AMBruno
Cover

AMBruno's new book project for 2017 was Cover, with twelve books by twelve artists.

The brief for the Cover project was that the books should be a consideration of the form and role of a book's cover. This could be taken in terms of protection and of the hiding and/or the revealing of the book's substance, and could be in relation to wider notions, metaphoric and allusive, of cover.

The twelve books, selected by Dr Chris Taylor from the anonymised submitted outlines, take very diverse approaches to cover, and yet the books might be seen as a mutable anthology; they speak to each other, as connections from book to book may be discerned within the overarching theme, thus forming a succinct and dynamic exhibition.

The Cover artists are: George Cullen, Judy Goldhill, Ximena Pérez Grobet, Martha Hellion, Bethan Hughes, Julie Johnstone, Philip Lee, Sophie Loss, John McDowall, Linda Parr, Andrea Robinson, and Cally Trench.

The Cover project launched at the 21st International Contemporary Artists' Book Fair, at The Tetley, Leeds (3rd to 4th March 2017), which went ahead despite the snowy weather, although some participants were not able to travel, as Scotland and other parts of the country were cut off. Though visitor numbers were also slightly down, many brave people attended over the two days and AMBruno's Cover books were well received.

The Cover books were also shown at Miss Read: The Berlin Art Book Fair, at Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (4th to 6th May 2018).

In addition, the Cover books were shown at the Small Publishers Fair, Conway Hall, Red Lion Square, London (9th and 10th November 2018). On Sunday 10 November, John McDowall gave a talk on AMBruno's Cover project, with background information on the collective and previous collections of books.

The twelve Cover books were also shown in the fifth annual edition of VOLUMES 2018, the Independent Art Publishing Fair, which took place at the Kunsthalle in Zürich, 23rd - 25th November 2018. The books were shown as an exhibited display, though to be handled.

George Cullen, a breeze blew through the room
The curtain acts as a cover. It mutates and changes, shielding the outside world, containing the inner one. To cover is to protect, to hide. There is a point at which this happens - the window. It illustrates the fluidity between the point beyond and the point within, one that is covered and revealed by the constant movement. Edition of 25. Cased pamphlet, digitally printed on Offenbach Bible Paper.

Ximena Pérez Grobet - COVER DIS-COVER This book is the action and use of what a cover is for. A book cover covers the inside pages and protects them, the content of this book are covers that cover and makes the reader dis-cover what is inside. Edition of 50. Digital printing, staple binding.

Martha Hellion - The Seeds The Book as a cover or The Cover as a book, one embraces the other, it is a revealing work, a metaphor of the Poem - how the forest protects the seeds and the poem, or vice-versa the poem embraces the forest and the seeds - and the embracing view of the reader who folds and unfolds the work. Edition of 24. Inkjet pigment print and silkscreen, folded broadsheet in acrylic case.

Bethan Hughes - Oberfläche Oberfläche emphasises the sensuous aspects of printed matter and digital imagery. The relationship between cover and content is experienced as a kind of skin, or [...] something that keeps us apart from others, and as something that "mediates" the relationship between internal or external, or inside and outside.' - The Cultural Politics of Emotion, Sara Ahmed, 2004. Edition of 20. Digital printing, unbound.

Julie Johnstone - Glimpsed in passing Often, the only encounter with a book is a fleeting visual scan: a sighting of the front cover on a table, or, a passing glimpse of the spine, hidden among other spines, on a bookshelf. What might be inside remains a mystery to our perceptions. Edition of 50. Digital printing.

Philip Lee - Cover Uncover Cover Uncover is a flipbook in which clay overwhelms the naked head and shoulders of an older man. Every page becomes a cover of the one that went before, in an unending series of coverings and uncoverings. Edition of 25. Digital printed, perfect bound.

Sophie Loss - Parade Hidden by cover and tapestry, the book presents a series of alternative imaginable scenes - ones that might be in view of the spectators to the right and left of this screen. Open edition. Digital printed pamphlet.

John McDowall - Bibliotheca universalis Views within a labyrinthine fine-paper store set out in an analogously convoluted binding structure. With allusive reference to the notional possibility of everything in a book and to all books contained in a single book, the cover is the book and the book the cover, a paper - library - book of indeterminate and infinite potential. Open edition. Inkjet printed, sewn triple-pamphlet.

Linda Parr - Covers The book has no cover. The cover is the book, which is formed by the cover. A double gate-fold of paper opens to uncover twin inner signatures whose pages explore the use of the word 'cover'. The simplicity of the book emphasises both the cover and the uncovering. Edition of 18. Twin inner signatures. Inkjet-printed.

Andrea Robinson - on the occasion of her dance Seven covers. Text and diagram come together through fine layers to hide and reveal the dancing daughter of Herodias. Unnamed in the bible verses in which she appears, she is a cipher - a footnote in a story of control and betrayal. Her veils are (mis)remembered; she remains undercover. Edition of 21. Screen print on glassine, seven unbound sheets.

Cally Trench - A follower of holy and godly matrons In this reflection on the way veils both conceal and draw attention to the bride at a wedding, photographs of the author wearing a series of bridal veils are themselves veiled by sheets of translucent paper, thus covering her twice - at times almost to the point of disappearance. Edition of 20. Hand-bound, with tipped-in photographs and hand-painted end-papers and covers.