The essay in this booklet explores ideas of ephemerality and duration in artists' books through the catalogue of Beau Geste Press, an artist-led publishing community active in Devon between 1972 and 1976. Situated at the intersection of publishing, performance, conceptual art and social practice, Beau Geste Press produced works that challenged conventional ideas of the book as a fixed object, inviting readers to become active participants in the creation of meaning.
Drawing on the Fluxus concept of "presence in time," the study examines how artists' books function as temporal experiences rather than static artefacts. Using a framework through which to examine BGP titles (those being instructional, reconfigurational, reflective and/or sequential) the essay considers how artists' intentions are realised through the physical and conceptual engagement of the reader. In doing so, the booklet places the practices of Beau Geste Press in dialogue with key theoretical perspectives, including Umberto Eco's The Open Work and Claire Bishop's writing on participation to reveal new ways of understanding artists' publishing as an active, performative medium.
Certainly not a history of an influential press, this book considers Beau Geste Press within the wider development of artists' publishing in the 1970s and considers the enduring significance of its collaborative ethos. By tracing the connections between material experimentation, participation and publishing, it hopes to offer a new perspective on how artists' books extend beyond the page, shaping communities, creative practice and the experience of time itself.