Publication Libre

2024

Publication Libre is produced by Christophe Leflot and Stéphane Mortier in Paris; a freely-distributed newsprint publication featuring projects by individual artists. The third in the series was a double edition with contributions by Jonathan Monk and Stephan Pascher. Pascher’s contribution consisted of scaled reproductions of his 12 Zodiac drawings. Each constellation drawing filled one full page of the fold-out newspaper. Individual pages could be removed and function as posters.

Since 2021, in France, Christophe Leflot and Stéphane Mortier have persisted in producing a newsprint publication every year. They devote it to an artist, or an artistic project, which amounts to roughly the same thing. It's neither a catalog, nor a manifesto, nor really a promotional item. It's a printed object, distributed for free, with a print run of 3,000 copies. It can be found in a few museums, art centers, and sometimes in specialized bookstores. The first edition was entrusted to Jean Pierre Raynaud, which was not a trivial choice; the second to Annette Messager, which made a certain sense. For the third, Jonathan Monk and Stephan Pascher designed a double issue. It could seem like a game or a slightly anachronistic form of elegance. The project is moving forward without fanfare, without a brand strategy, without forced storytelling. It persists. It demonstrates, in its own way, a sincere attachment to creation, and a calm rejection of the dominant economics of art. It is possible that one day, someone will consider this collection as a body of work, or even as a work. For now, it remains an attempt - modest, gratuitous, vaguely utopian - to maintain a link between art and life.

—Christophe Leflot and Stéphane Mortier