{"title":"EPHEMERA","description":"","products":[{"product_id":"kunst-diebstahl-als-totalkunst-demonstration","title":"kunst-diebstahl als totalkunst-demonstration","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSelf-proclaimed a \"total artist,\" Timm Ulrichs made mortality a recurring subject of his practice, producing gravestones, funerary monuments, and other works that confronted the rituals of death. One of these bears the inscription, \"Always remember to forget me.\" Yet Ulrichs is far from forgotten in our artists' books collection.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGathered by Dutch Fluxus collector Tjeerd Deelstra shortly after Ulrichs’ first “Total Art retrospective”, this scarce and provocative collection of documents and ephemera brings together manifestos, artist's texts and expenses lists. The collection culminates in the extremely rare publication accompanying Ulrichs' notorious \"art theft\" exhibition in 1971, a project documented by Dagmar Voss and broadcast on German television that embodied the artist's conviction that art theft was a logical extension of the readymade. Loosely translated as “Art Theft as a Total Art Demonstration”, this publication documents the theft of Gerhard Altenbourg's “Girl with a Star” (1949) from Galerie Brusberg, its subsequent display by Timm Ulrichs for three days at the Total Art Room Gallery in Hanover, and the artistic and legal repercussions that followed.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eReinforcing its meditation on mortality, the publication also reproduces an image of a funerary urn inscribed: “TIMM ULRICHS ASCHE VERBRANNTER KUNSTWERKE 1969\/70\"(Ashes of Timm Ulrichs' Burnt Works of Art 1969\/70). The same year, John Baldessari similarly consigned all paintings in his possession dating from 1953–66 to a crematorium, transforming their destruction into the artwork in itself: \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eCremation Project\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1970).\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eUlrichs died in April 2026. In the end, his epitaph was destined to fail. Rather than being \"remembered to forget,\" he is remembered as one of Germany's leading conceptual and action artists.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54187852464467,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/Timm.png?v=1783083492"},{"product_id":"books-by-edward-ruscha","title":"Books by Edward Ruscha","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54341143658835,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/BooksbyEdRuscha_best.png?v=1784368860"},{"product_id":"richard-prince-fotos-schilderijen-objecten","title":"Richard Prince: foto's, schilderijen, objecten","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54342302531923,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/Prince_Rotterdam_Cowboy.png?v=1784382677"},{"product_id":"wild-history-announcement-card","title":"Wild History [announcement card]","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAn announcement card for \"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWild History\",\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \"an anthology of new writing compiled for Tanam Press by Richard Prince. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWild History\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a kind of like an 'official' fiction. The \"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eHistory\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a record of events and an attempt to understand them; the \"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eWild\"\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is playing the record backwards.\"\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54342321176915,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/WildHistoryCard.png?v=1784383717"},{"product_id":"untitled-3","title":"[Untitled, Grupo Suma]","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54342335660371,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/GrupoSuma_ephemera.png?v=1784384627"},{"product_id":"36-in-the-beginning","title":"36. In the Beginning","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eOffset print, concrete\/visual poetry \"wordscape\". A phallic form built from dense typographic fragments of the opening line of John's Gospel — \"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God\".\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54342578340179,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/Furnival.png?v=1784388784"},{"product_id":"dieter-roth-for-migros-kunstler-tragtasche","title":"Dieter Roth for Migros — Künstler-Tragtasche","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54343599292755,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/DieterRoth_bag.png?v=1784395857"},{"product_id":"skull-bunny-learn-to-read-art","title":"Skull Bunny \/ Learn to Read Art","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eProduced as a promotional shopping bag for the joint Printed Matter\/Art Metropole booth at Art Basel, this multiple pairs two artists' work on a single functional object: Prince's \"Skull Bunny\" — a Playboy logo recast as a memento mori — on the front, and Weiner's text piece \"LEARN TO READ ART\" on the reverse.