Wolfgang Tillmans, "Books are Liquids"

delpire & co is pleased to present a focus on the publishing and musical practice of German artist Wolfgang Tillmans.

Books are Liquids presents approximately 80 publications, books, posters, ephemera, postcards, records, exhibition catalogs and magazine contributions by the artist over the past thirty years.

Wolfgang Tillmans (1968) has a multifaceted approach to photography. Very early on, he used the press as a means of disseminating his work, in periodicals such as i-D, The Big Issue, Spex, or Zeit Magazin.
He also considers the book as a medium of creation and publishes artist books such as Wolfgang Tillmans (JRP Editions, 1995) or Concorde (König, 1997). Most of Tillmans’s exhibition catalogs are edited and designed by himself.
In 2018, Tillmans was given carte blanche to be the guest editor of the 64^th issue of the publication Jahresing, which he titled What Is Different? (Sternberg Press, 2018) and which was dealing with a wide range of topics centering around the “backfire effect”.

For more than three decades, Tillmans has developed a unique approach to image-making. In addition, he has also taken an active position in political matters, notably in the run-up to the Brexit referendum when, residing in London, he produced a series of free posters and T-shirt designs (pro-EU / anti-Brexit campaign, 2016) that could be downloaded from his website. Posters are among the mediums that allow him to experiment with different approaches to printing and dissemination.

Tillmans’ curiosity has also lead him to work with music: with his group Fragile he has produced several EPs and has performed in venues such as the Kantine am Berghain in Berlin or the Tate Modern in London.

Books are Liquids is produced in collaboration with Christophe Daviet-Thery (@bookadviser_by_dt).