Art Book Fair, Academy Antwerp, 2014

Hors serie # 038

VAAST COLSON
7 Elvises

For the first Art Book Fair at the Academy Antwerp we invited Vaast Colson to work on one specific project.

The basic idea was to work on a publication in which the number and order of the pages are to be decided by the visitors. To do so, we thought of working with several stacks of photocopies. One might take only one page, while another takes several. And thus compose a booklet that is potentially different from all the others. Based on each owns persenal preferences.

Vaast Colson pushed the idea further and choose to work with 7 stacks of Claire Fontaine DCP paper. Each with a different thickness. Starting from 80 grams to 250 grams. Each stack counts 500 pages, though due to their growing thickness, the stacks get sculptural proportions.

Parallel to the paper stacks, he decided to work with an image and the biography of Elvis Presley. While the image remains the same, the paper stock gets heavier. Simular to Elvis’ influential career but also his body weight.

The backside of the pages read as a survey through Elvis Presley’s biography. The first year that is documented is 1954, printed on the first stack of 80 grams.

For every 10 grams of paper Colson added 2 years in the King’s career. To end In 1988, 11 years after Elvis’ death.

Each page is numbered individually to 500 copies. Visitors are invited to make a selection of pages - to choose the years in Elvis’ career of which one might want to know more about.

The selected pages are bundled and bound by using a black plastic binder. Each publication comes in an envelope that has a stamp-printed index, that indicates each individual page number.

The  first 9 copies of 7 Elvises will be published as a collectors edition. They come with a large selection of additional printed matter, all held together in a set of suspension files.

The complete edition (7 + 2 A.P.) will be presented at Stadsliemiet, late November.