Gino de Dominicis, Lo Zodiaco, Nero Editions, Rome, 2018, photographs by Fausto Giaccone

This accordion is the documentation of an installation/performance, Lo Zodiaco that Dominicis (1947-1988) created at L'Attico gallery space in Rome between April 4 - 8th, 1970.  "The installation was a sort of tableau vivant, for five days. The signs of the zodiac, all represented by living human beings or animals with the exception of Pisces, were arranged in a semicircle and presented to the public, motionless, for the five days of the exhibition. The twelve figures of the horoscope thus divest themselves of their two-dimensionality of an illustrated almanac to acquire relief, depth, plasticity. All symbolic meaning is deliberately annulled in favour of an exact correspondence between word and image." (Alessandro Rugnone)

In his obituary in the Financial Times (June 1, 2010) Dominicis is described as someone who "...was famously disenchanted with the modern art world. Over the course of his 30-year career, he expressed contempt for critics, curators, catalogues, exhibitions and museums. He regularly refused to take part in shows, frequently destroyed his own work and loathed seeing it reproduced photographically." A further observation in this obit states, "Obsessed with a quest for immortality, he once called on scientists to halt all research and concentrate on finding a cure for death." 

13 single-sided pages, individually 5.5" x 8.25" and when unfolded 8ft 11.25"

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Guy Schraenen, Axe magazine (publicity leporello), Belgium, 1975

front cover

Axe was an important artists' magazine that was edited by the Belgian artist & publisher Guy Schraenen (1941-2018) and came out in 3 issues between 1975-1976. Axe published artists who were working in the field of sound & visual poetry, as well as the work of other conceptually based artists. The periodical contained writings, postcards, cut-outs, fold-outs and each issue included a 17cm record.

This leporello was published at the time of the first issue of Axe in 1975 and would appear to serve as an advertisement for this issue as it features the names of artists published inside. A photograph from the Parisian bookstore (Didier Lecointre et Dominique Drouet) that is handling the artists' estate includes a photograph of the 3 issues of Axe that also includes this leporello (see below).

10 single-sided pages, individually 3" x 3", and when unfolded 2ft 9"

photo with the 3 issues of Axe and the publicity leporello

Evariste Richer, Substrat, Oct. 14, 2012 - January 6, 2013 Centre international d’art et du paysage, Ile de Vassivière, France, 2012

While visiting a show of Richer's conceptually-based sculptural works at the Center for Contemporary Art in Rennes in November, I found in their bookshop a sharply designed accordion catalogue for a show of his from 2012.

Richer's gallery, Meessen De Clercq in Belgium, describes his works as coming out of a "...scientific-exploratory mode..." and that "...he challenges our systems of measurement and our perceptual and spatial conventions".  Indeed, in surveying his works & installations created between 2003-2013 it's immediately apparent that this 'research' approach has been applied to all sorts of very different materials with fascinating and unexpected results.

The works that form the core of this portfolio are from a series titled Les Micachromes (2012) which consists of a series of 11 Cibrachrome photographs (172 x 123 cms). The photographs are enlargements of sheets of mica and the artist "Fascinated by the transparent quality of this rock...has used each sheet as a positive (so there is no actual film) and enlarged it onto Cibachrome paper (a technique threatened with extinction). Having played a significant role in the development of life on earth, mica is seen here in its 'intimacy'. It reveals a natural structure that recalls a formal analogy with gestural art, whether the oriental or Western variant." [selected works: 2002-2013, Meessen De Clercq]

10 single-sided pages, individually 9.25" x 6.75" and when unfolded 5ft 7.5"

leporello with accompanying catalogue

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Paul Yeung, Dark Light, Current Plans, Hong Kong, 2019

A smart perforated postcard accordion by this award-winning Hong Kong based photographer and part-time professor of photojournalism and photography at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who graduated with an MA in Image and Communication (Photography) from Goldsmiths College, London in 2011.

This work was created during the big 2019-2020 protests in Hong Kong over the government's introduction of a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance which would allow China to extradite citizens from Hong Kong to mainland. These were the largest series of demonstrations in the history of Hong Kong.

