No-ISBN
NO-ISBN – On Self-publishing investigates extraordinary books that withdraw from the international book trade. A register contains 1,800 items that have three features in common: they are recent, printed on paper, and circulate without an ISBN. This is the second edition with more additional materials and interviews.
What role will self-publishing play in the 21st century? Will the new kind of book printing develop to become an alternative to electronic communication? How is it possible to distinguish subversive gestures and New Biedermeier?
NO-ISBN – On Self-publishing provides an outline of media history from 15th century book printing to the present time, a schedule of micro- and fanzine fairs from four continents and manifestos of historical and current avant-gardes. They are interspersed with texts about the international boom of artists´ books, written by protagonists of self-publishing.
This first, richly illustrated reader offers an apparatus to discover a new, yet uncharted terrain. It is published in separate German and English versions.
From the table of contents:
... more real than art The art of collecting * NO-ISBN * No return to analogue *
Printed space as a legacy of conceptual art * Archival strategies * The downfall of the Gutenberg galaxy * Do you like Mexico? * Tackling Tactility * Surviving on books * Post-digital publishing * Gezilla vs. ISIStanbul * UbuWeb wants to be free *
NO-ISBN as a political strategy * The new art of making books * Balcony manifesto
