13 Jun 2018

The Book of the Power 100 by Bill Burns

Bill Burns' new edition, The Power 100 2007 'til 2016, from Mark Pezinger Verlag, Vienna.

Bill Burns has had himself paged on public address systems along with Thomas Hirschhorn in Melbourne, Eva Presenhuber in Vienna, Pedro Mendes in Brasilia, Hans Ulrich Obrist in Tokyo, and Gerhard Richter in Buenos Aires. He has had himself paged dozens of times with those whose names appear on the ArtReview Power 100 list. The public announcements take place at airports, art fairs, train stations, museums, shopping malls, and department stores. It's something he likes to do. Some of the gem-like live recordings included in the special boxed edition include Mr. Burns being paged with Jeff Wall at the Vancouver International Airport; Beatrix Ruf at Helsinki Central Station; and Nicholas Serota at Barcelona's El Corte Inglés.

Each special edition box contains a bespoke electronic sound board with a motion sensor designed by Robert Chuikshank and a high fidelity speaker. The book and postcards are designed by Astrid Seme Studio, Vienna.

Power 100 2007 'til 2016 is partly a book, partly a set of offset lithographic postcards, and partly a special boxed audio edition. Inside the box you will find a meta-list of the some of the most influential people in the contemporary art world along with pictures of airports and train stations as well as audio recordings. The names on the list are honed from ArtReview Magazine's Power 100 list.

Edition size 125 + 5 + 1
enquiries : Mark Pezinger Verlag, Vienna

Mark Pezinger Verlag is a Vienna and Blackforest based publishing house for artist's books ranging from one-offs to larger editions and from sound-works to normal books. A main focus of our program is the examination of documentation and the creation of a new presence within our publications. Our collaborations include both, institutional and self-initiated projects and are based on a strong exchange between artist, designer and publisher. The publishing house was founded by Karsten Födinger and Thomas Geiger in 2009. Since 2015 it is run by Astrid Seme and Thomas Geiger.

Bill Burns is an artist and writer with a special interest in Veblen Goods, a particular kind of commodity whose demand increases as its price rises. His work about art, animals and advanced industrialism has been shown at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin; the Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His new book Hans Ulrich Obrist Hear Us is published by Black Dog, London, UK (2016). Bill lives in Toronto.