The Artist's Novel

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The Book Lovers is a research project on the phenomenon of the artist's novel curated by David Maroto and Joanna Zielińska. The central question is how a literary genre like the novel can be considered a medium in its own right within the visual arts, as video or installation could be. There have been artists throughout the 20th century who wrote novels as an activity more or less detached from their visual art production. However, in recent years, an increasing number of artists have begun to integrate their novels as a fundamental part of their visual art projects. Surprisingly, there is a lack of research on this subject. This circumstance gives rise to a situation in which artists who write novels are not aware of others doing the same. With The Book Lovers we are intending to create public awareness of this silently widespread artistic trend. The project develops in a number of different stages. Its base is the creation of a collection of artist's novels with a parallel online database, both supported by M HKA. This is complemented with a series of exhibitions and public programmes, pop-up bookstores, commissions, and publications.

There are many ways to navigate the artist's novels database. You can start by the artist's index:

Noor Abuarafeh, Etel AdnanRouzbeh AkhbariSophia Al-Maria, Carl Andre, Alain Arias-Misson, Karin Arink, Eduardo ArroyoImma Avalos, Michael Ayrton, Txomin BadiolaHugo Ball, Fiona Banner, Stephen BanzMaria Barnas, Jennifer Bartlett, Cara Benedetto, Bernadette Corporation, The BERTY team (Angela Su et al.), Gerry Bibby, Simon BillTonje Bøe Birkeland, Hannah Black, Jimbo Blachly, Luther Blissett, Paul Bogaers, Maxime Bondu, Jean de Bosschère, Joe Brainard, Matthew Brannon, AA Bronson, Evelin BrosiFrédéric Bruly BouabréWojciech Bruszewski, Kathe Burkhart, Zachary Cahill, Sophie Calle and Paul Auster, Paco Cao, Barbara CardinaleLeonora CarringtonBrian Catling, Alex Cecchetti, Jake Chapman, Ivan ChengGiorgio de Chirico, Billy Chyldish, Sebastian Cichocki, Tyler CoburnGuy de Cointet, David ColosiIthell Colquhoun, Jasper Coppes, Erin Cosgrove, Douglas Coupland, Jan Cremer, E.E. Cummings, Keren Cytter, Salvador Dalí, Bert Danckaert, Henry Joseph Darger, Oskar Dawicki, Constance DeJongEric Doeringer, Christian Dotremont, Laura Edbrook, Andreas Ejiksson, Scott ElliottTracey Emin, Steven Emmanuel, Pam Emmeriketeam (Franziska Lamprecht and Hajoe Moderegger)Tim Etchells, Everyone Agrees, David Evrard, Öyvind FahlströmMatias Faldbakken, Leonor Fini, Susan FinlayCharles Henri Ford, Gregory Forstner, Nicholas Frank, Annabel Frearson, Klemens Gasser, Mark Geffriaud, Verónica Gerber Bicecci, Jef GeysTom Gidley, Liam Gillick, Dan Gilsdorf, Jérémie Gindre, Unni Gjertsen, Goldin+Senneby, Rodney Graham, Alasdair GrayRenée Green, Sabine Groschup, Sigurdur Gudmundsson, Heather Guertin, Deniz GülJosé Gutiérrez-Solana, Brion Gysin, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Samuel Hasler, Raoul Hausmann, Richard Hawkins, Paul Haworth, Hallgrímur Helgason, Pablo Helguera, Emmy Hennings, Nick HermanLouise Hervé and Chloé Maillet, Pati HillNorman James Hogg, Will Holder, Stewart Home, Erica van HornIsidore Isou, Guillermo IusoMarla Jacarilla, Łukasz Jastrubczak, Travis Jeppesen, Lisa Jonasson, Miranda July, Christopher K. Ho, Stephen Kaltenbach, Samson Kambalu, Ilja Karilampi, Phyllis Kiehl, Sharon KivlandPierre Klossowski, Emily Kocken, Jutta Koether, Joseph Kosuth, Arno Kramer, Syd KrochmalnyRaziye Kubat, Alfred Kubin, Yayoi Kusama, Fernanda Laguna, Peter Lemmens, Norman Leto, Jana Leo, Edouard Levé, Wyndham Lewis, David LieskeLittle Warsaw, Alex LlovetGareth Long, Kiba Lumberg, Jill Magid, Erwan MahéoDavid Maroto, Rita McBride, Tom McCarthy, Andrea McGinty, Barry McHamonLucy McKenzie, Bjarne Melgaard, Alan Michael, Harland Miller, Momus, Sean Monahan, Andrei Monastyrsky, Heather & Ivan Morison, Simon Morris, William Morris, Valérie Mréjen, Ariane Müller, David Musgrave, Hayley Newman, Trong Gia Nguyen, Erik Niedling, Krzysztof Niemczyk, Ingo Niermann, Emil NoldeFilip Noterdaeme, Leticia Obeid, Gary O'Connor, Brian O’Doherty, Tom O'Sullivan, Kambui Olujimi, Katrina Palmer, Stefan PanhasPhilippe Parreno, Pathetic Sympathy Seekers, Francesco Pedraglio, Pavel Pepperstein, Mai-Thu Perret, Grayson Perry, PHILIP team (Heman Chong et al.), Tom Phillips, Francis Picabia, Kit Poulson, David Price, Seth Price, Richard Prince, PSJM, Ernesto Pujol, Reto PulferCheng Ran, Sal Randolph, Graham Rawle, Jannie Regnerus, Karen Reimer, Hubert Renard, Stuart Ringholt, David Robbins, Juan Carlos RodrÍguezPedro G. Romero, Roee Rosen, Richard RothRomy Rüegger, Allen Ruppersberg, Christopher Russell, Pepo Salazar, Pjeroo RoobjeDenis Savary, Arnold SchalksBoris Schatz, Bruno Schulz, Joshua Schwebel, Kurt Schwitters, Dana SederowskyLindsay Seers, Jack Segbars, Q.S. Serafijn, Benjamin Seror, Lytle Shaw, Eric Simon, Alexandre Singh, Societé Realiste, Suzy Spence, Cally Spooner, Lisa Stålspets, Maria Stangret Kantor, Dan Starling, Linda StupartElaine Sturtevant, Władysław Strzemiński, Robert Szczerbowski, Mathilde SupeVibeke Tandberg, Dorothea Tanning, Joanne Tatham, Michael Tedja, Maija Timonen, Nicoline TimmerRoland Topor, Francesc TorresThu-Van Tran, Oscar Tuazon, Parker Tyler, Linn Cecilie Ulvin, Félix Vallotton, Sarah Vanhee, Hannu Väisänen, Stijn Verhoeff, Gavin Wade, Ciarán WalshAndy Warhol, Mark Waugh, Ai Weiwei Julia Weist, Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz, Dale Edwin Wittig, Jacob Wren, Jack B. Yeats, Unica Zürn, Miek Zwamborn

