HOW(EVER): Portikus Art Book Festival

HOW(EVER) is an annual event dedicated to celebrating the intricate relationship between publishing and artistic practice. Taking place in conjunction with the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Portikus Art Book Festival will feature a curated selection of books, presented within a newly commissioned installation by artist Nathalie Du Pasquier.

Challenging the traditional codes of contemporary art and design, Du Pasquier’s practice is deeply rooted in the expansive possibilities that arise across mediums and surfaces. Over the past five decades, the artist has created a body of work that encompasses furniture, textiles, patterns, and “decorated surfaces,” along with experimental artist’s books. Her profound engagement with the materiality of objects as vehicles for aesthetic experience began in her early role as a founding member of the influential Italian design collective Memphis Group, active from 1980 to 1987. Since then, Du Pasquier has consistently explored the dynamic interplay between objects and space. Her vibrant and idiosyncratic aesthetic language unfolds across a variety of media—from canvases to wooden constructions to walls—constantly redefining the boundaries of her practice.

Turning Portikus into a Gesamtkunstwerk, Du Pasquier’s large-scale murals and scenography set the stage for the presentation of a handpicked selection of printed matter, ranging from zines, artist’s books, poetry and theory. In addition, Du Pasquier has created an artist edition that will be available during the fair. In keeping with HOW(EVER)’s conceptual framework, which seeks to highlight the dynamic practices of publishing communities and showcase diverse approaches to book-making, around 100 publications from around the world will be available for purchase at any given time. By replacing each book with another upon purchase, HOW(EVER) aims to emphasize the circulatory nature of publishing and fosters an ever-evolving dialogue between the publications on display. The title HOW(EVER) pays homage to the eponymous journal founded by poet Kathleen Fraser (1935–2019) in San Francisco in the 1980s, a radical platform that championed the work of women writers.

Giving space to the vibrant and diverse communities that gather around books, the Portikus Art Book Festival is accompanied by a public program of conversations and lectures with artists, book makers and publishers, situating the project within a critical discourse on the role of publishing in contemporary art.

Nathalie Du Pasquier (b. 1957 in Bordeaux, France) has lived in Milan since 1979. She has exhibited in international group exhibitions, including at Museum Haus Konstruktiv, Zurich (2022); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2019); Le Consortium, Dijon (2018) and Museo José Luis Cuevas, Ciudad de México (2007). Her works have been the subject of solo exhibitions at Kunsthal Aarhus (2023); MACRO—Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome (2021); MRAC—Musée régional d’art contemporain, Sérignan (2022); GfZK—Museum für Zeitgenössische Kunst, Leipzig (2019), MGLC—The International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana (2019), Camden Arts Centre, London (2017), Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia (2017), among others. 

Public program

Friday, October 18, 2024, 8:30pm
Film Screening: The Heretics (2009)
by Joan Braderman, 95 minutes, OV
Location: Deutsches Filmmuseum Frankfurt
Tickets available here.

Saturday, October 19, 2024, 4:30–5:30pm
Lecture: “Out of the Grid”
by Dafne Boggeri (SPRINT, Milan)

Saturday, October 19, 2024, 6–7pm
Conversation: “On the Shelf”
Nathalie Du Pasquier
& Luca Lo Pinto (MACRO, Rome)

Sunday, October 20, 2024, 4:30–5:30pm
Conversation: “Breaking the Spine”
Benjamin Thorel (After 8 Books, Paris)
& siddhartha lokanandi (Hopscotch Reading Room, Berlin)
moderated by Liberty Adrien & Carina Bukuts (Portikus, Frankfurt am Main)

Sunday, October 20, 2024, 6–7pm
Conversation: “Between the Pages”
Anne Turyn (TOP STORIES, New York City)
& Ariane Müller (Starship Magazine, Berlin)
moderated by Emile Rubino (LE CHAUFFAGE, Brussels/Vancouver)

The exhibition booklet, designed by Michele Galluzzu, with more information on the program can be downloaded here.

Curators: Liberty Adrien & Carina Bukuts
Curatorial Assistants, HOW(EVER): Matthew Lawson Garrett & Dalwin Kryeziu

HOW(EVER): Portikus Art Book Festival with Nathalie Du Pasquier is supported by Karin and Uwe Hollweg Stiftung, Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Colonia, Ohne Titel, 2016, Städelschule Portikus e.V. and by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture under the Italian Council program (13th edition, 2024).