Dear people:

Time seems to have run out, but I am happy because these next few days (and, therefore, in this letter as well) I am going to talk a lot about books, artist publications, special editions, paper, after all. When in 2013 I started the publishing house Chiquita Ediciones almost as a divertimento, I did it for the simple reason of combining the principle of pleasure with the principle of reality. Paper is a fascinating material with endless possibilities, don't you think? Text, image or mathematical formulas, drawing or writing, handwritten or typed, revealing secrets or photographs, leaving it blank, erasing what has been said, printing from the dataphone? This last one is always good news.

People say that paper can resist everything, although I don't know if I understand what they mean by that. Or I don't know if I agree at all. For me, paper makes everything possible. And even though I still get nervous (a lot) every time I send a final art document to print, the pleasure that I feel when I come into direct contact with the organic materiality of paper, there is no screen that can replace it. No matter how many inches it has, there is not the texture, the smell and the intimacy that make holding a book in your hands and turning its pages à volonté an experience of pure joy. And me, without joy, I can't live (well).

So let me tell you about some paper books, which come from the forests (always responsibly) or from other papers of the past, and which will take us into the near future. This year we are once again participating in the international artist's book fair, Arts Libris, which will be taking place next week (June 10, 11 and 12) at the neighboring Mercat de Sant Antoni in Barcelona. For the occasion, there are some editorial new publications and a second edition ready to be presented.
 

 
👉 I start with Ciprés, which is one of my favorite conifers and in a few days the new book by Laía Argüelles Folch and Chiquita Ediciones. Next Thursday, June 9 at 7 p.m., we present this wonderful compendium of images with essay, which we publish together in the context of her current exhibition at the gallery.

About this little treasure, the author says: «The first time I looked out on the balcony to see the view of my new residence, I thought the cypress stood between me and the Sierra Norte. The second time I looked out onto the balcony, the cypress became the view, and remained so – a favourite view – for the year I lived there. This book is an album of photographs taken out of doors, sometimes with my elbow resting on the threshold, sometimes holding the Kodak camera at my fingertips. The collection of cypresses that are – but are not – the same is accompanied by the essay entitled “No toda ausencia (es carencia)”, which also begins and ends in that tree of imputrescible wood, and meanwhile thinks about the whisper of the written word, about parenthesis and waiting, and dialogues in its own way with other voices, from C.S. Lewis to Felix Gonzalez Torres, passing through Carmen Martín Gaite or Idea Vilariño.»

The book is already available for pre-order clicking here and to come to the presentation with the artist you can reserve your place here. 
 

 👉 Another new publishing release that is about to appear is the (very) limited edition, Search Engine, by Louis Porter. Louis has been going to the London Library, one of the largest independent lending libraries in the world, every week for years. From there was born A found bookmark (the bookmark found that we edited with him for collectors in Sant Jordi) and now he proposes to move a selection of photographs from the "Science & Miscellaneous" section to the Arús Public Library, where he was working during his residency here last April. 

These images are contained in a box of the same size and format as an Arús Library index drawer and are arranged as they were found in the London Library: alphabetically by subject on shelves. Thus, Sleep and Smuggling become neighbors and Pleasure, Poaching and Poisons are grouped together.

The result is a collection of 382 photographs, sometimes anarchic, like an archeology of a system of photographic knowledge that we usually assume. To tell us more, Louis returns to Barcelona and next Thursday, June 9 at 11 a.m., we will present with him the edition in the same Arús Public Library, where we will offer an artist's book for its permanent installation. You can sign up for the activity here and visit us at Arts Libris, where the artist will also be available to talk about the rest of his publications.

In fact, on Friday, June 10 at 6 p.m., Louis and Laía will talk about their artistic practices around books, in a conversation entitled Swimming in Books, Swimming in Images. 
 

 
👉  As a prelude to the many activities coming up next week, this Friday 3 at 6 p.m. we will discuss about a collection of blank books with Marcela Labraña and Felipe Cussen. Members of the research group "La oficina de la nada", they will share their love and knowledge for this type of books, which have a history of more than a century and are a very common genre in the field of artists' books, experimental publications and mass editions. In fact, the first expanded edition project launched by Chiquita Ediciones was in 2014 regarding the blank book Pages Blanches, some of whose variations have been shown in exhibition this year at the Fundación Luis Seoane.

On the occasion of the visit from Chile to Barcelona to present Felipe's latest book with Siruela publishing house, La oficina de la nada. Poéticas negativas contemporáneas, which includes an entire chapter on blank books, they will show us here a very diverse selection of this kind of volumes, comparing several editions of one of his most famous titles: La hinteligencia militar. Professor Victoria Cirlot and curator Alexandra Laudo will also take part in the conversation, and the session can be followed online by reservation here.