IS A SHOW, IS A SHOP, IS A BOOK will be set up as a temporary bookshop and exhibition for the duration of «Survival Kit». Focussing on the double role of books within the field of art, both as self-contained aesthetic entity and as a medium of information and discourse, a selection of exhibition catalogues, artists’ books and art theory publications will be put on display, a series of evening events will take place.
Evening lectures, presentations and discussions by Goldin+Senneby, Indrek Sirkel, Axel John Wieder, Mirjam Wirz, Alexis Zavialoff, Jonas Žakaitis (amongst others)
Graphic design workshop set up by Urs Lehni & Lex Trüb
Exhibition initiated and curated by Egija Inzule & Maja Wismer
What were the typical characteristics of a bookshop in Riga of the 1950’s and 60’s? A high, at the same time somewhat dark space, with massive bookcases all the way up to the ceiling. The buyer is separated from these by vitrines, in which expensive volumes and office supplies would be displayed. Although covered with glass, they had the optical effect of being as heavy as the bookcases. 1
Within the casual chain-function, in which supply and demand rep- resent the basis of relations which determine the everyday to a large extent, there still exist areas offering possibilities for withdrawal, even if only for a short while. Those areas can be identified as spaces and moments in which the handling of information can be defined freely, and in which information follows the attention of the interested. A conscious, alert attitude in dealing with information is therefore required, not only vis-à-vis its very production and dissemination, but also in the case of its reception. The viewer/ reader is thus introduced to mental spaces, in which possibilities and suggestions are arranged independently and stand at disposal. No finished products or ideas are on offer; it is rather modes of thinking and possibilities for a discourse that are presented as such. Reading, which seemed passive at first, becomes an activity which does not comply with the standard model of information usage (consumption – production – consumption). Reading means to produce something not immediately productive, to read means to create aimless, unconstrained moments and temporal spaces.
The architect Modris Ģelzis, together with the comissioner, intended the bookshop «Mākslas Grāmata», opened 1958 in Riga, to be a site with free access to books and as a place where those thirsty for some culture wouldn’t mind to linger. Walls facing the entrance and free of bookcases were intended for small exhibitions. The most remarkable was the wall with a painting by Kurts Fridrihsons. Right next to it were some small plastic and ceramic objects, placed behind a glass partition. 2
A book in a show becomes an exhibit. As an object, it lies in a display case or hangs against the wall as a picture. Unlike in a bookshop, a book as an exhibit can rarely be touched or purchased. It no longer works like a book standing on a shelf next to other books – wanting to provoke interest, to be leafed through and then to be read, a book that completes itself as such through and with a reader, after all. As an exhibit, a book needs context and mediation. In a show, it becomes a trace for a certain theme someone deemed important, who elaborated its content and published it. Being materially present and as such identifiable, a book is displayed as a tacit, but nevertheless clear pointer towards author, content, as well as both their meaning. For example as a historical document, or a collectors item, as a cult object even. A book can simply be displayed as an aesthetic object, however it will radiate beyond in an exhibition, and function more powerfully as reference, as surrogate or symbol.
1 Jānis Lejnieks, Patiesa forma. Tīrs stils. Modris Ģelzis. Arhitekts. Rīga, 2007, p.67 (Quote translated by Egija Inzule)
2 ibd.