A statement from the artist accompanying this work situates the piece within Hong Kong's political climate from this period: 

"Created amidst the social turmoil of 2019, Dark Light conveys a world that seems strangely flamboyant and yet has somehow gone awry. Inverted colors forge an uncanny tension between the familiar and the alien, a place where fluttering candles come across as little daggers; the “negative” colors are also reminiscent of analogue photography. In the age of alternative facts, post-truths, and manipulated images, how do we tell what is true or not? How do we stay hopeful while navigating through the frustrations of the “new normal”?"

9 double-sided pages, individual pages 4.25" x 6.25" and when unfolded 4ft 8"

reverse side

Sans Niveau ni Metre, Pli Selon Pli: Leporellos d'artistes, #63, with Simon Cutts, Universite Rennes 2, Rennes, France, 2023

Sans Niveau ni Metre is the house organ for the artists' book collection at the University of Rennes 2 and different issues serve as catalogues for the exhibitions & special projects curated from the University's archive and its partners.

This special leporello issue is a catalogue for an exhibition that myself and Marie Boivent (University of Rennes) co-curated with a combination of leporellos from the University's artists' book collection and some from my collection. One side of the catalogue is taken up with a text by us around the theme of the show as well exploring the varied issues related to the leporello format using examples from the show. While on the other side is a page work commissioned from Simon Cutts the longtime Brit publisher who with his partner Erica Van Horn run Coracle Press out of Ireland. His piece reflects upon the leporello and its own method of transmission and communication.

4 double-sided pages, individually 11.75" x 8.5", and when unfolded 2ft 10"

Simon Cutt's piece

Paul McCartney, Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eye of the Storm, National Portrait Gallery Publications, London, 2023

This accordion was a bit of a surprise to me.

Published by the National Portrait Gallery in conjunction with an exhibition of recently re-discovered photographs taken by McCartney, the exhibition was up from June 28 - October 1, 2023. Documentation of the exhibition [Paul McCartney Photographs] reveals a lively installation with quite distinctive settings for each different series of photographs. This publication displays none of this liveliness and the selection of photographs is nothing special, indeed at least two of them could not have been taken by McCartney as he's in them, and no special effort has been made to utilize the qualities of the accordion format to the book's advantage. A missed opportunity—but then Paul was never my favorite Beatle anyway!!

8 double-sided pages, individual pages 8.25" x 7" and when unfolded 4ft 8"

reverse side

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Alice Guareschi, Je m'appelle Olympia, L'Olympia Music Hall, Paris, 2012

Inspired by a visit to this legendary Parisian music hall and its rich theatrical history, Guareschi was "...mesmerized by the silent wonder of the lights...," and subsequently created this work in response to this vivid experience. A text on the inside of the cover explains in greater detail the different elements that come together in this piece:

"Je m’appelle Olympia is an action for house lights performed by Alice Guareschi on just one occasion at the Olympia Music Hall, the legendary and iconic Parisian venue, on April 12, 2012. The sixteen photographs that make up the series on show at MAN were shot on the same day, right after the live activation of the light choreography in the theatre’s empty space, which involved all thirteen of the coloured lighting channels that are permanently integrated into the architecture. With a fixed framing, similar but not identical, following the precise original lighting score composed by the artist, the images present a sequence of different movements of lights in the auditorium. The photographic series thus becomes a new synthesis of the image-idea and intention behind the performance: to activate a theatre when no show is happening on stage, to play it live, to reawaken its latent memory and the secret life that eludes the spectator’s gaze. By breaking down the duration of the action into photograms that can be viewed either separately or all together, the spatial arrangement of the work now makes it possible to embrace the overall idea at a glance."

This book was made on the occasion of the exhibition Je m’appelle Olympia, Museo d’Arte Provincia di Nuoro (MAN), Italy, July 14–September 17, 2023.

Alice Guareschi (1976) is a visual artist and filmmaker based in Milano. She holds a MA in Philosophy from the University of Bologna with a thesis on experimental cinema. Over the years her work has included a wide range of media such as writing, sculpture and video. In 2005 she was resident artist at the Palais de Tokyo’s Le Pavillon in Paris, in 2012 and 2015 at the Cité Internationale des Arts. Other residencies include Triangle, New York, and Kaus Australis, Rotterdam..

19 double-sided pages, individually 5.5" x 7" and when unfolded 11ft 1"

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