From Book to Anti-Book

Abstract

Because they are mixed modes (words and images), "artists’ books" have lacked an adequate theory relating them to other forms of cultural production. In order to understand these unique objects, one must divide them into two subgroupings: de luxe editions (usually limited, numbered, signed and sold to dealers and collectors), and "anti-books," those which question the physical and conceptual foundations of the book, seriality, identity and the art marketing system. Mexican examples are presented because they highlight the explicitly political and social substratum from which the avant-garde emerges.