola, Italy, 2015, ed. 300

I have no idea what the title of this accordion means. Igor Hofbauer is from Zabreb, Croatia and studied in that city's Academy of Fine Arts. Known as an illustrator and designer of many music posters for the Zagreb club Mo?vara, he more recently has been experimenting with comics. This accordion features one side with a long and wonderful panoramic image that depicts a post-apocalyptic urban landscape, and on the reverse is a series of images that reveal none of the power of the image overleaf. 

12 pages, double-sided, individual pages 9.5" (h) x 6.25 (w) and when fully opened 6ft 3".

 reverse side 

back cover

Francoise Lison-Leroy, Collette Nys-Mazure (texts) and Camille Chevrillon (drawing), Encore un quart d'heure [Another quarter of an hour], Esperluete Editions: Noville-sur-Mehaigne, Belgium, 2012, reprinted 2016

This is an absolutely adorable accordion that takes as its theme the often heard plea from young children begging their parents to let them have "another quarter of an hour" to play!  Each page imagines a different, and often humorous activity that could be done in this short space of time. But it's the beautiful pencil drawings by Camille Chervrillon that really captivates and charms, as it weaves higgledy-piggledy throughout the length of this almost 11ft accordion book. I can well understand why this version is a reprint of the 2012 original, since many people must have fallen under its wonderful spell!

29 pages, single-sided, each page 6.5" (h) x 4.5" (w), and when fully open 10ft 10.5".  Available from: http://esperluete.be/

front and back covers

Ben Sanair, Going to Japan, La General Minerale: Avignon, France, 2018

This is a really fun 2-color screen printed accordion in which Ben Sanair documents, in words and images, a trip to Japan he made at the end of 2017. While in Tokyo, Sanair attends the opening of a show of his art work at the legendary bookstore Taco Ché, as well as playing a gig with the experimental Japanese band, Kuro Pipe. This accordion really communicates Sanair's excitement at being in this new country as he records his encounters with the unique features of Japanese culture.  

Ben Sanair is based in Avignon, France, where with his partner, Julie Big, they run a cool print studio called La Generale Minerale [http://www.lageneraleminerale.net/] - check it out!

Each page 5.5" (h) x 3.5" (w), 36 pages one-sided, when fully opened 10' 6".

end page

Jason Lazarus and Martha Rosler, 202-456-1111, Visual Studies Workshop: Rochester, 2018

the screen printed envelope holding both the accordion
and accompanying book

This is a really powerful publication that takes direct aim at the current administration in the White House.  I'll let Jason Lazarus explain what this accordion and accompanying booklet, with a wonderful and timely text by Martha Rosler, are about.

"Since the inauguration of the 45th President of the United States, I have been creating photograms. The text that repeats throughout these images, 202-456-1111, is the White House phone number, which began the current administration Disconnected.

I'm not sure if photograms is the exact term for these works. A friend called them chemigrams, but after looking it up, I learned that chemigrams are made in full light.

These are made quickly, like a protest sign, and in the dark. They are made with arms and standing on legs that have a rare congenital condition, arthrogryposis, the same one that NY Times reporter Serge F. Kovaleski—who 45 mocked on November 25, 2015—lives with.

The repetition of resistance requires very close scrutiny. The lives of the targets of this administration are infinite, complex, and irreducible. When we become students of these lives, as well as our own, the multitude of details we discover implores us to become fully formed and in formation with each other."

This is dynamite stuff, and combined with Rosler's pointed text, both the accordion and the book leave no doubt as to where this artists' outrage is directed. 

10 pages, double-sided, 10"(h) by 8"(w), when opened 6ft 8".

the accordion with envelope

the accordion

Martha Rosler's text takes up the whole reverse of the accordion

The 44 page book accompanying Lasarus' accordion reproduces Rosler's text as well as a series of works by Lazarus' centered around the telephone number of the White House, which is the title for this both this book and the entire work "202-465-1111."

Fritz Haeg, The Sundown Salon Unfolding Archive, Evil Twin Publishing: Livingston Manor, NY, 2009, ed. 500

In the year 2000, Fritz Haeg acquired a geodesic dome on a hill in Los Angeles and wanted to share this unique property with others. In spring 2001 he sent out an email to everyone he knew describing the house and announcing the beginning of Sunday Salons, which he anticipated serving as "a gathering place for the free exchange of ideas and art through events, happenings, gatherings, meetings, pageantry, performances, shows, stunts, and spectacles." The inaugural Sundown Salon took place on April 4th, 2001, with 100 people attending this first gathering. Between 2001 and 2006, 30 Sundown Salons took place and this very substantial accordion book is the record of what took place at these widely varying events, with a chapter devoted to each Salon. Photographs and visual documentation are presented on one side and texts & written materials about each Salon is on the reverse side. 

This is an incredible archival document of a really fascinating home-based project that took shape in many different and varied ways, and all of this activity is captured in this wonderful publication.

189 pages, 8.5"(h) by 8.5"(w), when opened its an incredible 133ft 10.5".

back of book