BACK IN STOCK 'Freedom of the Presses' presents the 21st-century artist's book as esoteric and enigmatic anti-spectacle āIn the twenty-first century, contemporary artistsā books have finally been acknowledged as a stand-alone fine-art medium,ā Karen Eliot writes. āArtistsā books are now free from serving other media, free from a fetishized craft practice, and free from the linearity of narrative text and typography. And they are free from publishers, editors and most so-called āfreeā market influence. Most importantly, in the optimum situation, they are free from the ādonāt touchā rules of fine art. Artistsā books are enigmatic, provocative, and confrontational in and of themselves. The art world and some librarians are not yet sure how to exhibit, monetize or catalog them. The expanding audience for artistsā books greatly appreciates the same characteristics of the medium that make it difficult to program: the intimacy, the tactile nature and the formās resistance to commodification. Itās hard to invest in a piece of art that actually must be touched and worn out as part of the aesthetic experience. And itās even harder to invest in a genre that primarily resides in public educational institutions and thus has no substantial secondary market. From the most conventional and ubiquitous of cultural forms, the book, comes the twenty-first-century artistsā book, challenging every aspect of its own lineage and tending to be radically challenging in both form, function and theory. The artistsā book is an esoteric and enigmatic anti-spectacle.ā @booklynart #freedomofthepresses #artistsbook #artistsbooks #artistbooks https://www.instagram.com/p/B0OUeBOJ6PJ/?igshid=r7k1vypvadal
