Initiated in Luxembourg in 2023, LAB Limited Edition by MAI is a new conception of the artist's book or artwork as a multiple. Designed as a box set comprising various artistic supports (leporellos, photos, cards, books), each edition is limited to thirty signed copies. It is conceptualized by the artist in collaboration with Claire and Paul di Felice and with the contribution of exceptional printmakers, engravers, and binders. From the works contained in the box set, collectors can create their own exhibition device or simply present and handle the objects within the box.
Two box sets have been released since the creation of the label. The first "Monsieur X or The Tribulations of Monsieur X / Venetian Chronicles from 2020" witnesses the multidisciplinary approach of artists Frédéric Flamand, a renowned choreographer in the 1990s and 2000s, and Pino Pipitone, a dance photographer and videographer, both living between Venice and Brussels. Created since 2020, these Venetian chronicles present themselves as an interplay where each element does not illustrate the other; drawings take over from texts which in turn are influenced by photos. Like a fragmented mosaic brought together to create new forms, the box-set edition synthesizes this ever-updated palimpsest through mixed media multimedia compositions – watercolor, acrylic, and Chinese ink on paper – collages, overlays, tears – graphics – traces of writing on moistened paper or photo media. The box set consists of three leporellos (drawing, text, photography) and a small booklet containing all the texts.
The second "Left to Their Own Fate (Odyssey) / See Another Sea, 2019–2024", by Luxembourgish-Portuguese artist Marco Godinho, is composed of 44 photographs (archival pigment prints on baryta satin Fine Art), and a box of 101 poetry cards. This original edition reinterprets in a photographic landscape and poetic narration, around the Homer-inspired journey, his proposal for the Luxembourg Pavilion in 2019. Taken during the shooting of the film "Left To Their Own Fate", presented at the Biennale, the photographs retrace, sharing the film's atmosphere, the three journeys along the Mediterranean Sea following actor Fabio Godinho silently reading the Odyssey and offering the torn pages to the sea after reading. The "See Another Sea" experience, a 201-verse poem, which served as a time marker - one verse each day of the Venice Biennale - is extended in the box set including a set of postcards to be reactivated daily with a new verse in the wooden postcard holder along with the 44 photographs of "Left to Their Own Fate".
A third box set "From What She Told Me and How I Feel" by Franco-Argentine artist Celeste Leeuwenburg is being developed. The work "From What She Told Me and How I Feel" exhibited in the form of videos and stills at the LOUIS ROEDERER DISCOVERY AWARD in the context of the Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles and presented at the Festival International Jimei x Arles (China) as well as the EMOP Luxembourg Festival in May 2023 is reimagined here in the form of a leporello. Referring to the narratives and images of performances carried out in the 1970s by her mother, Argentine artist Delia Cancela, Leeuwenburg's work is the result of family collaboration and a dialogue between a mother's past and a daughter's present. This box set comprising two leporellos is completed by texts from exhibition curator Taous Dahmani and art critic Christian Gattinoni.
About MAI Photography and Contemporary Art: MAI aims to promote contemporary art and photography by organizing exhibitions, publishing limited edition artist books, and hosting artistic events. Paul di Felice, PhD in Arts, has taught the history of modern and contemporary art at the University of Luxembourg. For over forty years, he has pursued artistic activities as an editor, art critic, artist, and exhibition curator in the field of contemporary art and photography. Claire di Felice, after earning a dual degree in English and French law, obtained a master's in contemporary art from Sotheby's Institute of Art in London. Since her graduation in 2020, she has developed her career in the art world by writing, organizing exhibitions, working in a gallery and developing her artistic practice.
Where does it take place?
Luxembourg Art Week
Glacis square (Fouerplaatz)
Ville-Haute Luxembourg
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