Allen Ruppersberg The Novel That Writes Itself, 2014
Specifications
Binder, 33 x 30 x 11 cm
Contains 468 pages printed on recto only and perforated, each 30.2 x 24.8 cm
Preface by Jan Tumlir, The Torn-Apart Book
Offset printing on paper Edixion Offset 140g
Printed by Arte-Print
Bound by Two Fix Solution
Production
Edition of 24 copies and 6 artist's proofs
Certificate numbered and signed by the artist
Produced and published by par mfc-michèle didier in 2014
©2014 Allen Ruppersberg and mfc-michèle didier
NB: All rights reserved. No part of this edition may be reproduced in
any form or by any means without written permission of the artist and
the publisher.
Produced and published in 2014 by mfc-michèle didier
Selected collections:
Athenaeum Music and Arts library, San Diego
CNAP, Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris
MoMA - Museum Of Modern Art, New York
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
The Novel That Writes Itself is a new edition by Allen Ruppersberg, the fourth production of the artist published by mfc-michèle didier. Prior to this work have been produced the installation The New Five Foot Shelf in 2001, the artist book The New Five Foot Shelf of Books in 2003 and Chapter VI in 2009.
The Novel That Writes Itself is a finished whole of a novel in progress, initiated in 1978 by the artist. This work includes, gathered in a binder of more than 10 cm thick, the text The Torn-Apart Book by Jan Tumlir, in introduction, and a series of 460 single-sided perforated sheets. Page after page, we discover the posters produced by the artist at the Colby Poster Printing Company up until its closing down in 2013, the posters Colby had produced that the artist had collected, and several photographs of past installations of Colby Posters which come to punctuate the narration.
This binder, a heavy object, will give each person the chance to feel the magnitude of the novel-artwork The Novel That Writes Itself. The work is meant to be Allen Ruppersberg's autobiography, as fictionalized as it may be, and must therefore embrace the essence of the artist's work during the past 40 years.
7.09 x 9.84 x 1.97 in ( 18,5 x 25 x 5,5 cm )
10.63 x 13.78 x 1.57 in ( 27 x 35,5 x 4 cm )
9.84 x 12.2 x 1.97 in ( 25 x 31 x 5,5 cm )
Poster : 35.83 x 28.74 in, book : 10.63 x 8.27 in
Sign 21.65 x 35.43 in, each poster 22.05 x 13.78 in
Each poster 57.87 x 35.43 in
9.06 x 6.3 x 1.97 in ( 23,5 x 16,5 x 5,5 cm )