MACK Books celebrates the art of publishing in Melbourne

Immerse your shelf: an exhibition of over 200 MACK books celebrates the art of publishing

Jens F, 2005, by Collier Schorr.

(Image credit: Courtesy of MACK)

last updated 26 October 2022

The walls of our digital galleries are filled with the artist-led, conceptually rigorous offerings from MACK. The independent London-based publisher champions the book as a work of art, and as such, is staging a new exhibition of 200 titles at the Centre for Contemporary Photography (CCP) in Melbourne.

In association with likeminded Australian publisher Perimeter Books, ‘The Art of Publishing’ displays books from across MACK’s 14 year history. Novelly, even rare (and expensive) out-of-print titles are available to pick up, flick through, and read, in order to highlight the ‘tactile materiality’ of the work, explains founder Michael Mack. Though examples of digitally innovative publishing will join the display, this is an exhibition grounded in the beauty and importance of physical books – something Mack believes to be of ‘vital importance’ in our increasingly soft-copy reliant society.

Art Basel Alec Soth Near Kaaterskill Falls, New York, 2012 — *Near Kaaterskill Falls, New York, 2015, by Alec Soth, from Songbook.*

‘The CCP in Melbourne offers arguably the best exhibition space we could have dreamed of,’ he says of the sizeable white box location in Fitzroy. ‘With this exhibition we are able to illustrate the long-term links to artists and the role of book-making as a feature of their practice, as well as the areas of interest that form the basis of our highly subjective approach.’

The most thumbed works in the installation will no doubt include Alex Soth’s clamshell-box Gathered Leaves (2015), which includes 29 large format postcards of his 2015-16 exhibition on the people of middle America, and the strange and poetic Holy Bible (2013), by Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin – a facsimile edition of the King James interlaced with images of war and destruction.

MACK books celebrates the art of publishing — *Jens F*, 2005, by Collier Schorr.

MACK Books celebrates the art of publishing in Melbourne — Left, collotype print, 2016, by Carly Steinbrunn. Right, collotype print, 2016, by Joanna Piotrowska.

Exhibition of over 200 MACK books — *Holy Bible*, 2013, by Broomberg & Chanarin.

INFORMATION

‘The Art of Publishing’ is on view until 20 January. For more information, visit the MACK website

ADDRESS

Centre for Contemporary Photography
404 George Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065

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Elly Parsons is the Digital Editor of Wallpaper*, where she oversees Wallpaper.com and its social platforms. She has been with the brand since 2015 in various roles, spending time as digital writer – specialising in art, technology and contemporary culture – and as deputy digital editor. She was shortlisted for a PPA Award in 2017, has written extensively for many publications, and has contributed to three books. She is a guest lecturer in digital journalism at Goldsmiths University, London, where she also holds a masters degree in creative writing. Now, her main areas of expertise include content strategy, audience engagement, and social media.

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