In its seventh edition, Photobook Week Aarhus 2020 was framed by the theme Seriality – Multiplicity – Repetition. These terms may look very similar at first sight. They also seem an apparent choice for both the photographic and the book media, as photobooks are perfectly reproducible and come in editions or series. However, if we think of the open boundaries of the photobook with artists’ books and the multiple, the theme becomes more multilayered and complex.
Repetition in fact implies that there has been “first time”, and everything that comes after is somehow of less importance. We all know that it takes a greater effort to make something happen for the first time, and things get easier and smoother with reiteration. Seriality also implies that an original, a prototype, a maquette, has taken time, effort and wit to become what it is, before it is chosen to be produced and reproduced in a series of equal copies. The singularity and aura of the original are replaced by mechanical reproducibility, and a (more or less) democratic dissemination strategy. Not the unique printing plate, but the entirety of the copies of an edition is the quintessence of printed matter. In other words, the book is not the sum of its pages, but the multiplicity of and wholeness of all its printed copies.
Invited curators included Lars Blunck, Nina Worren, John Fleetwood, Tamara Berghmans, and José Luis Neves. A bookmaking workshop was held by paula roush and the results were presented at our Open Book Market. You can find images of all the exhibitions and events here.
Our sponsors for this year were Det Obelske Familefond, Instituto Camões and the Embassy of Portugal, Augustinus Fonden, City of Aarhus, Nordea-fonden, and Dreyers Fond. Thank you for the wonderful collaboration!
Program PWA 2020
Intimacy and Resistance
An intergenerational dialogue on photobooks from South Africa with additions from Sub-Saharan Africa, including books and extracts from Ernest Cole, David Goldblatt, Drum, Lebohang Kganye, Zanele Muholi, Jansen van Staden, Eric Gyamfi.
The exhibition is curated by John Fleetwood.
Thursday 1. October – Sunday 4. October 2020
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Galleri Image, Vestergade 29, 8000 Aarhus
Nadja: A Portrait of a City
This thematic exhibition offers a rereading of one of the most significant works of art of the twentieth century—the book Nadja by the French Surrealist André Breton. The exhibition focuses on Breton’s use of photography and on his artistic methods and strategies, as expressed in his representation of the city and the urban.
The exhibition is curated by Anne Elisabeth Toft.
Thursday 1. October – Sunday 25. October 2020
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, level 3.
Per Bak Jensen Books and Catalogs
This exhibition celebrates the photography of the Danish photographer Per Bak Jensen. Throughout his lifetime, as an existentially seeking thinker engaging with imagery, he has created a highly personal body of work. The exhibition collects his entire photographic oeuvre in book form.
The exhibition is curated by Anne Elisabeth Toft and Jesper Rasmussen in collaboration with Per Bak Jensen.
Thursday 1. October – Sunday 25. October 2020
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, level 3
Kassel Photobook Dummies
Each year, Fotobookfestival Kassel invites photographers to present their as-of-yet unpublished photobooks to an international public and to eminent experts. The best dummies have been shortlisted by a jury and will be exhibited at international photo events in, among other places, Istanbul, Moscow, Rome, Dublin, Aarhus, Sofia, Zagreb and Lodz.
Thursday 1. October – Sunday 4. October 2020
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture, Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus
Photobooks from Norway
This exhibition, which continues our geographical focus on Northern Countries, will show the diversity of Norwegian books and publications with an emphasis on photography.
From the sketch book to the unique artist book.
The handmade book. And the democratic multi publication.
Books that are self published and in small editions and some that are published in large scale internationally.
Norwegian photo books through times and today.
Presenting fact, science and fiction.
Featured books will include Mariken Kramer’s “The Eyes That Fix You in a Formulated Phrase” published by Multipress, 2018; Terje Abusdal’s “Radius 500 metres”, Journal, 2015; and Sara Skorgan Teigen’s “Fractal State of Being”, Journal, 2014
The exhibition is curated by Nina Worren
Thursday 1. October – Sunday 4. October 2020
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture, Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus
Best of Photobook Belge
This exhibition will feature some of the highlights of Photobook Belge 1854-Now, a groundbreaking exhibition and publication covering a period of more than 150 years of book-making in Belgium. This show marks a before and after; as hardly any research had been conducted on the theme before, Photobook Belge was able to fill this gap by providing an overview of the evolution of the Belgian photobook from the mid-19th century to today.
