Mark von Schlegell

REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES)

22 February – 30 March 2019

Jan Kaps, Cologne

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Earth of the Books, 2019, Collection of short stories, plexiglass drink cart, plastic casters, projectors, electrical cables, MP3 player, sound transducers, rubber bands, printed vinyl text, mirror foil, glass, water, 110 × 82 × 66 cm

Earth of the Books, 2019, Collection of short stories, plexiglass drink cart, plastic casters, projectors, electrical cables, MP3 player, sound transducers, rubber bands, printed vinyl text, mirror foil, glass, water, 110 × 82 × 66 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Earth of the Books, 2019, Collection of short stories, plexiglass drink cart, plastic casters, projectors, electrical cables, MP3 player, sound transducers, rubber bands, printed vinyl text, mirror foil, glass, water, 110 × 82 × 66 cm

Earth of the Books, 2019, Collection of short stories, plexiglass drink cart, plastic casters, projectors, electrical cables, MP3 player, sound transducers, rubber bands, printed vinyl text, mirror foil, glass, water, 110 × 82 × 66 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Earth of the Books (detail), 2019, 110 × 82 × 66 cm, (43 1/4 × 32 1/4 × 26 inches)Earth of the Books, 2019, Collection of short stories, plexiglass drink cart, plastic casters, projectors, electrical cables, MP3 player, sound transducers, rubber bands, printed vinyl text, mirror foil, glass, water, 110 × 82 × 66 cm

Earth of the Books (detail), 2019, 110 × 82 × 66 cm, (43 1/4 × 32 1/4 × 26 inches)Earth of the Books, 2019, Collection of short stories, plexiglass drink cart, plastic casters, projectors, electrical cables, MP3 player, sound transducers, rubber bands, printed vinyl text, mirror foil, glass, water, 110 × 82 × 66 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Infinite Summers, 2019, Metal-wire rotating book and postcard stand, plastic and metal roller casters, 96 paperback novels, rubberbands, mirror foil, chair, 145 × 70 × 70 cm

Infinite Summers, 2019, Metal-wire rotating book and postcard stand, plastic and metal roller casters, 96 paperback novels, rubberbands, mirror foil, chair, 145 × 70 × 70 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Infinite Summers (detail), 2019, Metal-wire rotating book and postcard stand, plastic and metal roller casters, 96 paperback novels, rubberbands, mirror foil, chair, 145 × 70 × 70 cm

Infinite Summers (detail), 2019, Metal-wire rotating book and postcard stand, plastic and metal roller casters, 96 paperback novels, rubberbands, mirror foil, chair, 145 × 70 × 70 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Titan, From a Distance, 2019, Vinyl print, 100 × 100 cm ø 100 cm

Titan, From a Distance, 2019, Vinyl print, 100 × 100 cm ø 100 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Return of the Lepidopters, 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Return of the Lepidopters, 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), REAL/////BOOKS, 2019, Glass, neon gas, electrical wires, transformer, 40 × 65 × 7 cm

REAL/////BOOKS, 2019, Glass, neon gas, electrical wires, transformer, 40 × 65 × 7 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Return of the Lepidopters (detail), 2019, 24 Graphic novels and comics, wood display board, flatscreen television with digital file, plastic and cotton fiber bead curtain in green, neon pink-lit room, chair, Dimensions variable


Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mieko Meguro
, We Are All Cats, 2015
, Artist book, ink on paper

Mieko Meguro
, We Are All Cats, 2015
, Artist book, ink on paper

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Krusty Wheatfield & V. Vale
, How to stay together forever, 2019

Krusty Wheatfield & V. Vale
, How to stay together forever, 2019

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper,  30 × 40 cm

Mark von Schlegell, Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 30 × 40 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mieko Meguro
, Dan, 2018,  Canvas pillow, embroidery, cotton, 30 × 40 × 15 cm

Mieko Meguro
, Dan, 2018, Canvas pillow, embroidery, cotton, 30 × 40 × 15 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Vera Palme and Elif Saydam,
Colt Jonner
's Desecration of Descent, 2018

Vera Palme and Elif Saydam,
Colt Jonner
's Desecration of Descent, 2018

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), H. G. Wells & Fabian Reimann,
 The World Set Free, 2019

H. G. Wells & Fabian Reimann,
 The World Set Free, 2019

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell, H.G.W., 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 30 × 40 cm

Mark von Schlegell, H.G.W., 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 30 × 40 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Andreas Reise, Thomas Herbst, Karl Marx’s 200th!, 2018

Andreas Reise, Thomas Herbst, Karl Marx’s 200th!, 2018

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell
, Engels, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 40 × 30 cm

