The book as printed space: Workshop with Bernhard Cella

The workshop deals with the current status of the printed (analogue) book and concomitant questions. It enables participants to design and develop their own publications, from the initial idea, through the conception and right up to the finished product.

During recent years, a real boom has been observed in very small editions of artistic publication projects, accompanied by developments in desktop publishing and digital printing. In contrast to industrial manufacture, small editions allow a high degree of interaction between production and conception.

Taking current and historical examples, we will analyse various approaches and forms of production. These include analysing pictorial language, formats and varieties of paper, text production, typography and typesetting techniques. We will hold discussions and prepare prototypes that allow a different way of thinking about the space that is a book.

Bernhard Cella, born in 1969, lives in Vienna. He is interested in the general economic and sculptural conditions under which artist's books can serve as artistic material. To this end, in 2007 he devised in his studio the Salon für Kunstbuch [Salon for Artbooks] – a 1:1 scale model of a bookshop which he has been running in the “21er Haus” in Vienna since 2011. Here he has assembled a collection of 9,000 artist's books, which he constantly rearranges into unaccustomed combinations, so that they enter into material dialogue. Buying and selling become part of his independent artistic practice.