Ryan Gander

The present publication crystallises, for a fleeting moment, the ever expanding collection of Ryan Gander and the stories for which objects of all pedigree — artworks alongside coloured toilet paper – are the catalysts of. These short essays are an exploration of our surroundings, both normal and sublime, written with a steady hand and the sharp critical eye of a northern comedian cooler than Pharrell Williams.

If you get hold on texts, articles and interview featuring Ryan Gander, one show more word will pop-up in particular - storyteller. Through his work he always tries to narrate in form of objects or actions particular feelings or actions, pose questions and maybe sometimes give loose answers. His initial projects involved public lectures and performances, but lately it has evolved into creating articulated stories and emotions through the use of sculpture, real estate projects, architecture or (sometimes) technically complex installations. If you have seen his work for the latest dOCUMENTA in Kassel, Airflow-velocity Study for I Need Some Meaning I Can Memorise (the Invisible Pull), you are surely aware of the complexity of the questions his projects pose to the user, questioning the notions of language and knowledge, a reinvention of the modes of the appearance and creation of the artwork. show less

The Annotated Reader is a publication-as-exhibition and exhibition-as-publication featuring 281 creative personalities responses and remarks on a chosen piece of writing.

Ryan Gander and Jonathan P. Watts invited a range of people, encompassing contemporary artists, designers, writers, institutional founders, musicians and so on – to imagine they’ve missed the last train. “Is there one piece of writing that you would want with you for company in the small hours?” With this in mind, we show more asked people to submit a text with personal annotations and notes made directly onto it.

With over 281 contributions collected over the last few months, we have gathered a selection of contributors including Marina Abramović, Art & Language, Paul Clinton, Tom Godfrey, Ragnar Kjartansson, Sarah Lucas, Alistair Hudson and Hans Ulrich Obrist. The annotation adds a further layer, making each piece unique and a historic record of our current times. show less

“Ryan Gander: Catalogue Raisonnable Vol. 1” was conceived by Åbäke as a “reasonable alternative” to a catalogue raisonné for the artist (i.e. a monograph giving a comprehensive and exhaustive catalogue of artworks by an artist). Documenting over 500 works made during a ten-year period, the “Catalogue Raisonnable” is intended to be navigated freely and illogically, in a non-linear fashion by its reader, echoing the “para-possible thinking” and “associative show more methodologies” on which much of Gander’s practice is based. For those readers who wish to draw some logic from its content, it is suggested that the book is navigated through its index.

The “Catalogue Raisonnable” consists of two sections. The first is a complete index/catalogue of the artist’s practice, while the second is made up from a collage of by-products, off-cuts, transcriptions, scripts, conversations, and material related to the works in the index.

The publication includes texts by Douglas Fogle, Dan Fox, Christophe Gallois, Ian Gander, Emily King, Raimundas Malašauskas, Midori Matsui, Hans Ulrich Obrist, François Piron, Dorothea Strauss, and Bedwyr Williams, among others.

The publication “Ryan Gander: Catalogue Raisonnable Vol. 1” has been co-published by Westreich/Wagner Publications on the occasion of the exhibition “Ryan Gander—Zurich Art Prize Winner 2009” at Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich.

The publication is part of the series of artists’ projects edited by Christoph Keller. show less

‘Appendix’ is primarily an artist's book and secondarily a parallel project to Ryan Gander’s (1976, UK), exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam in 2003. The book, which is reminiscent of a log or school textbook, has been designed in the form of an appendix due to Gander’s use of off-cuts, by-products, footnotes and associated concepts in his artistic practice. Gander, a former resident at the Rijksakademie van beeldende kunsten in Amsterdam, is the winner several art show more prizes and awards. show less