Editions Givaudan

In 1966, Claude Givaudan (1938–1988) opened Galerie Givaudan in Paris. In 1978, he opened a second gallery in his native city of Geneva. Givaudan was born into a family of renowned chemists, specializing in flavors and perfumes, but his personal passion was for the arts and culture, especially literature and contemporary art.

The Geneva gallery organized numerous exhibitions, including shows by Piotr Kowalski, Takis, Louis Cane, Sturtevant, “Ready-mades and editions by and about Marcel Duchamp,” Carl Fredrik Reuterswärd, etc. But it was as a publisher that Claude Givaudan proved most influential. Inventive, curious, groundbreaking, he published limited editions, books, prints, sculptures, records, and films over a twenty-year period beginning in 1965, in collaboration with poets, writers artists, and film makers.

Givaudan developed a corpus of unbridled originality, both in terms of the materials used—such as Rhodoid, acetate, and metal—and the forms of the resulting book works: cardboard boxes, paper sculptures, wooden boards, ping-pong balls. Asked why he continued to refer to these objects as “books,” he replied that each contained text that was designed to be read. They were books that “sought neither simplicity nor ease of comprehension.”

Thanks to a generous gift, MAMCO holds a nearcomplete set of these publications, including numerous first editions: a fitting tribute to an extraordinary publisher, who never tired of baiting his readers, as with this warning, in Catalogue-Sculpteurs (1966): “Catalogue for the stressed, the hyper-active, the over-stretched, lazy, and impatient, who prefer to leaf through its pages beside a warm fire, with a decent pipe and a tumbler of whisky to hand.”

Friday (06.12.2019)

17:00 – Markus Dressen, SPECTOR BOOKS

The Spector collaborative project can be an office, a magazine, a publishing house, a network or even a temporary location in Leipzig. Publications on contemporary fine arts are at the heart of the project. Markus Dressen is co-editor.

18:00 – Alexandre Dimos, B42

B42 is a publishing house created in 2008 by the French graphic designer Alexandre Dimos. The house is dedicated to the publication of books on graphic design, typography, design, contemporary art and popular cultures.

19:00 – Anthony Masure, Élise Gay et Kévin Donnot, REVUE BACK OFFICE

Back Office is a research journal questioning the relationships between graphic design and digital practices, co-founded by Élise Gay and Kévin Donnot and Anthony Masure, published in co-publication with B42.

Saturday (07.12.2019)

14:00 – Ariane Spanier, FUKT

In her Berlin studio, Ariane Spanier designs books, catalogues, posters, identities, animations, illustrations and digital design. Since 2006, Ariane has been the creative director and co-editor of Fukt, an annual magazine for contemporary drawing.

15:00 – Séverine Bascouert and Sammy Stein, REVUE LAGON

LAGON, a prospective comic strip review, is interested in new forms of graphic narrative. Bilingual (fr/en), she changes her name with each edition. The editorial team: Alexis Beauclair, Séverine Bascouert, Sammy Stein, Jean-Philippe Bretin.

16:00 – Isabel Seiffert, Michaela Büsse, MIGRANT JOURNAL

Offshore Studio, based in Zurich and directed by Isabel Seiffert and Christoph Miler, focuses on typography and editorial design and research-oriented visual narratives. They are co-founders and artistic directors of Migrant Journal.

17:00 – Roger Willems, ROMA PUBLICATIONS

Roma Publications Art Publisher in Amsterdam, founded by Roger Willems, Mark Manders and Marc Nagtzaam, serves as a platform to produce and distribute autonomous publications produced in close collaboration with artists, writers and designers.

18:00 – Olivier Bertrand, SURFACES UTILES

Presentation of Alfredo Coloma's artist's book, "Le Gamin" (2019) with Olivier Bertrand, graphic designer and publisher, Surfaces Utiles, Brussels.
Discussion moderated by Pierre Leguillon.

Friday (06.12.2019)

20:00 – Zulu Z

Video collage performance

Saturday (07.12.2019)

10:30 – Performance de Macaco

Macaco will make a performance to present their book on a large cover and invite people to listen to their readings or read books.

15:00 – Lecture by Fabienne Radi and Jérémie Gindre

Fabienne Radi will read excerpts from her book "Peindre des colonnes vertébrales" and Jérémie Gindre will offer an illustrated reading of his text "Le Cheval-qui-nage ", taken from the book "Image Canoë".
Editor: Sombres Torrents

16:00 – Signature by Pierre Leguillon

Pierre Leguillon will sign his book "Ads."
Editor: Triangle Books

17:00 – Launch by Daphné Bengoa and Leo Fabrizio

Daphné Bengoa and Leo Fabrizio will present their book "Fernand Pouillon et l’Algérie. Bâtir à hauteur d'hommes"
Editor: Macula

18:00 – Signature Alexine

Ismael Abdallah, Gaffa World