Taste of Discovery
Exhibition Catalogue / Artist Book

Artist, Ed: Mathias Kessler
Gallery: Kunstraum Dornbirn (Austria)
60pps, A4
Bilingual: German, English

Creative Direction
Editorial Consulting
Design

The Taste of Discovery was created in close collaboration with artist Mathias Kessler. Intentionally blurring the line between artist book and exhibition catalogue, we invited diverse types and sources of content. Beyond the curator’s essay, the catalogue holds documentation of Kessler’s Greenland Expedition and subsequent exhibition; an interview with the Director of Christie’s which considers ‘The Polar Sale’ from 2009 (whose objects included Ernest Shackleton’s birdcage, his phonograph, commemorative spoons and various photographs among other expedition-related artifacts and ephemera); a fictional narrative; and fake ‘advertisements’ for the scents Kessler created with French parfumier Christophe Laudamiel, ‘recollecting’ scents from the expedition.

One day prior to press, the gallery director objected to one of the fake advertisements, as it contained partial nudity, and demanded its removal, leaving a blank page. As a remedy, we recreated the ad as typographic portrait description reflecting what was there before the censor.

Editor: Mathias Kessler
Contributing Editor: Sarah Campbell