things noted

De dichter spreekt weer

2012-02-16T13:15:00.001-05:00

De dichter spreekt weer bevat nieuwe poëzie op basis van bestaande teksten. De gedichten zijn louter geschreven met (herschikte) dichtregels van Richard Minne. Ook de titels van de gedichten zijnafkomstig uit het oeuvre van Minne. Het boekje bevat 8 gedichten en is verkrijgbaar voor 7,50 euro. Verzendingnaar een Nederlands adres is 1,50 euro, buiten Nederland 2,55 euro. Voor meer informatie, zie mijn website.

De gedichten worden voorgedragen op de Richard Minne-avond in Het Pand te Gent, 1 maart 2012, aanvang 20.00 uur.

Gent

2012-02-13T10:39:00.001-05:00

Op 1 maart ben ik in Gent voor een optreden op de RichardMinne-avond in Het Pand (aanvang 20.00 uur). Ik lees er onder andere een nieuwe reeks gedichten voor die zijn geschreven met regels van Minne. Deze reeks zal volgende week worden gepubliceerd onder de titel De dichter spreekt weer. Aankondiging volgt.

Less Américains

2012-02-13T08:35:00.001-05:00

Mishka Henner's new book was just released. I wrote the introduction for it. For more information and a preview see Mishka's site.

De meeuw

2012-02-13T08:25:00.000-05:00

Rotterdam

2012-02-09T16:17:00.002-05:00

WildeBoekenMarkt 2012
opening: vrijdag 11 februari om 19.00 tot 23.00 uur
open: zaterdag 12 en zondag 13 februari van 14.00 tot 19.00 uur

Wil van Iersel en ik zijn aanwezig bij de ABC Artists' Books Cooperative tafel. Mijn boeken zijn op vrijdagavond en zondag te zien en te koop.

2 anagrams + meanwhile writes

2012-01-07T10:47:00.002-05:00

Meanwhile

the online bastard
writes
a bad Hitler sonnet.

4 anagrammen + in

2012-01-07T10:15:00.002-05:00

Annabel Trotsheid

ontastbare heldin
blaart hedonisten
het inertnaaldbos
in.

Photo-eye list

2011-12-29T05:11:00.000-05:00

Here are my picks for Photo-eye's list of the best books of 2011. http://www.photoeye.com/magazine_admin/index.cfm/bestbooks.2011

Stepping away from photobooks, some of my favorite books closer to home this year:
'Een paard vrijlaten in het veld' Jan Lauwereyns, Kiwao Nomura and images by Kris Martin (Druksel, Gent)
'27 werkinstrumenten ter verrafeling' Johan Velter (Cacodylate, in het lieflijke Laval)
'De leerschool van het lijden' Carlo Emilio Gadda in the excellent translation by Frans Denissen (Athenaeum-Polak & Van Gennep, Amsterdam).

Farbenlehre

2011-12-22T05:53:00.004-05:00

A study of Farbenlehre, a wonderful Useful Book by Alec Soth.

The reader

2011-12-22T03:48:00.002-05:00

Alec Soth in command of the magnifying glass that comes with Another World.

Liefde

2011-12-16T11:10:00.000-05:00

Ik volg met interesse Johan Velter's serie "23 dingen over de teleurgang van de openbare bibliotheek" over o.a. het waanzinnige systeem van het (nieuwe) ordenen van boeken. In Leerdam heeft men onlangs ook een nieuwe ordening ingevoerd. Wetenschap is spannend, gezondheid is liefde, waar gebeurd bestaat, en is ook liefde. Single & Sexy. Lekker lezen. De geluidstrack hierbij is een voorleesmoeder op maximaal volume. Ooit was de openbare bibliotheek voor mij een bijzondere plaats.

Wim Bronzwaer

2011-12-15T09:08:00.001-05:00

Chris Burnett just mentioned the word topoi to me, and it brought back memories of classes with Wim Bronzwaer in the nineties, especially a class where he explained the concept of the locus amoenus. If there is a topos of literary professor, Wim Bronzwaer should be the example. But it is just as true that he outdid the model. There are no pictures of him online, so I thought I'd put one here, from the booklet of his funeral, January 26, 1999.

Useful Phrase

2011-12-02T06:41:00.001-05:00

* quote from A Dialogue in Useful Phrases. The book won the Jury Prize in the Sheffield International Artist’s Book Prize. Jurors were Maria White (Tate Library), Sarah Bodman (The Centre for Fine Print Research at UWE) and John Clark (Bank Street Arts).

Dead Darlings in Gent

2011-11-23T11:29:00.001-05:00

Another World

2011-11-17T06:56:00.001-05:00

Another World is a small book presenting two different worlds that somehow both exist and that both seem very distant.

The edition is small as well. A magnifying glass is supplied to study another world closer. More information here.

