The Novel That Writes Itself, 2014

Basel 2015

Allen Ruppersberg The Novel That Writes Itself, 2014 Binder  468 printed pages 30.2 x 24.8 cm Limited edition of 24 numbered and signed copies and 6 artist’s proofs  Produced and published in 2014 by mfc-michèle didier  ©2014 Allen Ruppersberg and mfc-michèle didier "The Novel That Writes Itself" is a new edition by Allen Ruppersberg, the fourth production of the artist published by mfc-michèle didier. Prior to this work have been produced the installation "The New Five Foot Shelf" in 2001, the artist book "The New Five Foot Shelf of Books" in 2003 and "Chapter VI" in 2009. "The Novel That Writes Itself" is a finished whole of a novel in progress, initiated in 1978 by the artist. This work includes, gathered in a binder of more than 10 cm thick, the text "The Torn-Apart Book" by Jan Tumlir, in introduction, and a series of 460 single-sided perforated sheets. Page after page, we discover the posters produced by the artist at the Colby Poster Printing Company up until its closing down in 2013, the posters Colby had produced that the artist had collected, and several photographs of past installations of "The Novel That Writes Itself" which come to punctuate the narration. This binder, a heavy object, will give each person the chance to feel the magnitude of the novel-artwork "The Novel That Writes Itself". The work is meant to be Allen Ruppersberg’s autobiography, as fictionalized as it may be, and must therefore embrace the essence of the artist’s work during the past 40 years.