From Cambridge to Brighton: Concrete poetry in Britain, an interview with Stephen Bann

Extensive interview with art historian, curator and concrete poet Stephen Bann by Gustavo Grandal Montero, focusing particularly on his curatorial, critical and artistic work of the 1960s, closely involved with the development of Concrete poetry in the UK. Associated at an early stage with Ian Hamilton Finlay, he co-organized the First International Exhibition of Concrete and Kinetic Poetry (Cambridge, 1964) and was Director of the Concrete Poetry Exhibition for the inaugural Brighton Festival in 1967, edited Concrete poetry: an international anthology 1967 and published several influential critical texts, while developing his own Concrete poetry practice

Video as art: collecting artists’ moving image in academic art libraries

Video collections have been part of library holdings for several decades, but developing and managing these collections presents a number of challenges. This is the case particularly for artists’ film and video, and this article attempts to identify the issues involved and to offer some practical guidance, drawing on the experience of collection development and management at Chelsea College of Art and Design Library, and across the libraries of University of the Arts London and elsewhere

Biennalization? What biennalization?: the documentation of biennials and other recurrent exhibitions

Biennials have been central to the development of contemporary art for decades, but there is a paucity of published material specifically related to this subject. Documentation for these important exhibitions is not always made available and it is often difficult to acquire, posing an obstacle to current and future research across a number of areas within contemporary art, curating and art history. This article offers an overview of major current biennials and of the different sources of information they produce (catalogues, other printed material, online resources, archives), and surveys the secondary literature of the phenomenon. It also discusses specific collection development issues in libraries, from a research perspective, proposing a set of recommendations for best practice

Artists’ books in HE teaching and learning

Learning resource, teaching collection, study collection, research collection or special collection: a historical collection of artists’ books like that at Chelsea College of Art & Design Library can (and probably, has) been used and referred to in all these different ways, at different times, responding to changes in education, audiences, users, etc. The focus on research within universities has led, over time, to a narrow view of such collections and their use primarily as research material, often to the detriment of their use in teaching and learning. With the rebalancing in recent years of the importance of these activities, seen again as central to the mission of Higher Education (HE), a re-evaluation of the use of special collections, and specifically artists’ books collections, to enhance and improve the quality of learning and teaching activities, is required

Kinkon biobib: life and work of Dom Sylvester Houedard

Bio-bibliographical essay on British Benedictine monk, scholar, translator, concrete poet and artist Dom Sylvester Houédard (1924–92). Based on scarce published materials and primary sources, this chronology emphasises artistic over religious and other activities, and public over private ones. It lists events where Houédard had an active involvement (group and solo exhibitions – focusing on UK based ones, and those where a catalogue was published; talks, readings and performances – including recordings; collaborations), significant artworks, monographic publications (broadsheets, print folders, cards, pamphlets, monographs, exhibition catalogues, anthologies) and serial publications (articles and magazines)

Art documentation: exhibition catalogues and beyond

This chapter explores the present and potential future of the art catalogue and related formats, their role in the documentation of art, and their management and use in art and design libraries. Exhibition catalogues, alongside special formats like recurrent exhibition documentation (biennials, triennials, etc.), auction and sales catalogues, and scholarly collection catalogues and catalogues raisonnés, present a number of common characteristics and their management in library collections often requires specialist knowledge, as they can be challenging to acquire, demand expert cataloguing, etc. Art ephemera (invitations, posters, lists of works, press releases, etc.) are another important if underrated resource collected by libraries as a complementary source of information on exhibitions and artworks. The Handbook of Art and Design Librarianship integrates theory and practice to offer guidelines for information professionals working in art and design environments who need to support and anticipate the information needs of artists, designers, architects and the historians who study those disciplines. Since the first edition of this title, the world of art and design libraries has been transformed by rapid advances in technology, an explosion in social media and the release of new standards and guidelines. This new edition, offering mostly entirely new chapters, provides an accessible, fully updated, guide to the world of academic art and design libraries from a range of international experts who reflect current practice at a global level

Art as collaboration: 50 years of Edition Hansjörg Mayer

Extensive interview with artist, graphic designer and publisher Hansjörg Mayer by Eleanor Vonne Brown and Gustavo Grandal Montero, focusing particularly on his seminal work of the 1960s. Associated at an early stage with Max Bense’s Stuttgart Group, he developed his own “typoems” and other forms of experimental visual poetry, often employing complex conceptual methods (e.g. “typoactions”). His published output includes prints, portfolios, books and the broadsheet series ‘Futura’

Art & Language International: Conceptual art between Art Worlds

Review of Art & Language International: Conceptual art between Art Worlds, Reviewed November 2016 by Gustavo Grandal Montero, Academic Support Librarian, Chelsea College of Arts Library, University of the Arts London, [email protected]

Rewind: British Artists' Video in the 1970s & 1980s

Book Review of Rewind: British Artists' Video in the 1970s & 1980s by Sean Cubitt and Stephen Partridge, editors. Reviewed by Gustavo Grandal Montero

Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946-1994 ed.

Book Review of Sam Francis: Catalogue Raisonné of Canvas and Panel Paintings, 1946-1994 ed. by Debra Burchett-Lere. ISBN 9780520264304 by Reviewed by: Gustavo Grandal Montero