The exhibition is curated by Tamara Berghmans
Thursday 1. October – Sunday 4. October 2020
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture, Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus
Books and Boxes on and of Marcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp often described his Boîte-en-valise (Box in a Suitcase) as a kind of portable museum that would allow him to carry around his life’s work in a suitcase. The first of many versions was hand-made by the artist, together with a team of helpers and craftsmen, as a Deluxe Edition of 20. Six other editions followed over the years, with more and more facsimiles in it, as “his life’s work” slowly but constantly grew. His most significant works are cleverly arranged inside each box like a traveling salesman’s wares, and come with a sort of certificate of authenticity issued by a notary.
In 2015, the artist Mathieu Mercier recreated Marcel Duchamp’s famous Boîte for Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, which is called the G series. It contains 81 objects and is smaller than the “originals” to avoid any confusion, in an edition to 3,000 copies. The promotional text reads: “The edition is based on an idea by Mathieu Mercier. The design and construction will be approved by the estate of Marcel Duchamp once its quality has been examined, with the desire of making ‘The Museum in the Box’ accessible to everyone. The facsimile of the ‘portable oeuvre catalogue’ complies with the artist’s working methods”.
This exhibition showcases some of the most prominent books published on and around the subject of the Boîte-en-valises, including two of Mercier’s facsimiles.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, level 3
Open Book Market
Sunday, Oct. 4, from 11 – 16h
This event showcases Danish and international publishers, as well as self-publishers who present a selection of titles from their shelves.
Publishing Houses: Alauda Publications · AnzenbergerGallery Bookshop · Black Book Publications · Bladr · Blankt Papir Press · Books & Music · bt:st Verlag · Bücher & Hefte Verlag · Cornerkiosk Press · Dalpine · Ediciones Anómalas · Editions Bessard · European Photography · FiL Books · Fragment · Galleri Image · Hatje Cantz · Inframundo / Hydra · Journal · Kehrer Verlag · Kerber Verlag · KesselsKramer · Kettler Verlag · La Fábrica · Libraryman · META/BOOKS · NW Gallery · Phree · Reflektor Platform · Revolver Publishing · RM · Roulette Russe · Schilt Publishing · Skreid Publishing · Space Poetry · The Eriskay Connection · The Library Project · Thomas Wiegand · Van Zoetendaal · Verlag Walther Koenig · Witty Kiwi · Wunderbuch
Selected self-published photobooks by: Anna Karaulova · Annemie Martin · Dina Oganova·Enver Hirsch & Philipp Meuser · Jansen van Staden · Ludwig Nikulski · Marianne Holm Hansen · Maria Hernández · Maria Primo · Marco Leitermann · Markéta Kinterková · Matteo de Mayda · Pavel Dorogoy · Stephen Gill · Teodelina Detry · Theopisti Stylianou-Lambert · Vivek Manek · Zoopark Publishing Collective
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Rå Hal, Godsbanen, Skovgaardsgade 3, DK-8000 Aarhus C.
Thank you to all the artists, curators, publishers, self-publishers and all our volunteers, the whole team and our guests .
Oct 1st
16:30 PWA 2020 Opening Ceremony starts with the lecture
On or with or about Duchamp by Jacob Wamberg and Lars Blunck moderated by Moritz Neumüller.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Auditorium
19:15 – 21:00
Opening reception of Photobook Week Aarhus 2020
Welcome by Holger Reenberg, Director of HEART, followed by a short introduction by PWA Chief Curator Moritz Neumüller and the official Opening words by Jesper Rasmussen, Chair of the PWA Advisory Board.
