Introduction

Esther Schipper presents a group exhibition featuring works by Nathan Carter, Liam Gillick, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and Gabriel Kuri.

For the summer period Esther Schipper has invited Paris based publishing house "Onestar Press" to collaborate on the exhibition. "Onestar Press" is dedicated to the production of artists' books, multiples and movies, while its branch "Three Star Books" manufactures and distributes artisanal book editions by contemporary artists. In the last years the publishers have realised a number of projects in collaboration with the four artists represented in the exhibition. The display includes "Onestar Press" books and several multiples: bookshelves designed by Gabriel Kuri and Nathan Carter as well as specially framed photographs by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster taken from her latest publication RGB and the wooden printing plate edition Pourquoi Travailler? (Boards) by Liam Gillick.

The exhibition presents works of the four artists who are either engaged in writing and working with books or address situations of reading and sharing books. Elements, a sculptural group by Gabriel Kuri, is displayed throughout both spaces of the gallery. The eight sculptures were conceptualised by the artist specially for his solo exhibition at the Bergen Public Library in 2012. Kuri's works re-define material arrangements and transactions essential for the life of a library, such as shelving systems, storage spaces, book trollies and loan and return receipts. The eight sculptures resemble functional devices that could be used by a library staff or visitors. The work highlights Gabriel Kuri’s continuous interest in merging quotidian objects, materials and by-products of daily life with abstracted sculptural forms. In the exhibition some of the sculptures retain their functionality.

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's 2058 (Bibliography) (2012), shown in the first room of the gallery, belongs to her on-going Tapis de lecture series. The installation consists of a square carpet and a perimetrically arranged selection of science fiction books. Tapis de lecture invites to a random read-in into fictional future scenarios explored from multiple literary perspectives. The selection of science fiction books in 2058 (Bibliography) reflects the one prepared by Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster for her solo exhibition TH.2058 at the Turbine Hall, Tate Modern, London in 2008.

The collages by Nathan Carter BROOKLYN STREET TREASURES ALL CITY ALL LINES AND ALL SCHEDULED BUS ROUTES and BROOKLYN STREET TREASURES DEKALB AVENUE ON THE D TRAIN TO CONEY ISLAND VACATION can be viewed as maps or catalogues of objects found on the streets and in the subway net of New York. The two-dimensional images introduce us to complex ungraspable life processes and communication systems of the metropolis. The artist indeed gathers his materials: “Brooklyn street treasures”, on the streets of New York integrating them in his sculptures and schematic drawings.

The second room of the gallery shows works by Liam Gillick. The blue seating and display ring Prototype Seating For A Revised Production Centre refers to the narrative of Liam Gillick's continually deferred book Construcción de Uno. The vinyl lettering of Bluer Monday that runs along the walls of the gallery, repeating the phrase "dayindayout", introduces multitude of meanings. It can be seen as a reference to organisation of work in industrial societies, as explored in the Prototype Seating For A Revised Production Centre, but it can also relate to an individual routine or a daily rhythm of the gallery.