Films have always had an eye on books, but books have been staring right back at them, fascinated by the modern flair, the power and the light of cinema. The ‘Bioscopic Books' exhibition brings together artist's books from past and present that relate implicitly or explicitly to the medium of film. It is no coincidence that the artist's book emancipated itself as an autonomous art object shortly after the emergence of cinema. Whereas painting and photography envied film for its moving images and narrative power, the artist’s book fully embraced its cinematic potential, experimenting with new possibilities to generate form and meaning sequentially, not only in words, but also and especially through images. In turn, filmmakers discovered that various combinations of images and complex camera movements are possible on and between the pages of a book.

In Kunsthal Gent, over 60 books are exhibited that have been carefully selected by several experts on photobooks and artist’s books. Moreover, three new artist’s books have been created especially for the exhibition by Tine Guns, Sophie Nys and Nicolas Provost. These three books are presented alongside three films from the same artists to wrap up the dialogue between books and films.

Tine Guns, Watching the Black between the Stars. Gent: Grafische Cel, 2021.

Tine Guns, To Each His Own Mask. BE, 2017, 42’, colour, sound, digital.

Sophie Nys, Alas. Gent: Grafische Cel, 2021.

Sophie Nys, Not a Shoe. BE, 2018, 8’, b&w, sound, HD transfer from 16mm.

Nicolas Provost, The Victim and the Murderer. Gent: Grafische Cel, 2021.

Nicolas Provost, Plot Point. BE, 2007, 15’ colour, sound, digital.

Opening exhibition: 24 April, 20:00

During the opening hours of the exhibition, Art Cinema OFFoff presents a film program that explores the relationship between what can be said/written and what can be shown/exhibited.

-Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Do Not Disturb, US, 1945, 19’, colour, sound

-Marcel Mariën, L’imitation du cinéma, BE, 1959, 35’, b&w, silent

-Luke Fowler, Mum’s Cards, UK, 2018, 9’, colour, sound

Bioscopic Books is a collaboration between LUCA School of Arts, Kunsthal Gent & Art Cinema OFFoff. The Idea for the exhibition was born within the context of the research project ‘Bioscopic Books. Artist’s books as seen through the cinema-eye’. The project is realized in close alignment with Tine Guns’s PhD project ‘The photo book as a visual pageturner: a pre- and post-cinematographic editing story’.

Concept: Tine Guns, Inge Ketelers & Isolde Vanhee

Opening Hours: Weekends 11:00—18:00