Korean Dante

2011-11-17T05:05:00.001-05:00

From interview about "In this Dark Wood" in Iann Magazine, vol. 7, edited by Jason Fulford.

Fair at Pakhuis de Zwijger

2011-11-17T04:02:00.001-05:00

I'll be showing books at the Art and Design Book Fair, Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam, November 27, 11AM-17PM.

Dead Darlings

2011-11-17T03:39:00.001-05:00

I'm participating in Dead Darlings #7, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Gent, Belgium, 3 december 2011.

Upcoming fairs

2011-11-05T13:55:00.001-04:00

Editions and Artists’ Books Fair,New York City,booth of Johan Deumens Gallery, November 3-6, 2011.

Offprint, Paris, booth of ABCArtists’ Books Cooperative, November 10-13, 2011.

Participating in discussion ‘Artist as Publisher’ with Andreas Schmidt, Mishka Henner, Jonathan Lewis, Elisabeth Tonnard, Delphine Bedel, Stephen Gill, José Pedro Cortès, Erica Overmeer, Erik Van der Weijde. Curator and moderator: Yannick Bouillis. 12AM-1PM, Le Bal
Booksigning November 12, 3PM, booth of ABC Artists’ Books Cooperative

Amsterdam Art & Design BookFair, Pakhuis De Zwijger, 27 november 2011, 11-17.00.

Beurs voor Kleine Uitgevers,Paradiso, Amsterdam, 4 december 2011, 13-17.00.

IANN

2011-10-09T13:44:00.005-04:00

Just released, a special issue of IANN Magazine titled "Bound together". Edited by Jason Fulford the issue discusses the decision processes behind 8 different photobooks, including my book In this Dark Wood, Alec Soth's Broken Manual, Jason Fulford's The Mushroom Collector, Rinko Kawauchi's Illuminance, Shannon Ebner's The Sun as Error, Matt Keegan's A History of New York, Duegyoung Lee's Two Faces, Seung Woo Back's Utopia/Blow Up. http://www.iannmagazine.com/current_issue_en.htm

Little big press

2011-10-04T07:30:00.003-04:00

Myself and a few other ABC members are participating in Little big press, during Fotoleggendo in Rome.
"A new collection of self-published and independent publishers books from all over the world is ready to be on show at Fotoleggendo, with special corners devoted to limited edition books, magazines, zines, a fold-up section and some contaminations with the world of drawing."

Fotoleggendo - ISA
Via del Commercio, 13
Roma,Italia

Opening on October 7th, 6.30 PM
Opening hours: October 8 and 9 / 10 am - 7 pm
October 7-23 / Monday-Saturday / 4pm - 7 pm / closed on Sunday

After the London Art Book Fair

2011-09-28T14:28:00.001-04:00

booksigning

2011-09-14T10:04:00.002-04:00

There will be a booksigning for Enduring Freedom. The Poetry of the President on September 24th at the London Art Book Fair at Whitechapel. ABC Artists' Books Cooperative table, 1 PM.

The Story of a Young Gentleman

2011-09-10T07:28:00.004-04:00

An ultra-short story that in defiance of literary taste and publishing conventions manifests itself as a novel-sized book, even containing the entire text of Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
It brings to mind a fly thinking it might drive a car, a raindrop imagining it will drown a city, a particle of dust readying itself to make you stumble.

Published by Elisabeth Tonnard, Leerdam, The Netherlands, 2011.
B&W, perfect bound paperback. 350 pages. Priced at 35 euro, plus shipping.

For more information and orders: http://elisabethtonnard.com/works/the-story-of-a-young-gentleman/

Enduring Freedom. The Poetry of the President

2011-09-10T07:24:00.001-04:00

Speeches that George W. Bush madeshortly after the 9/11 attacks, are turned into poetry in this book. The tonevaries as we witness consolatory words and war speech. What does not change isthe intensity of the rhetoric used.

The poems first appeared in theDutch literary magazine Armada, tijdschrift voor wereldliteratuur,No. 24, December 2001.

The edition is printed on a paperthat adds its own voice to the project in the form of a watermark. It reads“conqueror”, the brand name of the paper. Not only does that word seem todescribe the voice in the book, it is also a description of itself; the watermarkas a rhetoric, as a conquest.

The edition is limited to 124numbered copies. Published in Leerdam, The Netherlands, September 2011. Priced at 18 euro. Shipping 2 euro (everywhere).

For more information and orders: http://elisabethtonnard.com/works/enduring-freedom-the-poetry-of-the-president/

le garage

2011-06-30T06:42:00.003-04:00

An exhibition of photography and artists' books that I'm participating in. The opening is next week in Arles, during the International Photography Festival, Les Rencontres d'Arles.

ABC Reviews

2011-04-28T15:22:00.008-04:00

Fifteen-year-old Chessie Burnett from Ohio reading the first copy of ABC Reviews, ordered online and printed on demand.