CREATIVE STRATEGY: Artwork-Novel Parallel Lives Artworks Biographical Origin Artworks Cite Novel Fictional Artist Creates Artworks Multimedia Novel No Link to Artworks Novel Art Object Novel Cites Artworks Novel Score for Performance Novel Writes Itself Open Process Performance Generates Novel Reading Performance Research Novel Rewriting Existing Novel Rewriting Film Theater Piece Generates Novel 

AUTHORSHIP: Anonymous Authorship Artist Author Fictional Author Fictional Ghost Writer   Ghost Writer Collective Authorship  Appropriation/Collage 

GENRE: Absurdist Analytic fiction Autobiography Automatic Writing  Adventures Bildungsroman Biography Comedy Detectives Diagrams Diary Documentary Fiction Drama Epic Epistolary Erotic/Pornographic Essayist Biographical Fiction Fantasy Fictocriticism Fictitious reference work Gamebook Gothic Handbook Historical fiction Historical non-fiction Historical Romance Horror Interview Invented Language Künstlerroman Melodrama Memoir Metafiction Mystery Pataphisical Novel Plain Fiction  Portrait Prose Poetry Roman à clef Romance Satire Science-Fiction Self-help Set theory Speculative Fiction Surrealist Thriller Tragic Farce  Travelogue Uchronia

THEME: 1960s Abjection Accidents Activism Affect Africa Afterlife AIDS American Culture Anarchism Animism Art Art World Astronomy Bad Form Biopolitics Birds Bisexuality British Culture Capitalism Chance Childhood Class Claustrophobia Climate Change Chaos Theory Citizenship Colours Communism Community Control Conspiracy Crime Crisis Culture Industry Customs Cynicism Death Decadence Desire Dichotomies Disintegration Dreams Drugs Ecstasy Education System Enchantment Everyday Exile Life Exotism Exploitation Fame Family Secrets Fantasy Feelings Feminism Fetishism Film Formalism Freedom Friendship Frustration Games Geography Ghosts Global Commons History Hollywood Holograms Homosexuality Hormuz Hospitality Humor Identity Illness Intrigue Iranian Politics Isolation Japanese Culture Landscape Law Librarianship/Library Science Love Magic Mass Media Memory Mental Illness Money Motherhood Museography Music Mystery Mysticism Myth Mythology Navigation Nightlife Nihilism Objects Obsession Offshore Business Paranoia Parody Party Performance Performative Language Perverse Sexuality Philosophy Photography Play Poetry Politics Pornography Post-Apocalyptic Post-Humanism Post-Soviet Culture Poverty Prison Prostitution Protocol Psychedelic Mundane Racism Rape Religion Repetition Revenge Rituals Rumour Russian Culture Science Scottish Culture Sculpture Secret Societies Seduction Sex Sexuality Socio-Political Critic Sports States of the Self Subjective Experience Survival Systems Theory Technology Therapy Time Time travel Transgender Transgression Identity Transvestism Travels Truth Utopian Worlds Value Vaudeville Vicarious Experiences Violence War Weather

PUBLISHING: Art Books Publishing House Art Gallery Digital Format  Magazine Publisher  Non-profit Art Organization Print-On-Demand Public Institution Publishing House  Self-Publishing  Unpublished

This ensemble is an ongoing process, additional information is added on a regular basis. Click here for more  information.

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