art-SITES books by Sidra Stich (2001)

R. J. Preece
artdesigncafé - design | 11 November 2010
This announcement first appeared in Azure, November/December 2001 with the title “Cultural orientations” on page 14.

For those who find existing guidebooks a bit useless when it comes to mapping out tours of modern and contemporary art and architecture, a new series from Art-SITES could be a valuable resource. Each book in the series provides an overview of a region’s visual arts scene, with detailed and critical entries on contemporary exhibition venues, architecture, film centres, public art, art and architecture bookstores, and more.

San Francisco-based Art-SITES press is the brainchild of art historian, curator and traveller Sidra Stich, who has previously published books on surrealism, artist Yves Klein, and American art in the 1950s and 60s. "I was inspired to develop this series because I personally craved information on contemporary, avant-garde art and architecture that was pertinent when travelling." says Stich. "Whenever I travelled—whether for research, exhibition projects of for sheer pleasure—I would find extraordinary places that I knew nothing about."

To date, the books have covered Spain (2001), Britain and Ireland (2000) and France (1999). The visual art capitals of London, Paris, Barcelona and Madrid are treated in detail and mapped for easy to navigate walking tours. For London, it’s easier to find things in Art-Sites than it is to create your own arts path with London’s extensive book of maps, the A-Z. While arts-travelling in Paris can be overwhelming. Art-SITES reduces the stress by providing opening times, admission fees and black and white reference images. Each day can be filled with easy to find architecture by Le Corbusier, Christian de Portzamparc, Ricardo Bofill and Jean Nouvel, plus a wealth of public art.

A San Francisco Art-SITES and a new Paris-focused book are slated for publication over the next year, while guidebooks for other selected European cities are also in the planning stages.