Established in 2009, ABC Artists’ Books Cooperative is an international distribution network created by and for artists who make print-on-demand artists’ books. ABC Reviews shows the immense impact of ABC in the world.

"If only the airlines worked as well as ABC!"

See a preview of the book here.
The book is priced at 10 euro (excl. shipping) and available directly from me, or through Blurb.
Leerdam, The Netherlands, 2011. This is a print-on-demand book, B&W, perfect bound, containing 68 pages.

Amsterdam Art Book Fair

2011-04-14T05:29:00.002-04:00

With the ABC Artists' Books Cooperative I'm participating in the first Amsterdam Art/Book Fair. The fair aims to reflect on the emerging practices and new development in art, through a selection of publishers from 16 countries. Printed matter and digital media edited by independent publishers and artists, magazines and institutions, art schools and graphic design studios are featured in this first edition.

Saturday 14 & Sunday 15 May, at De Brakke Grond, Amsterdam.

fair

2011-01-26T10:52:00.003-05:00

In the same weekend as Art Rotterdam, I'm participating in the WildeBoekenMarkt for artists and small publishers. Beside my own books I'll be showing a selection of recent titles by Joachim Schmid.

Opening: 11 February 2010 19.00 – 21.00h
Open: Saturday 12 – Sunday 13 February 2011 from 14.00 to 19.00.
Location: Het Wilde Weten, Robert Fruinstraat 35, 3021 XB Rotterdam
Entrance: free.

ergernisrozet

2010-12-28T05:50:00.000-05:00

2010-12-08T19:04:00.000-05:00

paradiso

2010-11-28T10:48:00.002-05:00

On December 5th from 1-5PM there is the annual small publisher's fair (Beurs van Kleine Uitgevers) in Paradiso, Amsterdam which I'm finally attending this year. Johan Velter from Druksel will be there, presenting an incredible line-up of bibliophilic books. I'm very happy to have published three books with him. De wereld zou meeuw and "Speak, eyes - En zie! will be available at the fair, De wereld is er has been sold out.

offprint

2010-11-16T12:51:00.003-05:00

ABC is participating in Offprint Paris, an artists’ books fair dedicated to photography publications. Stop by to see what's up; I myself will be there from Thursday to Saturday.

Admission is free. November 18–21, at Espace Kiron, 10 rue de la Vacquerie, 75011 Paris.
(Lovely photo by Fred Free, our booth at the NY Art Book Fair.)

book fairs

2010-10-27T18:40:00.003-04:00

Next week it's time for both the Editions and Artists' Books Fair and the NY Art Book Fair. If you're in the neighbourhood, stop by and say hi! I'll be at Johan Deumens Gallery booth at the EAB fair and also occasionally at the ABC Artists' Books Cooperative booth at the NY Art Book Fair.

Johan Deumens Gallery will show work by the following artists:

Annesas Appel, Christiane Baumgartner, Charlotte Dumas, Anett Frontzek, Anouk Kruithof, Cary Markerink, Sarah van Sonsbeeck, Elisabeth Tonnard, Yvonne Dröge Wendel, Mariken Wessels. Location: 548 West 22nd Street, former Dia / X Initiative, NYC, USA.

opening reception tomorrow

2010-10-15T07:42:00.004-04:00

In a minute, there’ll be another minute. For the forgetful (us), we can assemble minutes, taking them down 1 2 3 or 3 2 1. That’s where photographs are, that’s what words can be. Why not pile them together? Stacking. Filing. Sorting. Binding. If you have a moment. Don’t forget it. Or just forget it.

A group exhibition with Céline Duval, David Horvitz, Elisabeth Tonnard, f.ART magazine and Rick Myers, curated by David Senior.

October 16th - November 8th 2010Opening Saturday, October 16th, 6-9pm

Booklyn, 37 Greenpoint Avenue, 4th Floor,Brooklyn, NY 11222 718 383 9621 http://www.booklyn.org/

It is a funny little place - the space of books. This small show will have some art and a lot of books. The artists make different kinds of books, but they all make books. All the artists repeat themselves, in some way. The loose construct for this grouping of work focuses on strategies for seeking out images and the impulse towards repetition in an artistic process and also in the final work. There are many artists’ books that lean on photography - photographs that are made, found, reproduced, reworked and put onto a page and then the pages are put together with other pages. Celine Duval and Elisabeth Tonnard both work extensively with archives of photographs, sorting them and drawing out connected gestures, narratives and forms. Rick Myers and David Horvitz both insert their body in the process - documenting their own repeated gestures, behaviors and observations - tracing a sentiment, an after-image, or the metamorphosis of a material. f.ART is brand new. The two artists/editors, Rachael Morrison and Ivalyo Gueorgiev, have been accumulating found images and creating a magazine of collage. Accumulation is a big part of the idea here, of artists’ that accumulate images, collect gestures and allow them to hang together in the space of their work. A book can serve as a container for these accumulations, and its space can be a discrete area for these projections of memory, movement, and thought.

