The Royal Book Lodge adventure

California-based art historian John C. Welchman discusses his research into the Royal Book Lodge project, an international network of artists initiated in Montreuil by Véronique Bourgoin and Juli Susin, with the artist's book at its core.

For over 30 years, Royal Book Lodge has generated a wide network of collaborations with international artists including Jochen Lempert, André Butzer, Dorota Jurczak, Lucja Sotnikova, Kai Althoff, Gudny Gudmundsdottir, Matali Crasset, Jonathan Meese, Raymond Pettibon and Jason Rhoades.

In this talk, John C. Welchman presents the history and achievements of the dynamic and richly innovative international network of artists formed in the late 1980s between Berlin, Paris and Marseille, and more broadly from the early 2000s onwards, under the impetus of Juli Susin and Véronique Bourgoin. These collaborations, gathered under the name Royal Book Lodge, include editions and exhibitions presented in diverse cultural and political geographies, and in a variety of media such as ceramics, photography, film and video, painting and sculpture. John C. Welchman addresses narratives of displacement and migration; biographical and fictional constructions; notions of remote control; the archaeology of violence; and the critical and reparative possibilities of art.

Lecture followed by discussion with artists Véronique Bourgoin and Juli Susin. It was in photographer Leslie Hamilton's studio that they met at the Beaux-Arts de Paris in the 1980s. After completing their studies at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, they started out in Montreuil to federate the projects gathered in John C. Welchman's book under the name of Royal Book Lodge, and in its wake numerous collaborations between artists, using the creation of the artist's book as a focal point.

John C. Welchman is Professor of Art History at the University of California, San Diego, and President Emeritus of the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts.
Véronique Bourgoin and Juli Susin are artists, both graduates of the Beaux-Arts de Paris.

As part of the Photo-Extra Large Chair, with the support of the Neuflize OBC Foundation.

Photo credit : © Droits réservés