On the occasion of PROVENCE's 15th anniversary, the reader My Alphabet presents 26 texts published by PROVENCE between 2009 and 2024, either in print or digitally in the weekly newsletter. These texts are sorted alphabetically, ranging from A for Amphetamine to N for Ne travaillez jamais to Z for Gen Z.
My Alphabet compiles selected contributions from the PROVENCE archive by Andrea Legiehn, Anonymous, Artists Space, castillo / corrales, Contemporary Art Writing Daily, Edgars Gluhovs, Enzo Camacho & Amy Lien, Felix Vogel, Huysmans Ringheim, Jay Chung & Q Takeki Maeda,
Karl Holmqvist, Mariuccia Casadio, Olga Hohmann & Sophia Eisenhut, PROVENCE,
Raphael Gygax, Robert Walser,
Sylvie Fleury,
Tom Holert, Tyler Dobson, Ulf Wuggenig, and Yugoexport. The book also features Lucie Kolb's essay
The Potential and Limits of Hobby Criticism, which illuminates the history and conceptual intentions of PROVENCE and was commissioned specifically for this publication.
Additionally,
My Alphabet is accompanied by a poster by Daniele Buetti hidden in the dust jacket and 26 postcards, each sporting a letter sponsored by institutions, galleries, artists, and friends.
PROVENCE was founded in 2009 in Nice, France, by artist
Tobias Kaspar and art historian
Hannes Loichinger, and has since shape-shifted through a variety of constellations. Today, PROVENCE operates as a collectively run publishing house and agency for contemporary art.
The ambition of PROVENCE has always been to question and challenge its own format by conceiving exhibitions, artworks, and merchandise in parallel with its publishing and agency activities. This includes exhibitions at Halle für Kunst, Lüneburg; Artists Space, New York; an off-site Hannah Villiger exhibition in Basel; and participation in numerous group exhibitions. Also worth mentioning are a hair salon (never realized), numerous art fair booths, a collection of driftwood, a temporary casino hosted by Etablissement d'en face in Brussels, 215 very real press passes, media partnerships, a travel guide for Nice rated no. 1 in Vogue US, stickers, handbags, and plenty of dinners.
See also
The Provence City Guide: Nice;
The Provence Summer Reader.