Celine Duval's artistic work is based on photographic archives, favoring the book as the best space to present her picture arrangements, considering it as a work in itself. She has exhibited extensively in Europe and elsewhere. Her book works are held by many major institutional collections of artists’ publications. She lives and works in Houlgate, Calvados, France and is represented by Semiose galerie-éditions, Paris. Her extensive oeuvre of publications, unique books and an archive of photographs can be found here : http://www.doc-cd.net/

David Horvitz graduated in 2010 with a M.F.A. from the Milton Avery Graduate School of Arts at Bard College. He has exhibited amongst others at West, The Hague, The Wattis Institute, San Francisco; with Rhizome at the No Soul For Sale event at the Tate Modern, London; SF Camerawork, San Francisco; Nexus, Philadelphia; Art Metropole, Space, London; Golden Parachutes, Berlin; Sign, Groningen. He was commissioned to do a publication for last year’s New York Art Book Fair, and recently released the flip book Rarely Seen Bas Jan Ader Film on 2nd Cannons Publications. This October he will be in an exhibition curated by Lauren Cornell at the New Museum, New York. http://www.davidhorvitz.com/ - http://davidhorvitz.tumblr.com/

Elisabeth Tonnard (1973) is a poet and visual artist from The Netherlands. Her work is a contribution to the field of artists’ books, photography, visual poetics and literature.Books such as Let us go then, you and I, Two of Us, Contemplation, In this Dark Wood and The Man of the Crowd are included in numerous public and private collections. She holds an MA in Literature from the Radboud University in The Netherlands and an MFA from Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, NY. She exhibits both in the US and internationally. For more information: http://www.elisabethtonnard.com/.

f.ART is a new magazine of found image and collage. It is created by artists Ivaylo Gueorgiev and Rachael Morrison. Issue one was published this autumn. http://www.fartmag.com/

Rachael Morrison is an artist and curator who lives in Brooklyn, NY. Her work has been exhibited and screened internationally at a variety of venues including Anthology Film Archives and Heist Gallery. She is curator of the Museum of Modern Art Library exhibition Lost & Found: The Work of Bern Porter, which was on view at MoMA this past spring, and Pizza Party, a video screening series which took place in Brooklyn, NY during 2009.

Ivaylo Gueorgiev is a Bulgarian born artist who lives and works in Long Island City, NY. His work has been shown at several New York City galleries, including Envoy Enterprises, Invisible Exports and Nicholas Robinson. His work is in the private collections of Adam Clayton, Claude Simard and Luca Marenzi. He is a 2010 fellow in Painting from the New York Foundation of the Arts.

Rick Myers lives and works in Holyoke, MA. Originally from Manchester, England he moved to the U.S. in 2008. Recent solo exhibitions include: White Columns, New York (2009) Corner College, Zurich (2009); and No. 12 Gallery, Tokyo (2007); Group exhibitions include: ‘Poetical Works from the Library and Archive 1908-2008’, Library at Tate Britain, London; ‘Nieves – An Exhibition’, Printed Matter, New York (both 2009) and performances include; MoMA PS1, New York (2009). He has recently published three artist’s books – including ‘Bite Marks in Paper’ and ‘Studies for Words’ with Nieves Books. http://www.rickmyers.co.uk/

David Senior is a writer, curator, and librarian with an interest in contemporary artists' publications. Currently, he is a bibliographer at the Museum of Modern Art Library in New York. Most recently, his writing has been included in Dot Dot Dot and C magazine and he is curating a program of events for Printed Matter's New York Art Book Fair this fall.

award

2010-09-21T14:20:00.001-04:00

In this Dark Wood was awarded in the Fine Art category of the 2010 Photography Book Now Competition juried by Darius Himes, Michael Mack, David Fahey, Lesley Martin, Martin Parr and others.

exhibition

2010-09-20T10:05:00.002-04:00

For more info, see booklyn.

A Dialogue in Useful Phrases

2010-09-20T09:54:00.010-04:00

A Dialogue in Useful Phrases is my newest artist book. A wonderful read for those rainy days, and filled with the kind of terrific boredom that exists in things as they are. The book is based on "conversational phrases" found in Grenville Kleiser’s Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases, an optimistic handbook from 1917 providing “felicitous expressions for enriching the vocabulary.” Last year I published Interior Monologue which was based on "literary phrases" from Kleiser.

I've taken Kleiser’s conversational phrases starting with ‘I’ and placed them opposite those starting with ‘you’. The ‘I’ phrases are running in alphabetical order down the verso pages, the ‘you’ phrases down the recto pages. A dialogue is formed from the random meetings of these phrases. It is a dialogue in the purest sense, a dialogue that expresses nothing other than itself. The edition consists of 250 numbered copies, soon to be released. For more information, visit my website.

