Art Ephemera

Kunstinstituut Melly has published books and micro-sites to document its art exhibitions and platform its program initiatives. As of late, we have also published a podcast, produced numerous videos, and printed a handful of pieces of what we consider here as art ephemera. Along the lines of art multiples, art ephemera are pieces conceived to have small print runs and bespoke distribution. Here is a brief description of recent art ephemera pieces we have published:

A group exhibition with work by Dora García, Sharon Hayes, Emily Jacir, Mahmoud Khaled, Carlos Motta, Wu Tsang, and Akram Zaatari, as well as A Letter from Quinn Latimer (2018), involved sending a dispatch by post to visitors of the exhibition, which focused on epistolary art. As indicated by the exhibition’s descriptive title, the letter is authored by a poet, Latimer, who also conducted a writing workshop in Rotterdam during the course of this exhibition.

Made in collaboration with the design Studio Laumes, The Embarrassment of SUCKCESS by Melissa Gordon consists of four folded posters published in conjunction with An exhibition with an audio script by Sarah Demeuse and Wendy Tronrud, as well as a soundtrack by Mario García Torres in collaboration with Sol Oosel (2019). Once unfolded and brought together, Gordon’s posters illustrate a painting on one side, with her text on the other, both of which explore artistic success or a lack thereof. The exhibition dealt with political circumstances around “drop-outs,” giving special focus to women artists and writers.

In December 2020, we mailed our subscribers a unique card designed by Goda Budvytytė and embossed with detail from Cirrus, 11.14.2006, 6:44 am-7:47 am by Karl Nawrot. Far from a press release design, this piece announced that we first opened to the public on 27 January 1990 as Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, and that, as of 27 January 2021, our name will officially be changed to Kunstinstituut Melly.