Subversive Pages: 100 Surrealist Publications
Exhibition
curated by Johan Pas
18 - 27 October 2024, Lange Zaal, Academy
With a selection of one hundred Surrealist documents from the Collection for Research on Artists’ Publications, ‘Subversive Pages’ commemorates a centenary of Surrealism. Since October 1924, when André Breton fired his first Manifesto of Surrealism, Surrealist ideas were launched through books, pamphlets, and magazines.
Surrealism was conceived as ‘a revolution of the mind,’ aiming at overthrowing Western rationalism and liberating mankind. The movement not only tapped into dreams but also produced poetic and polemical discourse, resulting in printed documentation. Breton and his fellow poets considered straightforward publications most adequate to disseminate disturbing content. As a result, the publication strategies of the Surrealists reveal a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Focusing on the first three decades and on the hotspots France, Belgium, and England, ‘Subversive Pages’ unravels the expanding international network of Surrealist poets, painters, and publishers. The exhibition aims at representativity, showing a wide variety of printed output. These subversive pages, usually slumbering in the silent shadows of archives, occasionally pop up to inform, inspire, and—why not—irritate us.
(image: Les livres surréalistes ainsi que les publications surréalistes, Librairie José Corti, Paris, 1931 (cover image by Max Ernst), detail)
→ This exhibition is part of the research festival ARTICULATE 2024 I ANONYMOUS CREATIVITY - ART WITHOUT ARTISTS