"Speak! eyes - En zie!

2010-09-20T09:37:00.003-04:00

My new poetry book was released. It's the third one to be published by Johan Velter of Druksel in Gent, Belgium, and surely the one with the most difficult title. “Speak! eyes — En zie! consists of poems made through Microsoft Word’s autosummary functionality. Fifteen existing works of literature were autosummarized into new poems. Languages in the book are English, German, French and Dutch. The edition is limited to 126 signed copies, priced at 20 euro each. For more information visit my website.

events

2010-09-03T18:08:00.001-04:00

Mood: Potential

2010-06-22T23:23:00.003-04:00

My new book Mood: Potential has just been released. It is a short photo-based artist book printed by Brad Freeman for inclusion in the Journal of Artists’ Books No 27.

See http://elisabethtonnard.com/works/mood-potential/ for more information about the book and its availability. On the same page you will find information about a wonderful essay Chris Burnett wrote about the book.

Next week I will be exhibiting Interior Monologue http://elisabethtonnard.com/works/interior-monologue/ as part of the Photo-Bookworks Symposium at Visual Studies Workshop http://www.vsw.org/symposium.php. The venue is Booksmart Studio Gallery (250 North Goodman St, Rochester, New York). There are two receptions planned for this show, one on Thursday July 1st from 5-8PM, and one on Friday July 2nd from 6-9PM as part of Rochester’s First Friday events. The Thursday reception is part of the symposium but open to anyone interested. Note that if you’re attending the symposium you will receive a copy of Mood: Potential along with Journal of Artists' Books 27.

exhibitions

2010-03-16T16:27:00.010-04:00

Some exhibition news.

At the SRO Photo Gallery (Texas Tech University, School of Art) my solo show The Man of the Crowd will open on March 22nd and run till April 17th.

I'm also participating in some juried group shows: Quantified Aesthetics at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts "examines artworks featuring numbers, formulas, codes, counting systems and a variety of other mathematical organizational schemes. Artist’s books, prints and mixed media work by 45 artists are presented in this unique exploration, curated by MCBA’s artistic director Jeff Rathermel." This is up from March 12th till June 20th.

Then there is the Made in NY 2010 exhibition from March 27th till May 16th at the Schweinfurth Memorial Art Center, "featuring 73 contemporary works of art by 58 New York State artists." Juried by Joan Lyons and John von Bergen.

Last one is the 19th Annual New Image Photography Exhibition, April 5th-30th. "Lightwriting. The exhibition aims to explore the connection between the literature of words and the literature of photography." This is at the New Image Gallery, James Harrison University, Harrisonburg, VA.

noise

2010-01-18T17:21:00.000-05:00

news

2009-12-10T14:29:00.004-05:00

Here's a link to a new artist network that I'm involved in, and that Joachim Schmid initiated for a selection of artists who self-publish their books. ABC Artists' Books Co-operative.

Jeffrey Ladd published an incisive review of my book In this Dark Wood on his wonderful blog about books and photography. He also named it one of the top ten books of 2009. An honor. Check out the rest of his 2009 list too, wonderful books. And Ladd is responsible for Errata Editions, making accessible photobooks that have become rare.

For those of you who read Dutch, there was also a review on my newest poetry book, De wereld zou meeuw, published by Druksel in Gent, Belgium.

still life with flower

2009-11-24T00:07:00.000-05:00

fair

2009-10-10T13:18:00.005-04:00

The Editions and Artists' Books Fair is upcoming. My work will be there this year, and so will I, at Johan Deumens booth. If you're in the neighborhood, come and say hi!

interior monologue

2009-09-22T15:55:00.004-04:00

My work Interior Monologue has now been published in an edition of 20 signed and numbered copies. It pairs images of Parisian apartment interiors from a real-estate catalogue with texts found in the “literary phrases” section of Kleiser’s Fifteen Thousand Useful Phrases.

Unbound artist book in a portfolio box (box made by Atelier De Distelkamp in Dodewaard). 128 pages, inkjet printed. 5×7 inch.

