We wouldn't have this discussion if it weren't for the excess of the art world that insistz on selling unique objects (to rich people).

Photo wise, we could sell hundreds of prints for cheap -- yet we don't because of "editions" dictated by gallerists. https://twitter.com/rodrigoalcocer/status/1265852489779367938

The "market" has perverted what should be the main defining principle of the book after Gutenberg: it can be made relatively cheaply for a lot of people.

Put the book in a white cube behind glass, and you basically kill what kept Gutenberg up at night.

And the only reason why we still have "edition" problems in the world of photobooks is: we've turned them too much into collectibles -- instead of into the democratically available objects that Gutenberg wanted them to be.

That's really why I love photobooks: I can look at great photography without walking around in a white cube, holding on to my plastic cup of very cheap wine.

Photobooks are more democratic. They're relatively cheap, and they speak of their makers' original intent [...]

[...] a lot more than a bunch of prints on the walls of some gallery where rich people walk around to think what might look best over their couch.

So when I hear someone talk about replicating a museum thru a book, that's why I break out in hives.

/end

PS: This is not that I don't care about rich people and their interior-design problems.

OK, I lied. I really don't give a shit about those kind of problems.