KESHVANI, Rozemin; HEIL, Axel; WEIBEL, Peter (eds.)
Better Books. Art, Anarchy, Apostasy, Counter-culture & the New Avant-garde

In the 1950s and 1960s, London underwent a cultural revolution, which altered forever the trajectory of contemporary art and gave rise to a radical re-formulation of artistic production. United in their distrust of culture, the emerging generation of post-war artists, poets and writers were searching for new ways of responding to their alienation from the previous generation and the smothering geopolitical anxiety of the cold war. Many of these artists found each other while taking refuge at Tony Godwin's Charing Cross bookshop, Better Books. Under the successive management of Bill Butler, Barry Miles, and Bob Cobbing, Better Books became guardian and sanctuary, platform and voice for the explosion of radical gesture in London, providing platform, meeting space, idea generator and voice for a host of avant-garde artists, poets, filmmakers, musicians, and writers. 

This book follows the exhibition by the same name, curated by Rozemin Keshvani, that was presented at ZKM, Karlsruhe; at Flat Time House, London; and at Trondheim kunstmuseum.

Published by Koenig Books, 2018
Design by Andreas Tetzlaff & Sabine Pflitsch (probsteibooks), fluid
Exhibition Catalogues / Book Culture / Art History / Scenes / Performance / Film & Video