For more information on the project and links to images please visit my website. The work is on view at Johan Deumens Gallery until November 14th.

gezond verstand

2009-09-17T15:34:00.003-04:00

"Beyoncé's platte buik mag je motiveren, maar verwacht niet dat je haar kunt evenaren."
(gezondheidsnet)

defect

2009-08-07T18:06:00.000-04:00

exhibition

2009-08-04T11:43:00.001-04:00

holland

2009-06-24T15:45:00.006-04:00

I'm back in Holland for the Summer, working on a new poetry book with Johan Velter (Druksel) and preparing an exhibition that will open in September at Johan Deumens Gallery in Haarlem. If you're in NYC in July, there is a project of mine included in the show Susan Kismaric (MoMA) curated at Soho Photo Gallery. Also, some images of a recent installation at Poetry International are now online. Meanwhile I'm enjoying Dutch scenery and perplexities.

also in progress

2009-03-12T13:39:00.002-04:00

Work on the Image Process Literature book is moving along, with the perspective of many strong contributions. Here an overview of some samples we put online.

in progress

2009-02-23T17:41:00.004-05:00

I'm preparing a bookish work that will be installed at the 40th anniversary of Poetry International in June this year. Bas Kwakman, the Director of Poetry, invited me and others to come up with a reaction to a text by Marcel Duchamp, part of L'Infinitif (1967). Bas is really to be saluted for his ongoing mission of including visual art in this literary festival; thereby extending the notion of what literature may look like.

My project uses photos of Parisian apartment interiors that I assembled, together with phrases found in a book of "Useful Phrases". Altogether this will be an unusual dictionary showcasing the "linguistic utterances of empty rooms" (quoting Chris Burnett here; we're thinking about perhaps doing a collaboration involving my Parisian apartments and his approach in Domestic Philosophy).

Bas and I met in 2003 when he gave a wonderful speech on occasion of the launch of my book Let us go then, you and I. The short of it: if you're in Rotterdam in June, please stop by!

upcoming

2009-02-23T17:33:00.002-05:00

Two upcoming juried exhibitions include my books: one is the Photo+Book show in Portland, Oregon, which showcases photography books produced with print-on-demand techniques, the other is the 2009 Lakeside-Statewide exhibit in Oswego, New York.

road trip

2009-01-05T09:27:00.007-05:00

On the way to Corning, I got stranded in a place called Painted Post. The name is Native American and the tow truck driver told me there is an actual painted post around somewhere. I saw a vibrantly glowing plant at Mc Donalds.

book in a box

2008-12-17T11:08:00.001-05:00

The Man of the Crowd, my newest release, is an unbound artist book, presented in a box. It is a reflection on Edgar Allen Poe’s short story The Man of the Crowd and a Parisian street occurrence that I photographed during four minutes.
The book consists of 76 single-sided pages that can be taken out and exhibited. The main part of the work is a series of 56 photographs, tracking a 2008 flaneur, followed by appendices with imagetexts based on linguistic analyses of Poe’s story. For more information, see my website.

2008-10-26T17:19:00.000-04:00

The Man of the Crowd, an unbound artist’s book I'm working on, will be on view soon. It is a reflection on a Parisian street occurrence and Edgar Allen Poe's story "The Man of the Crowd".

Opening reception on November 23rd, 2-5 pm at Small World Books, 425 North St, Rochester, NY. On view till December 6th during store hours 12-5 pm (call in advance 585 2326970).

in this dark wood

2008-09-29T00:24:00.002-04:00

Here's my newest release: In this Dark Wood. This book is a modern gothic. It pairs images of people walking alone in nighttime city streets with 90 different English translations I collected of the first lines of Dante’s Inferno. The images, showing a crowd of solitary figures, are selected from the same archive as used for Two of Us (the extraordinary Joseph Selle collection at the Visual Studies Workshop which contains over a million negatives from a company of street photographers working in San Francisco from the 40’s to the 70’s).
The book is set up in a repetitious way, to stress a sense of similarity, endlessness and interchangeability. The images are re-expressions of each other, and so are the texts.

Rochester, New York 2008. B&W, perfect bound paperback. 196 pages.

changing scenery

2008-08-30T18:14:00.000-04:00

reflection

2008-08-30T18:13:00.000-04:00

pessoa

2008-08-30T18:08:00.000-04:00

At the Autorenbuchhandlung in Berlin.

ulysses in several instances

2008-08-15T12:02:00.000-04:00

exhibition

2008-08-14T11:27:00.000-04:00

Johan Deumens Gallery, in Haarlem, The Netherlands, will be showing my books in his new exhibition, and also at the NY Art Book Fair.

horseman

2008-07-30T08:01:00.001-04:00

gomringer

2008-07-30T07:58:00.004-04:00

At the Poesiefestival in Berlin at the beginning of July we had the privilege of meeting Eugen Gomringer and seeing him perform. I made some video recordings which hopefully we can publish soon at the Electronic Poetry Center.

