The second Essay is a poster designed to be folded and mailed. The intended recipients were, initially, the people who had participated in a simple survey aimed at gathering references to publications by female artists between 1960 and 1990. The front of the poster contains about a hundred titles that were identified through this survey, while the back details how the process of compiling references worked.
«Ensayo 2: We Want to Know presents the results of an informal survey carried out between March and July 2022, which consisted of a single question: respondents were asked to send the reference of up to nine artist’s publications dating from between 1960 and 1990 and authored not by individual male artists, but by women, collectives or other identity forms.
The survey was sent to 35 people of diverse nationalities, ages, genders and walks of life, who share a close connection to contemporary art—either through work or as a side-line – and are well acquainted with the arena of artist’s publications.
Of the 35 addressees, 25 sent feedback that at least partly matched the aim of the survey. Only one of the interviewees queried— and then, only initially— the relevance of the exercise. A high number of responses were accompanied by expressions of surprise at the lack of knowledge which the survey had suddenly made apparent, or apologies for just being able to send fewer than nine references.
Based on the responses received, the first step was, for clarity’s sake, to discard periodicals (magazines, fanzines, etc.) and the (few) publications for which no visual information was readily found through an initial quick search. The remaining pieces are presented in this document as a list, in chrono- logical order, with a picture of each and only minimal data identifying them…»
The Ensayos series was launched in late 2021, coinciding with the start of a wide-ranging research project aimed at redefining—from a feminist and, to the extent possible, decolonial perspective—the canon that historiography has established for the artist’s book genre. The aim of this series is to present partial research findings in a variety of printed formats. While disseminating information and content, the publications in the series experiment with alternative formats to the channels through which academic research is usually disseminated.
Hamburg / Barcelona: Self-published, October 2022
Concept, texts, photographs: Mela Dávila Freire
Graphic design: Todojunto, Barcelona
32,5 x 48 cm (open), 16,5 x 11 cm (closed)
Offset printing, 1+1 colors
Printed at L’Automática, Barcelona
1st edition: 120 ex.
Texts in English
In the framework of the residency program 2021-2022 of the Paul Klee Summer Academy, Bern University of the Arts HBK, Bern.
Distributed through regular mail.