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54346525606227,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/LearnToReadArt.png?v=1784444896"},{"product_id":"i-shop-therefore-i-am","title":"I Shop Therefore I Am","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"utf-8\"\u003eRiffing on Descartes' \"I think, therefore I am,\" Kruger swaps \"think\" for \"shop,\" overlaying her signature red-and-white Futura text on a found photograph of an outstretched hand to recast the philosophical foundation of selfhood as an act of consumption. Printed directly onto a functional retail bag, the work collapses the boundary between artwork and commodity — letting the object itself enact the critique it makes.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54346528063827,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/IshopthereforeIam_c34a6529-cf8b-4e26-b680-9077c0138ada.png?v=1789370405"},{"product_id":"flux-stationery-torso-in-fur-coat","title":"Flux Stationery: Torso in Fur Coat","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54402402189651,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/Maciunas_foufoune.png?v=1784980795"},{"product_id":"55-5","title":"55,5","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54586763936083,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/DSC4343.png?v=1786695173"},{"product_id":"1975-collected-manuscripts-no-71","title":"1975: Collected Manuscripts No. 71","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54586766655827,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/DSC4347.png?v=1786695418"},{"product_id":"orb-volume-1-5","title":"Orb Volume 1 #5","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eBetween 1959 and 1960, Ed Ruscha, then still a student at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles, edited and designed \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eORB\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, a single-sheet periodical that ranged across the eclectic subjects announced on its cover: art, poetry, history, psychology, money-making ideas, action, advertising, and nonsense. Inspired by Dada, this short-lived student newsletter anticipated the aesthetics of later zines and the early practices of mail art.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eConceived as a visual and textual montage, this is the fifth issue of Volume 1 (1959), featuring written and drawn contributions by Ruscha and his Chouinard peers, including Charles Frazier, Jacquie Bellon, Bill Kinser, Bud Luckey, and others. This particular copy has a notable provenance, having belonged to Ruscha’s childhood friend and collaborator, the composer and poet Mason Williams.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54639530869075,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/ORB_1Cover.png?v=1787493118"},{"product_id":"debricollages","title":"Débricollages","description":"","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54668735086931,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/DSC4476.png?v=1787488358"},{"product_id":"supplements-models-prototypes","title":"Supplements, models, prototypes","description":"\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished on the occasion of the eponymous exhibition at Corbett vs. Dempsey, Chicago, in 2017, “Models, Supplements, Prototypes” investigates how temporary exhibition walls and spatial design influence our perception of photographic art. Developed through an engagement with the form of the “open letter” as a means of giving public form to private discourse, the project explores photography, exhibition architecture, and image production through collages, installations, and architectural display structures.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe accompanying publication opens with a letter to Marcel Raymond, in which the artist describes returning to the studio to take stock of his tools, materials, and working methods. He proposes “Program A”, a project devoted to collecting and studying images of the camera itself: gathering periodicals on photographic technology and camera collecting, then excising and reassembling images charting the development of lightweight cameras onto standard sheets using simple analogue tools: scissors, X-Acto blades, tape, pencil, acid-free paper, and cardstock. He frames this meticulous, archival activity as a means of using accumulated images and characters to develop new methods of seeing and thinking, ultimately seeking to “reclaim duration” – time for reflection that can redefine the present and enable action. The letter closes by questioning whether such a careful, twentieth-century-focused practice might amount to little more than an exercise in stylistic nostalgia.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe letter is followed by a critical essay by John Corbett and dozens of blank green pages, interspersed with clippings from IKEA catalogues that occasionally “furnish” the conceptual void that translates the exhibition space into a book format.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp dir=\"ltr\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThat same year, William’s exhibition project was adapted, with slight variations, for presentations at ETH Zurich and the Triennale di Milano.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Metabooks","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54745355125075,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1068\/8898\/6963\/files\/DSC4545.png?v=1787818151"}],"url":"https:\/\/metabooks.art\/collections\/ephemera.oembed","provider":"Metabooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}