LIVRE IMAGINÉ | DANS CINQUANTE ANS D’ICI

The exhibition Dans Cinquante Ans d’Ici posits the book – as object, container and idea – against the backdrop of some recent and ongoing discussions that address the probable demise of the bound volume in conjunction with the emergence of digital reading devices. As the title of this exhibition already implies, a somewhat speculative approach towards the subject is taken insofar that any productive attempt at summation of the debate has resulted in stances taken on either side, but has quite obviously avoided closure as the situation undoubtedly remains open–ended.

Departing from the title, that somewhat wittily plays with the redundancy of such an effort, the exhibition puts forward a variety of devices and modes of interaction that enable humans to engage with information and knowledge, its sharing and distribution. Indeed, here one could speak of the co–existence of the book with other variable formats – both digital and analog, rather than reasoning in terms of a dichotomy. As much as this is the case, the key question for this exhibition remains: to what extent have the changes in our relationship with information and the formats we employ for its transmission altered our rapport to knowledge and its production? What is becoming of bound volumes today – that foundation of our society, those keepers of our history – from both a personal and an artistic perspective ? The exhibition Dans Cinquante Ans d’Ici ultimately presents an analogy of artistic examples that advances the ways books find their inscription into contemporaneity, and speculates on possible scenarios to come.

Curated by Niekolaas Johannes Lekkerkerk (The Office for Curating, Rotterdam)

With: AND Publishing and Åbäke, Xavier Antin, Ruth Beale, Nina Beier and Marie Lund, Elena Damiani, Aurélien Froment, Ryan Gander, David Jablonowski, Laurie Kang, Boris Meister, Klaus Scherübel, Sebastian Schmieg and Silvio Lorusso