Edizioni Conz

"La Livre - An Homage to Ezra Pound", a title that is initially misleading, semantically due to the wrong gender. We are familiar with "le Livre" to describe the book and as a container for the linguistic work of art, "le livre", which Gustave Flaubert or Stéphane Mallarmé aspired to as the absolute. "La livre", however, is deliberately misleading in order to describe the real thing: the pound sterling or simply the pound as weight - currency and measure. We do not know whether it was Francesco Conz who came up with this title for what is probably his most unusual and globally unique art edition project or the friend and "father" of concrete poetry, Eugen Gomringer. The title takes up the recurring theme of finance, of "usura", usury, in the Cantos, the most famous poetry cycle of the 20th century. Together with the daughter of Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge, Mary de Rachewiltz, Francesco Conz invited over 58 artists of concrete and visual poetry to a total of seven workshops at Brunnenburg Castle near Merano between 1987 and 1992. In a given format ( 35 x 25 cm), they were to create works, transfers, on the Cantos by Ezra Pound, in any number, which they were also to reproduce accordingly for an edition of 15 copies. Almost all of the artists created between 4 and 10 original works, which they then continued or drew in variants, as unique variants, or reproduced in modifications so that in the end, all the works were originals. Francesco Conz pursued the project from 1986 until one year before his death in 2009. After 1992, Francesco Conz invited artists to participate and send works instead of the workshops at the Brunnenburg: a total of 59 artists took part. We have reduced the size somewhat and produced 11 boxes in an edition of 10 copies each. The individual boxes each contain a different number of original works, resulting in a total of 304 artworks. Each box also contains a book with texts by Augusto de Campos, Eugen Gomringer, Wieland Schmied, Tom McCarthy, and Hubertus von Amelunxen, as well as a data carrier with a six-hour documentation of the workshops. It was Francesco Conz's wish to keep individual boxes available for purchase. We have limited this possibility to 2 editions. Set of 11 "La Livre - An Homage to Ezra Pound" boxes: "La Livre I" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 1 cover sheet signed by all artists, 10 collages by Stello Maria Martini, 8 collages/prints/watercolors by Arrigo Lora-Totino, 7 collages by Eugenio Miccini, 1 collective work by all 3 artist , and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1987 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy "La Livre II" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 1 cover sheet signed by all artists, 9 works by Arrigo Lora-Totino, 2 works by Bernard Heidsieck, 11 works by Heinz Gappmayr, and 11 works by Jean Dupuy, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1987 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy. "La Livre III" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 1 cover sheet signed by all artists, 10 collages by Henri Chopin, 10 collages/drawings by Jean Dupuy, 10 paintings/stencils by John Furnival, (when placed all together they create a unique work), and 5 drawings/collages by Dick Higgins, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1989 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy. "La Livre IV" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 1 cover sheet by Spacagna and signed by all artists, 13 drawings by Pierre Garnier, 7 collages/drawings/watercolors by Ladislav Novák, and 14 drawings by Jacques Spacagna, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1989 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy. "La Livre V" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 1 cover sheet by Gomringer and signed by all artists, 5 collages with a handwritten note by Gomringer, 6 drawings by Ilse Garnier, 4 collages/frottages by Gerhard Rühm, and 5 collages/drawings by Emmett Williams, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1989 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy. "La Livre VI" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 2 cover sheets signed by all artists (each with different signatures), 4 collages/text by Augusto de Campos, 3 texts by Haroldo de Campos, 5 drawings/prints by Décio Pignatari, 1 text by Michel Seuphor, 5 collages by Bernard Harden Porter, 3 texts by Jackson Mac Low and 5 text by Robert Lax, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1991 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy. "La Livre VII" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 1 cover sheet signed by all artists, 5 drawings/texts by Heinz Gappmayr, 3 collages/drawings of Franz Mon, 4 collages by Konrad Balder Schäuffelen, 10 collages/drawings by Josef Hiršal, 10 collages/drawings by Bohumila Grögerová and 2 drawings by Wolf Wezel, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 1992 in Brunnenburg Castle, Merano, Italy. "La Livre VIII" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 3 drawings by Alain Arias-Misson, 4 texts by Richard Kostelanetz, 3 texts by John Giorno, 4 collages by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and 9 drawings/prints/photographs by Demosthenes Agrafiotis, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 2000-2002. "La Livre IX" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 4 collages/drawings by Klaus Peter Dencker, 4 prints by Vagn Steen, 4 prints by Motoyuki Ito, 4 prints by Shutaro Mukai, and 4 prints by Shohachiro Takahashi, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 2003-2004 in Verona, Italy. "La Livre X" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 5 collages by Bartolomé Ferrando, 8 black prints on golden panels by Jean-François Bory, 8 prints/drawings by Ugo Carrega, and 10 negative stencils with letters by Julien Blaine, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 2006, in Verona, Italy. "La Livre XI" comprises 1 booklet, 1 colophon, 3 prints by Steve McCaffery, 10 collages by Sarenco, 4 drawings/collages by Costis, 3 digital collages by Anna Oberto and 3 writtings on paper by Martino Oberto, and 1 USB stick with approximately 6 hours of video documenting the workshops. The edition was made in 2007-2008 in Verona, Italy.