Seth SIEGELAUB: “The Xerox Book”. (C. Andre, R. Barry, D. Huebler, J. Kosuth, S. LeWitt, R. Morris, L. Weiner). 1968. Artist book. (370) pages/plates. Paper cover. 28×21 cm. N.Y., Seth Siegelaub & Jack Wendler, 1968. 7 original 25-page works, using photocopy, by the 7 artists.

HANS ULRISH OBRIST : In 1968, you curated the “Xerox book” project? Was this a “group show” in bookform?

SETH SIEGELAUB : Yes, the first “big” group show, if you like. This project evolved in the same way as most of my projects, in collaboration with the artists I worked with. We would sit around discussing the different ways and possibilities to show art, different contexts and environments in which art could be shown, indoors, outdoors, books, etc. The “Xerox book” – I now would prefer to call it the “Photocopy book”, so that no one gets the mistaken impression that the project has something to do with Xerox – was perhaps one of the most interesting because it was the first where I proposed a series of “requirements” for the project, concerning the use of a standard size paper and the amount of pages the “container” within which the artist was asked to work. What I was trying to do was standardize the conditions of exhibition with the idea that the resulting differences in each artist’s project or work, would be precisely what the artist’s work was about.

It was an attempt to consciously standardize, in terms of an exhibition, book, or project, the conditions of production underlying the exhibition process. It was the first exhibition in fact where I asked the artists to do something, and it was probably somewhat less collaborative than I am now making it sound. But I do have the impression that the close working relationship with the artist was an important factor of all the projects, even when I was not particularly close to an artist, as for example, Bob Morris. (participating artists in the Xerox book were Carl Andre, Robert Barry, Douglas Huebler, Joseph Kosuth, Sol LeWitt, Robert Morris and Lawrence Weiner)

Excerpt from a conversation between Hans Ulrish Obrist and Sath Siegelaub published in TRANS> #6, 1999.