Venue: HEART – Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Bitten og Aage Damgaards Plads 2, 7400 Herning
Oct 2nd
17:30-18:30
Opening of Intimacy and Resistance: An intergenerational dialogue on photobooks from South Africa with additions from Sub-Saharan Africa.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Galleri Image, Vestergade 29, 8000 Aarhus
Oct. 4th
11:00 – 16:00
Open Book Market
Again this year, national and international publishers and self-publishers will participate in our Open Book Market, presenting a selection of titles from their shelves. At the market, visitors get the chance to drink coffee with a publisher and zoom in on their interesting selections of Photobooks. New and vintage books can be purchased.
Confirmed participants include Blankt Papir Press, Galleri Image, NW Gallery Cph, Bladr, Wunderbuch, and Thomas Wiegand.
There will be a talk and two roundtables directed by Jose Luis Neves on Publishing for the Next Decade, at 14:00.
Additionally, the participants of the PAGE TURNER WORKSHOP with paula roush will present their completed photobook dummies as part of Photobook Week Aarhus.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Rå Hal, Godsbanen, Skovgaardsgade 3, DK-8000 Aarhus C.
Oct 1
16:30 – 18:00
On or with or about Duchamp
Jacob Wamberg, From de-multiplication to re-multiplication: Duchamp’s ready-mades as ever-renewable snapshots.
Lars Blunck, »La liberté de répétition« – The Art of repetition in (and after) Marcel Duchamp.
Followed by a conversation between Jacob Wamberg and Lars Blunck moderated by Moritz Neumüller.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, Auditorium
Oct 2
10:00 – 11:00
Nina Worren on Photobooks from Norway
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture, Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus
11:30-12:30
Tamara Berghmans on Photobook Belge 1854-Now (video conference)
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture, Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus
14:00-15:30
Exhibition walk Kassel Photobook Dummies, Photobooks from Norway and Photobook Belge 1854-Now
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Aarhus School of Architecture, Nørreport 20, 8000 Aarhus
17:30-18:30
Talk with John Fleetwood on Intimacy and Resistance
In connection with the photobook exhibition Intimacy and Resistance: An intergenerational dialogue on photobooks from South Africa with additions from Sub-Saharan Africa. The South African curator John Fleetwood will present the talk at Galleri Image, and will discuss books by Ernest Cole, David Goldblatt, Drum, Lebohang Kganye, Zanele Muholi, Jansen van Staden, and Eric Gyamfi.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Galleri Image, Vestergade 29, 8000 Aarhus
Oct 3rd
11:15-12:00
Panel discussion:The Image of the Modern City
Based on the exhibition Nadja: A Portrait of a City, architects and photo theorists discuss the construction of the modern city through architectural photography and photobooks. Moderated by Anne Elisabeth Toft.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, level 3
14:30-16:00
Conversation: Per Bak Jensen
Jesper Rasmussen in conversation with Per Bak Jensen on his photography and photobooks.
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, level 3
Oct 4
11:00 Opening of the Book Market
12:00 Presentation of the participants of the bookmaking workshop with paula roush.
14:00 – 15:00 Discussion Publishing for the Next Decade
An event on Photobook Publishing as a Process and Collaboration, with a showcase of recent publications that illustrate the evolution from concept to final product, and two conversations with artists, curators, and publishers.
Roundtable 1 – Publishing as an Artistic Practice in the 21st Century
Roundtable 2 – The Photobook at a Crossroads. Where do we go from Here?
Venue: Photobook Week Aarhus, Rå Hal, Godsbanen, Skovgaardsgade 3, DK-8000 Aarhus C.
An open forum around the photobook
Photobook Week Aarhus 2020 was the 7th edition of the festival, and a collaboration between Galleri Image and Aarhus School of Architecture. This year again, PWA was part of Art Weekend Aarhus, and continues its collaboration with Fotobookfestival Kassel, PhotoIreland Festival and other international platforms for photobooks.
Photobook Week Aarhus represents a continuous study of the evolution and role of the medium. The festival is curated by national and international experts under the leadership of Chief Curator Moritz Neumüller and the curatorial team: Anne Elisabeth Toft, Beate Cegielska and Jesper Rasmussen.
Join us on Facebook if you want to stay informed about the 2020 edition, and in the meantime, browse the previous editions or watch our presentation video.