This Page Intentionally Left Blank is the first in a series of exhibitions and publication based on a wide-reaching research about writing with the title “Possible Content for 18 Pages”. The original typewritten manuscript of Vilém Flusser’s essay “The Gesture of Writing” provides the thematic and formal-aesthetic foundation for reflecting the act of writing at the intersection of linguistic, visual, physical and spatial communication.

“To write,” says the philosopher about the basic requirements that should lead to a complete piece of writing, we need “a blank surface, for instance a white leaf of paper; an instrument which contains a matter that contrasts with the whiteness of the paper; the letters of the alphabet; the convention which gives a meaning to the letters; ‘orthography’ = correct writing; the rules which order that language, what is called ‘grammar’; an idea to be expressed in a language; and a motive to express that idea”. Understanding the act of writing as a culturally embedded gesture, This Page Intentionally Left Blank covers artistic, literary, as well as curatorial and editorial fields of action and combines them. The book is published on the occasion of the correspondent exhibition at Akbank Art Center, Istanbul (March 19 – May 17, 2014). In addition to Flusser’s manuscript of „The Gesture of Writing“, the publication comprises an exhibition documentation with installation views and a curatorial statement. Furthermore, the author and poet Kenneth Goldsmith situates the concept of the exhibition in an actual context of media theory, net culture and literature. The participating visual artists expand the topic of the exhibition with artistic contributions especially made for the book.

Text contributions: Vilém Flusser, Kenneth Goldsmith, Franz Thalmair

Artistic contributions: John Baldessari, Fiona Banner, VALIE EXPORT, Kenneth Goldsmith, Wade Guyton, Daniel Hafner, Marianne Holm Hansen, Bethan Huws, Joséphine Kaeppelin, Michael Kargl, Ulrich Kehrer & Agnes Miesenberger, Jörg Piringer, Falke Pisano, Stefan Riebel, Karin Sander, Ignacio Uriarte, Anita Witek