BROODTHAERS, Marcel. A Voyage on the North Sea.

(London): Petersburg Press, 1973/74. First edition. Book – Film, 12mo. 38 uncut pages. 16mm colour silent running time of 4 minutes and 15 seconds. An unusual hybrid of book and film both titled A Voyage on the North Sea which were distributed together as part of the limited edition of 100 examples. Both book and film components of A Voyage on the North Sea deliver a befuddling, progress-defying narrative, pairing images of an amateur’s 19th century painting of fishing vessels with photographs of a 20th century sailboat. The film is structured like a book with 15 paginated titles interspersed between static images of the boats while the layout of the book, on the other hand, is structured like the comparative grid of the art historian’s slide show. Broodthaers’ complex dialogue between painting, photograph, book and film plays hide-and-seek with the original, exploring a frustrating journey through the conditions of art in the age of mechanical reproduction. One of the most influential European Conceptual artists, Broodthaers films remain almost entirely unknown by general audiences, mostly because they are rarely shown. Indeed the artist requests that this film is not shown in public (except by universities and museums). Both book and film in fine condition. This copy initialled and numbered 24/100 on page 37.