Mark von Schlegell
, Engels, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 40 × 30 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Joseph Buckley, Egge2024, 2019, Hard plastic, molded plastic, plastic bag, 9 1/2 × 7 × 7 inches

Joseph Buckley, Egge2024, 2019, Hard plastic, molded plastic, plastic bag, 9 1/2 × 7 × 7 inches

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Frances Scholz, HIGH WICHITA, 2019, Wall stencil with paint wash, 7 × 69 cm

Frances Scholz, HIGH WICHITA, 2019, Wall stencil with paint wash, 7 × 69 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Installation View

Installation View

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell, I, Claudius/Robert Graves, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper,  20 × 15 cm

Mark von Schlegell, I, Claudius/Robert Graves, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 20 × 15 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell, The Dame Herself, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 30 × 20 cm

Mark von Schlegell, The Dame Herself, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 30 × 20 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell, The Sea Around Us, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 32 × 24 cm

Mark von Schlegell, The Sea Around Us, 2019, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 32 × 24 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Mark von Schlegell, Beautiful Shadow/Patricia Highsmith, 2018, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 32 × 24 cm

Mark von Schlegell, Beautiful Shadow/Patricia Highsmith, 2018, Watercolor, pencil, wax on paper, 32 × 24 cm

Jan Kaps, Mark von Schlegell, REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES), Pure Fiction
, Kitchen Towels, 2016, Ink print on kitchen towel, 60 x 40 cm

Pure Fiction
, Kitchen Towels, 2016, Ink print on kitchen towel, 60 x 40 cm

Press release

MARK VON SCHLEGELL
REAL BOOKS (EXTRAORDINARY TALES)

February 22 - March 30, 2019
Opening Friday, February 22, 6 - 9 PM

"Von Schlegell’s texts are a very strange drug in which one may experience absolute clarity within discrete fragments, while at the same time feeling oneself slipping, or even dissolving, within a general network of chaos. To read von Schlegell’s work is to become physically disoriented. Like the best science fiction, his writings are true to the present. And in this case, it’s a present rendered in its most acute, heightened form."

 -- Chris Kraus

Jan Kaps Gallery is delighted to announce a set of possibilities coming to fruition in the present around a semi-fictional time-traveling bookstore, theorized by Mark von Schlegell, maker of science fiction/art hybrids since at least 1999. Schlegell is well known in the art community for his regularly appearing critical writings, and for the influential science fiction novels published by Semiotext(e), Los Angeles, and Matthes und Seitz, Berlin. He also ran the Pure Fiction seminar at Frankfurt's Staedelschule from 2011-2018, promoting and engaging in art/theater/performance crossovers and independent text production. In the Jülicher Str. space, Schlegell, for the first time, develops what have been his own sporadic semi-literary experiments with sculpture, installation and drawing since the 90s into a unified, experimental exhibition.

In the back gallery, a special adults-only installation “Return of the Lepidopters,” explores and contextualizes the graphic novel written by Schlegell, drawn by Yogyokarta punk bassist, Iwank Celenk, and published by the Southern Hemispshere's Slave Pianos Collective, that became a collaborative Indonesian/Australian rock opera touring Indonesia and Australia 2014-16. 

Across the street in Vosberg reality emerges from fiction, with the launch of REAL // BOOKS, a collaborative project between Jan Kaps and Mark von Schlegell.

Celebrating the Launch of REAL // BOOKS

Online and Time-traveling bookstore. Start-up launch and special exhibition event.

Please join us for the Cologne 2019 launch of REAL // BOOKS, a conceptual re-fit of the gallery's online bookstore in collaboration with writer/artist, Dr. Marq v. Schlegell, ph. D. into a pop-up / online hybrid of unpredictable scheduling.

In collaboration with international independent publishers like Broken Dimanche Press, RE/Search, Spector Books, SuKuLTur, Pork Salad Press, and Semiotext(e); REAL // BOOKS intends to decentralize the current small press distribution system, inaugurating a model wherein the PayPal (or cryptocurrency) user can purchase from the store what will be delivered by the publishers themselves with zero hassle. Doing away with the middleman, REAL // BOOKS challenges the Amazon model by inaugurating a store that needs no stock.

So come over and help us evaporate. REAL // BOOKS launches with a pop-up show room inviting the 21st century shopper not only to browse, but to don white cotton gloves and become intimate with actual copies of rare books ordinarily only on the website.

Deals on real books and special editions by the likes of Amy Ball, Joseph Buckley, Colt Jonner, Karl Marx, Mieko Meguro, Pure Fiction, Fabian Reiman, V. Vale, Mark von Schlegell, H. G. Wells and many other bargains, surprises, rarities and collectibles.