Fabrice Reymond's 'Anabase': A Fragmented Artist's Book

Fabrice Reymond's 'Anabase' is a fragmented artist's book that functions as a 'disturbed media library' or a brain, weaving together references from books, films, images, contemporary media, and history. The work's title, meaning 'ascent' in a theological sense, is explicated by a detailed table at the end, tracing a path from 'what moves and affects us' to 'our capacity to create'. The book navigates contemporary mediations—objects, techniques, the spectacle society, and generalized commodification—while the author adopts a flâneur's gaze and a gleaner's gesture. Reymond, who also produced the DVD 'Nescafer' and contributed to the recent 'Art conceptuel, une entologie', claims his punk period lies ahead of him. 'Anabase' balances between sensible fragmentation and conceptual sensibility, embodying the idea that 'a book is the opposite of origami; it looks like paper but is something else'. The text is by Emmanuel Tibloux.