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Steven Emmanuel: The Good Life

Steven Emmanuel: The Good Life
Library Shelf Location ABC-EMMA
Publication Date 2015
Description

NOTE: THIS ARTIST'S BOOK IS HELD IN BALTIC ARCHIVE NOT THE LIBRARY. Please email archive@balticmill.com for an appointment or see staff.

Paperback, 168 Pages, 11×18.5 cm, First edition – 1000 copies, 2015 (Note on the edition: Each copy has a unique hand drawn cover and the number is the same each time – 42/1000). Book design by Mark El-Khatib, Sara De Bondt studio.

In the summer of 2014, Steven Emmanuel attempted to live alone, outdoors abstaining from the use of any industrialised energy for a period of 28-days. The performance took place on the grounds of the Zeche Zollverein in Essen, Germany, a former coal mining complex in the heart of Germany’s industrial region. The site itself is now protected, and has been appropriated for culture and the arts by the Zollverein Foundation and Unesco World Heritage. The only equipment the artist took was a rucksack that contained a sleeping bag, cooking pot, cup, bottle, first aid kit, chlorine drops, tarp, hammock, cord, flint stick, knife, axe, a fishing hook and some books on survival. No water or food rations were taken. All sustenance had to be derived from the land. The work was made in conjunction with an exhibition at the Zeche Zollverein, curated by Adrienne Goehler. As a part of the exhibition Steven entered the gallery each day and wrote a message on a chalkboard positioned in the space. The messages partly acted as a method of tracking the artist’s wellbeing, but also as a daily palimpsest of short lived responses and reactions to the challenges faced each day. The only documentation of the project outside of these statements in the gallery, which have all been rubbed away, were the artist’s diaries. After the performance Steven made an artist book which he presented for the first time at the VISIT-exhibition in Kunstmuseum Bochm in July 2015.

Quantity 1
Pages 168 Pages, 11×18.5 cm, First edition – 1000 copies
Authors Steven Emmanuel, Matthew Hearn
Format Softcover
Publisher RWE Foundation
Related Artist Steven Emmanuel
Categories BALTIC Artists' Book Collection (by appointment), Artists' Books
Language English

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