Some books and light to read them by
Books and installation by Ian Whittlesea
12 January 2018
7 – 10 pm
In conversation with Eline Verstegen
PrintRoom
Schietbaanstraat 17 NL3014 ZV Rotterdam
Open: Thursday – Saturday, 12.00 – 18.00 or by appointment
+31 (0)6 18012478
info@printroom.org
www.printroom.org
From 13 January to 13 February 2018, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, Ian Whittlesea's A Breathing Bulb will shine its light on the books he has published over the last decade and a selection of items from the archive of printed matter that informed their production.
To accompany the display Eline Verstegen has written an essay on Whittlesea's work, to be published as an illustrated booklet by PrintRoom. The booklet (like this invitation) is set in Sol Sans, a typeface designed by Whittlesea. Sol Sans is based on Sol LeWitt's handwritten Sentences on Conceptual Art first published in 0-9, New York in 1969. Any letters not used in LeWitt's original text have been replaced by Helvetica Medium.
More information:
Ian Whittlesea (b. 1967, Isleworth, UK) is an artist whose work is concerned with the ability of text to transform the physical and psychic state of the viewer. He has worked with The Everyday Press, London to publish a series of books that have been collectively described as 'instruction manuals for transcendental exercise'. His translation of Yves Klein's Les Fondements du Judo was published in 2009, and his newly appended edition of Mazdaznan Health & Breath Culture in 2012. Becoming Invisible, published in 2014, is a visual primer that draws on the literature of Rosicrucianism, theosophy and esoteric yoga. It describes how, through visualisation and breathing exercises, the reader will be able to split light into its constituent parts and then recombine the seven colours of the spectrum to form a glowing white cloud that envelops its creator. His most recent book is The Egyptian Postures, an illustrated guide to the advanced Mazdaznan exercises that Johannes Itten taught his students at the Bauhaus.
Eline Verstegen (b. 1991, Antwerp, BE) is an independent curator and writer based in Antwerp and London. She holds an MA in History from the University of Antwerp, where she specialized in 19th and 20th-century (art) history, and an MA in Curating the Contemporary from London Metropolitan University and the Whitechapel Gallery. Her curatorial practice is informed by a keen interest in immersive installations, atmospheres and environments, and by an attention to multidisciplinary cross-overs with the performing arts, film, literature, philosophy and cultural theory. She recently worked with the curatorial teams at Whitechapel Gallery on Art Night 2017, London and she is currently involved with the contemporary art platform Tique in Antwerp.
PrintRoom is a presentation space and shop dedicated to artists' publications.
PrintRoom's programme is kindly supported by the Mondrian Fund and the Creative Industries Fund NL.
The essay can be read here>
A PDF of the publication can be downloaded here>