Marc Prill's "FREE FOR ALL" exhibition

be sure to click to see this image in its full glory

Here's an installation photo of the FREE FOR ALL downloadable artists' books exhibition as created by Marc Prill. Sandwiching the books between the computer monitor and the knife and folding bone nicely sums up the way this show bridges the virtual and the real.

Check out Marc's website, where you can find his books and other artwork. It will also open your eyes to the surprisingly life-threatening nature of recreation areas in the UK.

ME books go all "PDF"y

ME, An Autobiography, by Luc Fierens

So, FIMP has this ongoing project, ME, An Autobiography, in which FIMP provides you with the format and the questions for a tiny autobiography, you provide the answers, and then FIMP posts the results online in the ME gallery. The answer "unknown dust" remains one of my favorites for "this means nothing to me", by the way.

Anyway, with the FREE FOR ALL show providing artists books in downloadable form, the thought occurred to me when I received a request for a blank ME book that this would be a good time to make the ME book available as a download, instead of sending one through the mail, as had been my previous practice.

So, here's where you can download a blank ME book.

And here are the directions for cutting and folding the book. Even if you don't want to make a ME book, you might want to check out the directions, so that when you're in your next meeting you can turn a blank piece of paper into an eight page doodling surface, instead of just doodling on the handouts. It's more professional.

When you finish your ME book, if you want to enter it in the online gallery, you can either mail it to:

FIMP
P.O. Box 775
Greensburg, PA 15601

or send it as a digital file to freeforall (at) fimp (dot) net

Have fun with it!

FREE FOR ALL in action.

I'm delighted to see someone both making the FREE FOR ALL books and posting his own for download!. If you make the books, I'd love to see 'em in action. Send me photos of your personal FREE FOR ALL exhibition, and I'll post 'em here.

FREE FOR ALL - artist's books, yours for the taking!

FIMP is proud to present “FREE FOR ALL”. This online exhibition of artist’s books invites the viewer to download and assemble the books on display. The eight artists who have created books for this exhibition are Pati Bristow, Ginger Burrell, Warren Craghead III, Marti Haykin, Adele Henderson, Robert Hirsch, Judith Hoffman, and Marc Snyder. The exhibition will remain online indefinitely.

Each book in the show is available as a downloadable file. The viewer typically prints no more than one or two pages of artwork and text, which are then trimmed, folded, and cut to create miniature books. The artists have provided instructions for the viewer for the entire process.

The exhibition explores the boundary between cyberspace and “the real world”, as the show is only finished when the visitor to the site has downloaded and assembled his or her own books. Essentially, the exhibit exists wherever someone creates their own collection of books.

Brief biographical and professional information about each participating artist accompanies the artist’s book in the online exhibition. Links to view more of his or her artwork are also included.

I included both a new, color version of last month's book "Live! from the Black Box", and FIMP's most popular book released over the nine years of the Book of the Month Club, "How To Draw Jean-Paul Sartre With Genuine Human Dignity". Enjoy!