Luxembourg Art Week invites MAI contemporary to present an installation of Lab by MAI Limited Edition within the Art Talks Area. This installation will be complemented by a discussion titled LAB Limited Edition Artist Book: A New Approach to Collecting Contemporary Art featuring artists Marco Godinho and Celeste Leeuwenburg.
Initiated in Luxembourg in 2023, Lab by MAI Limited Edition offers a fresh conception of the artist book or artwork as a multiple. This unique box set includes various artistic media (leporellos, photographs, cards, books, etc.), with each edition limited to thirty signed copies. Each set is conceptualized by the artist in collaboration with Claire and Paul di Felice, along with contributions from expert printers, engravers, and bookbinders. Collectors are encouraged to create their own exhibition setups using the works contained within the box or to simply present and interact with the items inside.
The first edition, Monsieur X ou Les tribulations de Monsieur X / Chronique vénitiennes à partir de 2020, reflects the multidisciplinary approach of artists Frédéric Flamand, a prominent choreographer in the 1990s and 2000s, and Pino Pipitone, a dance photographer and videographer, both living between Venice and Brussels. The second edition, deuxième
Left to Their Own Fate (Odyssey) / See Another Sea, 2019– 2024, by Marco Godinho, a Luxembourgish-Portuguese artist, consists of 44 photographs (archival pigment prints on Fine Art baryta satin) and a box of 101 poetry cards.
A third edition, A partir de ce qu’elle m’a dit et ce que je ressens, by French-Argentinian artist Celeste Leeuwenburg, is currently in production. The work "A partir de ce qu’elle m’a dit et ce que je ressens," presented in video and stills at the PRIX DECOUVERTE LOUIS ROEDERER as part of the Rencontres de la Photographie d'Arles, and showcased at the Jimei x Arles International Festival (China) as well as the EMOP Luxembourg Festival in May 2023, is here reimagined in the form of a leporello. Referencing the narratives and images of performances by her mother, Argentine artist Delia Cancela, in the 1970s, Leeuwenburg's work results from a familial collaboration and a dialogue between a mother’s past and a daughter’s present. This box, consisting of two leporellos, is complemented by texts from exhibition curator Taous Dahmani and art critic Christian Gattinoni.
About MAI Photography and Contemporary Art:
MAI aims to promote contemporary art and photography by organizing exhibitions, publishing limited edition artist books, and hosting artistic events.
Paul di Felice (1953), a PhD in arts, taught modern and contemporary art history at the University of Luxembourg. For over forty years, he has been active in the contemporary art and photography fields as an editor, art critic, artist, and exhibition curator.
Claire di Felice (1994), after earning a dual degree in English and French law, obtained a master’s in contemporary art from Sotheby's Institute of Art in London. Since her graduation in 2020, she has developed her career in the art world through writing, organizing exhibitions, working in a gallery, and developing her artistic practice.
