Melanie Manchot engages with diverse, participatory practices within her work, using these as a lens through which to explore ideas relating to identity, community, individuality and place. This monograph was published to coincide with a major solo exhibition of her work at MAC VAL in 2018, which encompassed photography, film, sound, installation and performance, and featured a live public artwork, The Casting (Ensemble).
The publication includes a selection of projects that feature within Open Ended Now, and in other concurrent exhibitions of Manchot’s work elsewhere. Texts within the book are presented in three languages, which we were keen to celebrate within the design, so their layout creates a sense of conversation between each language section and deliberately avoids compartmentalisation. As implied by the title, the exhibition seeks to capture an instance of works considered by Manchot as still in-progress – this is reflected in the use of handwritten notes within the book’s design and on its cover, which is bound in brown kraft with a rounded spine to further emphasise this documentary quality.