Allen Ruppersberg — The novel that writes itself / El segundo record club — Michèle didier Gallery — Exhibition — Slash Paris

Past: September 12 → October 31, 2014

The exhibition will consist of two different parts: The Novel That Writes Itself and EL SEGUNDO RECORD CLUB.

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.

The exhibition, by offering the possibility to handle the 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.

The opening night of the exhibition will also provide the occasion for a whole new record store to open its doors : EL SEGUNDO RECORD CLUB.

EL SEGUNDO RECORD CLUB follows the mythical tradition of the 1969 Al’s cafe and the 1971 Al’s Grand Hotel, two projects by Allen Ruppersberg which consisted respectively of opening a real café and a hotel, the originality coming from the fact that they were run by artists. These places became, in a matter of a few weeks, places of assembly, parties or performances.

EL SEGUNDO RECORD CLUB will be run according to other principles imagined by Allen Ruppersberg, in line with the nature of this new setting, a vinyl store to be explored. The idea, however, stays the same compared to the previous adventures mentioned above, each visitor is invited to come and discover what the record shop by Allen Ruppersberg has in store for them.