KLEINE FOTOENZYKLOPÄDIE [Signed]

Biel, Switzerland
2015

Pages 672
Size 21 × 14 cm
Cover hardback – cloth
Binding sewn bound
Process offset printed
Color black-and-white, colour
Edition size 500

The idea for this encyclopaedia stems from Guadalupe Ruiz’s interest in photobooks from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as her desire to share her own images. She chose to produce the book herself in order to both generate the photographs and learn the printing process.

Kleine Fotoenzyklopädie is based on iconographic research carried out during residencies and travels in 2014 and 2015. Each location — including Genoa, New York, Detroit, Bogotá, Tirana, Mexico and Chicago — informed the development of the project and the collection of images across varied themes. Ruiz approaches photography as a way to document and offer a personal vision of places, objects, buildings and people.

The book brings together 645 photographs organized into 37 chapters, such as Wolkenkratzer (skyscrapers), Blumen aus Kolumbien (flowers of Colombia), Gegenstände aus der elterlichen Wohnung (objects from her parents’ home), Patisserien aus Chinatown (cakes from Chinatown), Mais- und Kartoffelsorten (varieties of corn and potatoes), and Weihnachten in New York (Christmas in New York).

After moving with her partner into a former offset printing facility in Biel, Ruiz learned the entire printing process from its previous owner in the span of two months, enabling them to print the book independently.

Guadalupe Ruiz (born 1978, Bogotá) moved to Switzerland in 1996 to study art. She studied photography at ECAL in Lausanne and HGKZ in Zürich. She received the Kiefer Hablitzel Prize in 2004 and 2005, and later awards from the city of Zürich, including study trips to San Francisco and Genoa.