'nicht wissen' ('not knowing') is still ringing in my head, one of the most essential poems I know (quite a paradox). Be aware that 'wo' is 'where', 'was' is 'what', 'warum' is 'why', and 'wie' is 'how' and you can read it in German:

nicht wissen wo [in Auszügen]

nicht wissen wo
nicht wissen was
nicht wissen warum
nicht wissen wie

nicht wissen wie wo was
nicht wissen wie wo warum
nicht wissen wie warum was

nicht wissen wo was warum wie
nicht wissen wo warum wie was
nicht wissen wo wie was warum

nicht wissen was wo warum wie
nicht wissen was warum wie wo
nicht wissen was wie wo warum

nicht wissen wie wo was warum
nicht wissen wie was warum wo
nicht wissen wie warum wo was

nicht wissen
nicht wissen
nicht wissen
nicht wissen

the book of sand

2008-06-28T15:23:00.000-04:00

the book of light

2008-06-22T14:11:00.000-04:00

scene seen

2008-06-22T14:08:00.001-04:00

dutch landscape

2008-06-11T06:39:00.001-04:00

scene from a car

2008-06-11T06:36:00.000-04:00

l-o-s-s

2008-05-18T23:48:00.000-04:00

festivity

2008-05-18T23:45:00.000-04:00

contemplation

2008-05-08T12:07:00.006-04:00

My new book, Contemplation, just came out. It is about the act of looking, especially looking as an internal process; looking at ourselves inside our self. The book is made from eight black and white negatives (1940s) found in an uncategorized family archive in a basement room at the Visual Studies Workshop. The man portrayed remains unknown; and it is as if he knows it. The book is based on the idea of this man looking at himself and at the reader. The cover has a mirror element where the reader can find his or her own eyes.

B&W stab binding with folds on the foredge, 16 pages. Inkjet printed and handbound in an edition of 29 numbered copies. Rochester, NY 2008.

See my site for more info.

symbolical landscape

2008-04-27T18:58:00.000-04:00

Destruction at VSW.

screening

2008-04-23T16:58:00.000-04:00

My video Caravan will be shown at The Little on April 28th.

kenny

2008-04-10T17:49:00.000-04:00

We met with Kenneth Goldsmith this week; which was delightful. Here he is, mirroring the wall.

screening ABC Movie

2008-03-27T15:50:00.000-04:00

site

2008-03-19T17:15:00.000-04:00

Hi all, my website is up, at: http://www.elisabethtonnard.com/.

comic

2008-02-28T00:02:00.003-05:00

So waiting for some slides to scan, I take my first ever webcam pictures and then discover Comic Life on the Mac in the Research Center. An exciting ten minutes!
The b&w photo is from my family archive. Last summer I've collected all I could find (little) on a great uncle of mine who has been very intriguing to me for a couple of years now. I would like to use this material but leave it intriguing; sort of a starting point for thoughts. To achieve this I want to combine it with other images that I see in that way, but which are from very different times and places. For instance these landscapes of Tyvek houses.
Paul Vanderbilt's Between the Landscape and It's Other is a great example of this type of work.

art in action

2008-02-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

Ms Filipek doing the "art thing".

a note on color

2008-02-09T19:30:00.000-05:00

scene from a library

2008-02-02T22:33:00.000-05:00

these oak chambers

2008-01-20T00:10:00.000-05:00

I recently read Charles Hartman's Virtual Muse and liked it a lot. Afterwards I used his PyProse to generate the following text:

May symbol compare steel? So prime an evil: a mouth. Though
to arise was so
stiff a core, so diplomatic an experience was apartment, and
these oak chambers
sighed. To believe started to burn. Had a wagon between
an escape and any
calendar snapped? To suffer underlay iceberg between a
share and a nerve. My bay
carefully splits; a ball drops me. You had
suffered; and what had no gearshift
drunk? What were we serving? Since the
west between the fruit and another
science exceeds a revolution, a
difficulty vacillates. If a promise certainly
rides someone, the page of
order rises to do. To succeed was turning. Had brass
acted? Though the
warrant of bread was his lawyer below the opportunity number,
to write was a
melody. While we approved him, whom were we unclasping? You will
grin; and
he who was so upward a drill was failing. An objecting motel: its
circle.
Where they twisted you, vermeil (June) split. Practice was progressing;
had
congregation functioned? The coat of heat (the relative) is the chapter. How
was swing differing? When is chlorine progressing? His republic between the
bed
and a festival can't crack. Whom were the tubes finding? The spirit's
range --
when is my shoe expanding? The suit of morning occurs; I reply. To
argue was
needing someone. When the myth is so oral a structure between the
feature and
the unit, grains are climbing. Before certain cash clubs are
sleeps near the
fiber to a coach's painting, have these cameras recalled
their courts? If the
twelfth variety fought to deliver this shot, to drift
was so nearby a boy. So
standard a bottom -- had so made a pupil between the
phone and the orange of the
wives of steam poured so dirty a herb? What were
we programing? He who is the assistant of
shame
distinguishes the mayor near a music. Unless she was the chin of soap, the
champion was writing.

scene in a library

2008-01-20T00:02:00.000-05:00

100,000,000,000,000

2008-01-19T23:53:00.000-05:00

Today I got a chance to play around with Queneau's Cent mille milliards de poèmes!

surroundings

2008-01-09T14:07:00.000-05:00

autosummary

2008-01-04T16:14:00.000-05:00

One of the genres I'm defining and exploring is the Autosummary. Here is one made from Dave Mount's favourite book, Fast One, a hard-boiled detective novel by Paul Cain.

