ALLAN KAPROW
A BIBLIOGRAPHY
edited by Giorgio Maffei
Mousse Publishing, 2011
Bookspace 1
This publication catalogues and illustrates, with a wide selection of images, Allan Kaprow’s entire body of published work: from his first artist book in 1962, to his last anthological projects in the ‘90s.
This lesser-known side of his œuvre unfolds through 35 books, published over a 40-year span.
Kaprow’s work moved along two parallel tracks: happenings – a field in which he was an unchallenged pioneer, starting in the ‘50s – and activity booklets, a tool meant to help people understand and experience these performances.
But the graphic layout of his books, the originality of their structure, the literary stature of their texts, and their aesthetic quality as objects shifted his exploration of print into a higher realm, where the book became a fully-fledged work of art.
‘Booklets are somewhat like music scores: they aren’t the actual event but as notations which one or more persons can carry out. So they shouldn’t be considered documents of what actually happened.’ (Allan Kaprow)
A BIBLIOGRAPHY
edited by Giorgio Maffei
Mousse Publishing, 2011
Bookspace 1
This publication catalogues and illustrates, with a wide selection of images, Allan Kaprow’s entire body of published work: from his first artist book in 1962, to his last anthological projects in the ‘90s.
This lesser-known side of his œuvre unfolds through 35 books, published over a 40-year span.
Kaprow’s work moved along two parallel tracks: happenings – a field in which he was an unchallenged pioneer, starting in the ‘50s – and activity booklets, a tool meant to help people understand and experience these performances.
But the graphic layout of his books, the originality of their structure, the literary stature of their texts, and their aesthetic quality as objects shifted his exploration of print into a higher realm, where the book became a fully-fledged work of art.
‘Booklets are somewhat like music scores: they aren’t the actual event but as notations which one or more persons can carry out. So they shouldn’t be considered documents of what actually happened.’ (Allan Kaprow)
