KIN Gallery Brussels, Book Launch

© Dorota Jurczak, Ex libris – Royal Book Loge, 2015. 

John C. Welchman will present on the art, actions, exhibitions and books of the para-collaborative Royal Book Lodge. The presentation will be accompanied by an expansive selection of works, images and contextual materials; and is followed by a Q&A with Véronique Bourgoin and Juli Susin and book signing. 

John C. Welchman, author of Royal Book Lodge (Hatje Cantz, 2023), introduces the history and achievements of this nimble and richly innovative international network of artists formed in the late 1980s in Berlin, Paris and Marseille, spearheaded by Juli Susin and Véronique Bourgoin. Known for its gorgeous and challenging artists’ books, Book Lodge collaborations have given rise to ceramics, photography, films and videos, paintings, sculptures and exhibitions; as well as to the formation of a collection and archive. Its spheres of activity range from European capital cities to projects in Iceland, LA, Miami, the Ligurian coast, and Paraguay. Welchman will discuss how the RBL collaborated with former members of the Situationist International, including Ralph Rumney, Pierro Simondo and Gianfranco Sanguinetti. He will lay out the leading ideas and practices of the formation as they have played out in the diverse cultural and political geographies of RBL affiliates and initiatives: narratives of displacement and migration; constructs of biography and fiction; notions of remote control; experiences and contestations of violence; and ideas around the remedial and ameliorative possibilities of art.

Co-hosting a book launch Kin and Hisk
Kin Gallery, 37 Rue Ravenstein, B-1000, Brussels