Kells!

Kells nodded. Kells grinned. Kells nodded. Kells laughed. Mister Kells.”
Kells chuckled. Kells nodded shortly. Kells laughed quietly.
Kells said: “Fenner.”
Kells smiled. Kells laughed. Kells turned. Mister Kells.”
Kells nodded. Kells said: “Granquist.” Kells said. Kells grinned.
Kells telephoned Fenner. Kells nodded.
Kells laughed.
Kells introduced Beery. Kells nodded.
Kells nodded.
Kells waited.
Kells whistled.
Kells said. Kells called Borg.
Kells yelled...
Kells smiled faintly. Kells smiled. Kells laughed. Kells said: “Drink?”
Kells began.
Kells smiled slowly. Kells nodded absently.
Kells nodded.
Kells laughed. Kells grinned, shrugged.
Kells drank. Kells leaned back.
Kells smiled slowly.

relic

2008-01-02T18:11:00.001-05:00

announcement

2008-01-02T17:42:00.000-05:00

Today the light announced itself, and took a plunge. An angelic language.

where is god

2007-12-16T18:40:00.001-05:00

New release nr 2: Where Is God. Simulacra.

This book followed from the wish to make color surfaces that would be based purely on color numbers instead of aesthetic choices, and that could meanwhile still be read as aesthetic objects and physical substances. The images are made from nothing other than numbers put into Photoshop’s digital palettes and subsequent left-button mouse-clicks. The numbers used were the phone numbers of names connected to the question: Where Is God. The same numbers were used to compose short texts on each spread. At the end of the day, this highly process-based book is perhaps most of all a reflection on absence and loss. Full color perfect bound paperback. 117 pages. Privately published.

oceanus

2007-12-16T18:33:00.002-05:00

New release: Oceanus. A Tale of the Sea.
This is a pocket book, good for bringing along on a sea journey. This imagetext tries to evoke the feeling of a bewildered traveling. The words are awkwardly placed, and clearly out of their element. Still they continue on, going somewhere. The goddess whispers. The sea of the book is composed of two photographs I found in a family album lost in an archive. The text cuts through Samuel Butler’s translation of Homer’s Odyssey. B&W perfect bound paperback, 106 pages. Privately published.

scene in a library 2

2007-12-16T18:31:00.000-05:00

let us space

2007-11-18T16:23:00.000-05:00

in awe of sunlight

2007-11-18T16:08:00.000-05:00

lost

2007-11-18T16:06:00.000-05:00

fénéon

2007-11-18T13:01:00.000-05:00

In a way Novels in three Lines, by Félix Fénéon (New York Review Books, 2007) may be of interest in connection to photography (if we consider photography as writing in the way Chris Burnett discussed it). The translator is Luc Sante, and he also makes the connection in his preface. Fénéon was a well-known figure in literary and artistic circles in Paris around 1900. In 1906 he wrote little three line news announcements for the 'faits divers' section of a newspaper; which are now for the first time translated into English. It's not just their brevity, immediacy, and their relation to reality which connects them to photos, in my opinion it also has to do with the way they operate. Sante calls each item 'a miniature clockwork of language and event' which made me realize that they might be seen as 'operative images' (or operative images might be seen as texts like this). He also calls them literary readymades, a concept I am very interested in as a writer.

Here are some terrific examples:

Eugene Périchot, of Pailles, near Saint-Maixent, entertained at his home Mme Lemartrier. Eugene Dupuis came to fetch her. They killed him. Love.

There was a gas explosion at the home of Larrieux, in Bordeaux. He was injured. His mother-in-law’s hair caught on fire. The ceiling caved in.

Scissors in hand, Marie Le Goeffic was balancing on a swing. Falling, she stove in her chest. In Bretonneau.

Although it had arrived at the station in Vélizy, the train was still rolling. The impatient Mme Gieger broke both her legs.

In order to see the world, Louis Legrand, Bedroux, and Lenoël, with a collective 36 years to go, escaped from the penal colony at Gaillon.

scene in a library

2007-11-11T18:38:00.000-05:00

The building of the Rush Rhees library at the University of Rochester is one of the most curious places I have ever been. It seems as rich in meanings as some ancient temple. I am considering the mysteries of this library as a thesis topic.

new photo series 2

2007-11-04T23:55:00.000-05:00

the world according to tonnard

2007-11-04T23:35:00.000-05:00

morning light

2007-10-25T12:57:00.000-04:00

A page from my new book, as observed in New York morning light.