Kunstverein Bielefeld

The Kunstverein Bielefeld is delighted to present Black Pages, introducing a format conceived as an exhibition space in printed form. Every issue is based on a pre-determined structure; the journal is always published in an edition of three hundred, printed in black and white in A5 format. In each issue, international artists are invited to create work filling twenty pages, with a cover featuring only each artist’s first name. These principles connect Black Pages to the idea of the fanzine, an alternative communications medium which has flourished since the beginning of the twentieth century. In a variety of subcultures, fanzines were recognized as a cheap way of directly propagating ideas, outside established institutional structures and hegemonic structures. For artists, they offered new platforms of presentation, representation and distribution.

Black Pages has designed an exhibition for the Kunstverein Bielefeld which, for the first time, gives an overview of the ninety-five issues already published, while offering a contemporary perspective on publishing as an artistic practice. Another project, available on the Kunstverein Bielefeld online platform, transposes Black Pages into online space, making the fanzine digitally available for the first time.

Black Pages was founded in Vienna in 2009 by Christoph Meier, Ute Müller and Nick Oberthaler. The series is held by institutional collections including MACBA Barcelona, the libraries of Columbus College of Art & Design in Ohio, MUMOK Wien, the University of Applied Arts Vienna, the Center for Artist’s Publications at the Museum für moderne Kunst Weserburg at Bremen, and the Artist’s Books Collection at Rennes University.

Curated by Nadine Droste

KUNSTVEREIN BIELEFELD
Welle 61
33602 Bielefeld

Thu–Sun, 12:00 – 18:00
Mo-Wed, by appointment

T +49 (0) 521.17 88 06
F +49 (0) 521.17 88 10
kontakt@kunstverein-bielefeld.de