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Democratic multiples are inexpensive artists’ books sold cheaply or even given away to as many people as possible. Typically democratic multiples convey a social or political message. The artist wants to get the word out with low production costs and self-distribution, bypassing the art gallery.
The “power to the people” spirit of the 1960s cultural revolution spawned these artists’ books. But in a practical sense it wasn’t really democratic. How many people could such a book reach? And an artist can hardly make a living with democratic multiples.
Today, with the possibilities of the internet and print-on-demand, democratic multiples are being reinvented.
For more information about democratic multiples, click here.
b. 1971, South Africa
Paper: An Installation by Luan Nel at the Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet (detail)
Cape Town, South Africa: Mark Coetzee Fine Art Cabinet, 1997
Edition 82/200
Smithsonian Libraries
A tiny deck of cards, but not playing cards. You could, however, play with them by shuffling and rearranging these little prints to look for stories and sequences and characters.
Luan Nel is fascinated with miniature things as well as whimsical or ambiguous images. They also veil experiences in his own life—being gay, being Afrikaans, growing up in the strict Dutch Reformed Church, and being called up by the South African army during the apartheid era. An autobiography told through a tiny deck of cards.
For more information about Paper, click here.
b. 1971, Zimbabwe
Take Me to Your Leader
Cape Town, South Africa: Daniel Halter, 2006
Smithsonian Libraries
“Take me to your leader,” says the alien arriving in a new country—a familiar phrase from sci-fi movies about creatures from outer space.
Daniel Halter may have felt like an extraterrestrial alien when he left his homeland for South Africa. No longer willing to live under Zimbabwe’s oppressive dictatorship, he chose exile. Halter’s “passport” book was his way out of Zimbabwe; his ID photo recalls South Africa’s notorious passbooks.
Books like this one convey the political and socioeconomic views of the artist. Small and inexpensively produced, they pack a heavy punch.
For more information about Take Me to Your Leader, click here.
