About the AAP
About the Collection Hubert Kretschmer
Since 1980 Hubert Kretschmer has collected, archived and documented artist publications for his AAP Archive Artist Publications: artist books, magazines, flyers, zines, multiples, posters, ephemera and many more. This Independent Archive Project was founded in Munich by the publisher, artist and art educator Hubert Kretschmer.
It all began with three exhibits on artist books in the Produzentengalerie Adelgundenstraße (Munich) in 1979. It was the trigger for the founding of Verlag & Distribution Hubert Kretschmer [Publisher & Distribution Hubert Kretschmer]. His aim was to make it possible for artist-produced media to have a presence on an international platform.
Whether at the Frankfurter Buchmesse, the Minipressenmesse in Mainz, the GegenBuchmesse in Frankfurt, the Art Basel, Art Cologne, Art Frankfurt, Art Multiple in Düsseldorf or the German Book Fair in New York – for many years the publisher was represented the world over, which led to the phenomena KunstlerPublikationen= Artists Publications becoming so well known.
A network developed from the personal relationships with artists, international private collectors, book and art dealers as well as libraries, enabling Hubert Kretschmer to further enlarge his comprehensive archive. Today it comprises circa 120,000 items of varying media, its main emphasis on the 1980s. Of these about 90,000 are publicly accessible in the online catalogue.
In contrast to classic book art collections, this private collection is not geared toward valuably adorned bibliophile objects, but rather towards publications that were produced with the simplest materials, like flyers, copied or stenciled magazines, editions in small numbers and similar items. As so-called “grey literature”, such publications are usually not collected by public libraries, despite possessing a high documentational value. Publications by artists with a limited audience and those which are not archived permanently or in any central archive are the most common. The archive artist publications would like to contribute to making this significant field of artistic production permanently and publicly accessible.
The collection encompasses multiples, posters, invitations, various recordings, photocopies, stamps, videos, zines, CDs, catalogues, newspapers, websites, secondary literature and exhibit catalogues, which reflect the art trends of the past 35 years up to today: the offshoots of Fluxus, of happenings and performance art, mail art, stamp art, the Neue Wilde, concrete and visual poetry, Conceptual art, appropriation art and copy art. To a limited extent, the collection also intentionally includes everyday publications, like mail-order catalogues and fashion or lifestyle magazines, in order to capture the zeitgeist.
The AAP Archive Artist Publications is conveniently located in the Munich Kunstareal [art district], 250 meters north of the Brandhorst Museum. The collection can be viewed anytime by appointment. We are pleased to provide exhibit items for events and exhibits.
August 2024
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