Since 1980
AAP Archive Artist Publications
Since 1980, Hubert Kretschmer has been collecting, archiving, and documenting artists’ publications in his AAP Archive Artist Publications: magazines, flyers, artists’ books, zines, multiples, posters, and much more. This independent archive project was founded in Munich by the publisher, artist, and art educator Hubert Kretschmer.
The archive originated in a three-part exhibition on artists’ books held between 1979 and 1980 at the Produzentengalerie Adelgundenstraße in Munich. In 1980, Verlag & Distribution Hubert Kretschmer was established, now known as icon Verlag Hubert Kretschmer.
Kretschmer aimed to provide artist-produced media with visibility on an international platform. Whether at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Minipressenmesse in Mainz, the GegenBuchmesse in Frankfurt, Art Basel, Art Cologne, Art Frankfurt, Art Multiple in Düsseldorf, or the German Book Fair in New York, the publishing and distribution house maintained a strong presence for many years, introducing a wide audience to the phenomenon of artists’ publications.
Over time, this led to a network of personal relationships with artists, international private collectors, booksellers, art dealers, and libraries, enabling Kretschmer to continuously expand his extensive archive of artists’ publications. Today, the archive contains more than 105,000 entries of various media spanning five decades. Since the end of 2001, the collection has been catalogued in an OPAC system and made available for free public research. The online catalogue currently includes over 91,000 entries.
Unlike traditional book art collections, the AAP Archive Artist Publications does not focus on elaborately produced bibliophilic objects. Instead, it concentrates on publications often produced with the simplest means, such as pamphlets, photocopied or stencil-duplicated magazines, small-edition prints, and similar materials. As so-called grey literature, these publications are rarely collected by public libraries, despite their high documentary value. Artists’ publications are often accessible only to a small circle and are not permanently archived in a central location. The AAP Archive Artist Publications makes an important contribution by preserving this field of artistic production and ensuring its long-term public accessibility.
The collection includes multiples, posters, invitations, various audio recordings, photocopies, artists’ stamps, videos, zines, CDs, distribution catalogues, magazines, websites, secondary literature, and exhibition catalogues. It reflects the art movements of the past fifty years, from the legacies of Fluxus, Happenings, and performance art to Mail Art, Stamp Art, the Neue Wilde, concrete and visual poetry, conceptual art, appropriation art, copy art, Neo-Dada, postmodernism, punk, zines, sound poetry, and current trends in artistic print and media production. The archive also contains selected everyday publications, such as mail-order catalogues and fashion and lifestyle magazines, which document the spirit of their time and often stand in strong contrast to contemporary art production.
Maxvorstadt: Türkenstraße 60, 80799 Munich
Founder: Hubert Kretschmer
Current director: Hubert Kretschmer
Short description: The AAP Archive Artist Publications is a privately run archive in Munich that collects, archives, documents, and makes international artists’ publications accessible to the public.
Type of space: Archive
Since 1980, Hubert Kretschmer has been collecting, archiving, and documenting artists’ publications in his AAP Archive Artist Publications: magazines, flyers, artists’ books, zines, multiples, posters, and much more. This independent archive project was founded in Munich by the publisher, artist, and art educator Hubert Kretschmer.
The archive originated in a three-part exhibition on artists’ books held between 1979 and 1980 at the Produzentengalerie Adelgundenstraße in Munich. In 1980, Verlag & Distribution Hubert Kretschmer was established, now known as icon Verlag Hubert Kretschmer.
Kretschmer aimed to provide artist-produced media with visibility on an international platform. Whether at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the Minipressenmesse in Mainz, the GegenBuchmesse in Frankfurt, Art Basel, Art Cologne, Art Frankfurt, Art Multiple in Düsseldorf, or the German Book Fair in New York, the publishing and distribution house maintained a strong presence for many years, introducing a wide audience to the phenomenon of artists’ publications.
Over time, this led to a network of personal relationships with artists, international private collectors, booksellers, art dealers, and libraries, enabling Kretschmer to continuously expand his extensive archive of artists’ publications. Today, the archive contains more than 105,000 entries of various media spanning five decades. Since the end of 2001, the collection has been catalogued in an OPAC system and made available for free public research. The online catalogue currently includes over 91,000 entries.
Unlike traditional book art collections, the AAP Archive Artist Publications does not focus on elaborately produced bibliophilic objects. Instead, it concentrates on publications often produced with the simplest means, such as pamphlets, photocopied or stencil-duplicated magazines, small-edition prints, and similar materials. As so-called grey literature, these publications are rarely collected by public libraries, despite their high documentary value. Artists’ publications are often accessible only to a small circle and are not permanently archived in a central location. The AAP Archive Artist Publications makes an important contribution by preserving this field of artistic production and ensuring its long-term public accessibility.
The collection includes multiples, posters, invitations, various audio recordings, photocopies, artists’ stamps, videos, zines, CDs, distribution catalogues, magazines, websites, secondary literature, and exhibition catalogues. It reflects the art movements of the past fifty years, from the legacies of Fluxus, Happenings, and performance art to Mail Art, Stamp Art, the Neue Wilde, concrete and visual poetry, conceptual art, appropriation art, copy art, Neo-Dada, postmodernism, punk, zines, sound poetry, and current trends in artistic print and media production. The archive also contains selected everyday publications, such as mail-order catalogues and fashion and lifestyle magazines, which document the spirit of their time and often stand in strong contrast to contemporary art production.