The Book Society is a project devoted to the most experimental forms of production in publishing, reflecting on book as space of experimentation of contemporary artistic languages. After the first season, conducted in 2013 in collaboration with the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea di Villa Croce in Genova, this second edition takes a different format through a program of exhibitions, workshops and presentations taking place between June and October in Milan and Delme, creating different possibilities of analysis around art publishing.

Publishing, in its multiple manifestations, from catalogues to art books and magazines, is a space in which not only is something conveyed, but contents are developed and created. Countless independent publishers, both established and newly founded, and the many artistic practices based on the text that investigate the act of “translating” from a visual to a textual form, have accelerated the development of this format as one of the most interesting on the current artistic panorama. The Book Society intends to investigate the potentials of book as a form of expression and to create a platform de-voted to international experimental art publishing.

The Book Society #02 transforms Peep-Hole exhibition space in a reading room where some of Europe’s most interesting publishing houses will be presented: BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOITE Berlin, Dent-De-Leone London, Mousse Publishing Milan, onestar press Paris, Roma Publications Amsterdam, Spector Books Leipzig, Torpedo Press Oslo.

For the occasion, the French publisher onestar press will bring to Milan BOOK MACHINE, a theoretical-practical workshop around issues linked to the conception, creation and distribution of books. The workshop will connect young artists with emerging designers, who will collaborate for one day in the making of book projects, that will be presented and discussed during the opening. 

The display and visuals of The Book Society #02 is conceived by Rio Grande, a multi-disciplinary creative collective with experience in the field of art, design, food and communication that created a site-specific structure in relation not only to the book as an object but also and mainly to the architecture of the exhibition space.

At CAC La Synagogue de Delme, The Book Society #02 will take shape of an exhibition opening on 16 October by Julia Rometti (Nice, 1975) and Victor Costales (Minsk, 1974), who investigate, among other formats, the form of book as space to develop their long lasting researches.

The Book Society #02 is part of Piano, Prepared Platform for Contemporary Art, France–Italy 2014-2015, initiated by d.c.a. / French association for the development of centres d’art, in partnership with the Institut français in Italy, the French Embassy in Italy and the Institut français, with the support of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, the French Ministry of Culture and Communication and Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati. In collaboration with CAC La Synagogue de Delme.