JONATHAN MONK — Selected Meetings Selected, Arnolfini, Bristol, 2008

A text-only artist’s book containing twenty-six proposed meetings, each reduced to a location, date and precise time. The appointments extend across cities, landmarks and several years: John O’Groats at sunset, the Statue of Liberty at noon, Sunset Boulevard and Vine, and the Canaletes Fountain on Barcelona’s Rambla.

No explanation is supplied and no attendance is guaranteed. The publication operates simultaneously as itinerary, invitation and score. Reading may become travel; possession of the book creates the possibility of a future encounter.

Produced for Arnolfini’s exhibition The Cover of a Book Is the Beginning of a Journey, which examined artist publications capable of extending beyond conventional reading, the book turns distribution into part of the artwork. One scheduled meeting connected with the project reportedly gathered readers beneath the Eiffel Tower, temporarily converting the publication’s dispersed audience into a physical community.

Monk’s wider practice replays and redirects the procedures of Conceptual and Minimal art through appropriation, repetition, personal history and deadpan humour. Here, the administrative language of the appointment becomes a form of sculpture organised through time, distance and the uncertain participation of strangers.

Originally issued at €3, the publication is now held in specialist collections including the Van Abbemuseum, MACBA and Le Centre des livres d’artistes. A specialist bibliography currently values an example at €300.

14.5 × 21 cm. 28 pages. Staple-bound artist’s book; offset printed in black on pale uncoated paper. ISBN 978-0-907738-93-0. Published for The Cover of a Book Is the Beginning of a Journey, Arnolfini, 22 November 2008–18 January 2009. Condition: good. General handling, creasing and pressure marks throughout, with faint surface soiling, light spotting and age toning to the pale wrappers and leaves. Minor edge and corner wear. Complete, with the staple binding intact.

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