The Misadventures of Plank Communication Center
by Vedran Kopljar, 2022
Opening
Thursday 24.11.22
19:00 - 22:00
Exhibition
corridor and cellarium
25.11.2022 – 07.12.2022
Edition
The Misadventures of Spiffy Move, 1967
7 copies
75 x 420 mm
Silkscreen on PVC, risoprint and silkscreen print on paper
The Misadventures of Center, 1989
3 copies
64 x 420 mm
Silkscreen on PVC, risoprint
Edition of 20 + 2 AP, as a set of 10 for sale for €270
Purchase and viewing through Vedran Kopljar
Newspaper
The Misadventures of Plank Communication Center
Edition: 500
75 x 420 mm & 64 x 420 mm
Paper: Opakal 60 gr, black white
Publisher: the artist & BOEKS
Printer: Graphius
Pages: 56
The Misadventures of Plank Communication Center,
a new comic-book series by Vedran Kopljar, starring Spiffy Move and Center, who set off on real and imagined adventures.
Spiffy Move is approached by a fly. Spiffy Move in a Zoom call with Kopljar. Spiffy Move is touched. Spiffy Move travels through time and space. Center in transport. Center as a metaphor…
Spiffy Move (1967) and Center (1989) are two “plank works” by the American artist John McCracken (1934-2011). The collection of planks and, by extension, the artistic Plank Communication Center that Kopljar created for them have been the object of study since 2019. The center metaphorically explores the (mis)communication between artwork and audience, artist and plank, plank and audience.
Spiffy Move is Kopljar’s favorite, but they have yet to meet in person. Kopljar encountered Center in May 2019 at S.M.A.K.’s storage depot in Ghent. Later that year, he was given access to McCracken’s archive at David Zwirner Gallery in New York and began corresponding with the plank works. Ever since, Kopljar has been building a long-term and long-distance relationship with the planks, giving them different shapes, providing them with an inner life, developing their personalities.
Just as McCracken leaned the 264-centimeter high, monochrome works with their distinctive glossy surface against the wall, Kopljar places the narrow planks, scaled to book size, against the walls of the convent corridor. They take in the world around them, telling stories about it from their perspective and aura.
Titled The Misadventures of …, the plank works take on the form and language of “the comic book”. They studiously mimic the system of signification and codes specific to the medium without forgetting their original role. The plank addresses us with the help of speech balloons and two-color printing, the lyric line/fly coming into view, the ●Rec Zoom window wriggling itself into the Riso raster. They find themselves multiplied in a series of handmade, unique editions, which subsequently turn into a publication: compiled, stacked, black and white.
De hardcover funnies can be purchased as a series, the publication can be taken home for free.
On the occasion of this adventure, Kopljar brought together a personal collection of books, which can be discovered at the Cellarium of the Kunstenbibliotheek.
Exhibition views © Benina Hu
The Misadventures of Plank Communication Center
by Vedran Kopljar, 2022
Opening
Thursday 24.11.22
19:00 - 22:00
Exhibition
corridor and cellarium
25.11.2022 – 07.12.2022
Edition
The Misadventures of Spiffy Move, 1967
7 copies
75 x 420 mm
Silkscreen on PVC, risoprint and silkscreen print on paper
The Misadventures of Center, 1989
3 copies
64 x 420 mm
Silkscreen on PVC, risoprint
Edition of 20 + 2 AP, as a set of 10 for sale for €270
Purchase and viewing through Vedran Kopljar
Newspaper
The Misadventures of Plank Communication Center
Edition: 500
75 x 420 mm & 64 x 420 mm
Paper: Opakal 60 gr, black white
Publisher: the artist & BOEKS
Printer: Graphius
Pages: 56
The Misadventures of Plank Communication Center,
a new comic-book series by Vedran Kopljar, starring Spiffy Move and Center, who set off on real and imagined adventures.
Spiffy Move is approached by a fly. Spiffy Move in a Zoom call with Kopljar. Spiffy Move is touched. Spiffy Move travels through time and space. Center in transport. Center as a metaphor…
Spiffy Move (1967) and Center (1989) are two “plank works” by the American artist John McCracken (1934-2011). The collection of planks and, by extension, the artistic Plank Communication Center that Kopljar created for them have been the object of study since 2019. The center metaphorically explores the (mis)communication between artwork and audience, artist and plank, plank and audience.
Spiffy Move is Kopljar’s favorite, but they have yet to meet in person. Kopljar encountered Center in May 2019 at S.M.A.K.’s storage depot in Ghent. Later that year, he was given access to McCracken’s archive at David Zwirner Gallery in New York and began corresponding with the plank works. Ever since, Kopljar has been building a long-term and long-distance relationship with the planks, giving them different shapes, providing them with an inner life, developing their personalities.
Just as McCracken leaned the 264-centimeter high, monochrome works with their distinctive glossy surface against the wall, Kopljar places the narrow planks, scaled to book size, against the walls of the convent corridor. They take in the world around them, telling stories about it from their perspective and aura.
Titled The Misadventures of …, the plank works take on the form and language of “the comic book”. They studiously mimic the system of signification and codes specific to the medium without forgetting their original role. The plank addresses us with the help of speech balloons and two-color printing, the lyric line/fly coming into view, the ●Rec Zoom window wriggling itself into the Riso raster. They find themselves multiplied in a series of handmade, unique editions, which subsequently turn into a publication: compiled, stacked, black and white.
De hardcover funnies can be purchased as a series, the publication can be taken home for free.
On the occasion of this adventure, Kopljar brought together a personal collection of books, which can be discovered at the Cellarium of the Kunstenbibliotheek.
