Ivorypress


Ivorypress was founded in 1996 by Elena Ochoa Foster as a publishing house specialising in artists' books. The project currently encompasses a wide range of areas and activities within the framework of contemporary art, including its own art gallery and bookshop, art consultancy and art exhibitions curatorship, editorial services, audio-visual productions and education.
In 2008 Ivorypress Art + Books was established. This comprises a bookshop and an art gallery, with a permanent artists’ books exhibition and an ongoing temporary exhibitions programme that have made Ivorypress Space one of the most emblematic art galleries and significant actors in Madrid’s cultural scene.
In addition to its exhibition calendar in Madrid, Ivorypress is also involved in intense curatorial activity surrounding the creation, design and production of international exhibition projects in collaboration with significant institutions and events. Ivorypress is also involved in the education and support of emerging talents, as well as in the promotion of contemporary art in higher education. Every year Ivorypress sponsors and organises a Contemporary Art Professorship—the first academic initiative of its kind—at the University of Oxford, UK, in association with the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art and Magdalen College.
Elena Ochoa Foster is the founder and CEO of Ivorypress.

Artists' Books Collection

Ivorypress's artist book collection comprises hundreds of works by Spanish and international artists. The collection, which brings together some of the most significant artists' books from the 19th century to the present day, reflects the passion of the founder and CEO of Ivorypress.
An important focus of the Ivorypress collection is to ensure the correct restoration and conservation of these historic works. To this end it employs a group of experts to ensure all aspects of conservation, from producing shelving adapted for the proper storage of the books, to manufacturing archive boxes, through to the use of durable materials in the production of the books.
Ivorypress hosts a permanent exhibition of a selection of its titles at its space in Madrid and organises temporary exhibitions related to artists' books. It has recently acquired all of the editions published by the Library Council of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, which have been exhibited as part of the collection since February 2016. Ivorypress also carries out extensive educational work, organising guided tours of the collection for invidivuals and groups of students.

Artists' Books

Ivorypress's publishing house is specialised in artists’ books. Far removed from conventional books, they are extremely valuable works of art individually designed and produced by each artist. Conceived to be displayed as works of art, each book is published as a numbered limited edition and is carefully produced using techniques ranging from rediscovered medieval processes to the most advanced modern technologies.
These artists’ books are part of the collections of Museo Chillida-Leku, San Sebastián, Spain; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid, Spain; Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA; The Noguchi Museum, New York, USA; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, and foundations such as the Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, UK; The Estate of Francis Bacon, London, UK; Fundação Serralves, Porto, Portugal, as well as private collections worldwide such as Colección Pérez Simón, Mexico, and the François Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy.
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Exhibition Catalogues
C Photo Project
LiberArs
Architecture
Essential
Oxford Lectures
Special Editions
Ivorypress's bookshop specialises in photography, contemporary art and architecture. It offers advice for the creation of custom libraries, tailored according to the needs and tastes of each customer.
The bookshop has a catalogue of books that not only includes the most recent publications but also limited editions and rare or out-of-print books.
ACTIVITIES IN THE BOOKSHOP
1. Book launches
2. Fairs
3. Workshops
4. Exhibitions in the bookshop
5. Other events

Education

Ivorypress is also involved in the education and support of emerging talents as well as in the promotion of contemporary art in higher education. Every year Ivorypress sponsors and organises a Contemporary Art Professorship—the first academic initiative of its kind—at the University of Oxford, UK, in association with the Ruskin School of Drawing & Fine Art and Magdalen College. The lectures are published by Ivorypress each year and distributed freely among the students of the University of Oxford.
In Spain, Ivorypress has an agreement with the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid and works together with its Humanities department to promote joint cultural projects that contribute to the knowledge and promotion of contemporary art and to improve social communication of the visual arts.
Ivorypress takes part in student training through internships. Internships are educational in nature and carried out by university students under the supervision of the Ivorypress team. The aim is for students to apply and reinforce the knowledge they have acquired throughout their academic training, encouraging them to practise skills that will prepare them for professional activities and boost their employment prospects.
Ivorypress currently has agreements with the following institutions:
Ivorypress has promoted and financed twenty international C Action grants through the C Photo project.
  1. C Photo 01: Eustaquio Neves and Mitra Tabrizian
  2. C Photo 02: Julia Fullerton-Batten and Rongrong & Inri
  1. C Photo 03: Antonio Girbés and ANIU
  2. C Photo 04: Julia Peirone and Loan Nguyen
  1. C Photo 05: Giacomo Costa and Sun Hongbin
  2. C Photo 06: Marie Taillefer and Kyungwoo Chun
  1. C Photo 07: Lovisa Ringborg and Flore-Aël Surun
  2. C Photo 08: Victor Albrow and Lia Sáile
  1. C Photo 09: Jordi Gual and Veru Iché
  2. C Photo 10: Alfonso Zubiaga and Alexander Gronsky
Ivorypress organises guided tours for small groups of students, collectors and institutions, to both the permanent collection and temporary exhibitions, often in the company of the artist.

Audiovisual Projects

The documentary, directed by Norberto Lopez Amado and Carlos Carcas, tells the story of one of the world's most renowned architects and his unending quest to improve the quality of life through architecture and design. It describes Norman Foster's upbringing and how his dreams and influences inspired the design of buildings such as Beijing Airport, the Reichstag in Berlin, the Hearst building in New York and the highest bridge in the world, the Millau Viaduct in France, among others.
Written and narrated by Deyan Sudjic, director of the London Design Museum, the film won the nomination for best Spanish film at the Goya Awards of the Spanish Film Academy in 2011, the Audience Award TCM for best European documentary at the International Festival of San Sebastian in 2010 and was selected at the Berlin International Film Festival in the Berlinale Special section, as well as other awards in countries such as France, Belgium and China.
The documentary is devised as a homage to the American inventor and it includes fragments of footage and news broadcasts of the time, significant episodes of Fuller’s life and samples of his own thoughts and opinions accompanied by the comments of current leading figures in the arts and sciences who vindicate the work and reputation of a marginalised genius who was never fully understood nor appreciated.
The film also shows many of his creations, such as his luminous and exquisite ‘lightful houses’, the ecological and aerodynamic Dymaxion—Dynamic Maximum Tension—cars and his magnificent geodesic domes, a perfect combination of art and technology built upon the structural principle of ‘tensegrity’—tensional integrity—a term coined by Fuller himself.
Conga Irreversible documents the eponymous performance by the artistic duo Los Carpinteros, which they performed in 2012 during the eleventh Havana Biennial. Also present in the video, alongside over a hundred active participants, are the thousands of people who strolled by the central Paseo del Prado, a space through which the first comparsas marched, beginning what was to become a popular celebration in Cuba.
The work reverses the direction of the choreography and music, while suppressing the emergence of the bright colours characteristic of a traditional comparsa, whose festive and collective nature becomes a tool for cultural communication.
Polaris, by Los Carpinteros, describes the journey of a musician who hikes up the Pyrenees, drums in tow. Also recorded in a real scenario, it is essentially a sound piece that explores large areas of silence, where the notion of pilgrimage takes on a central role as an abstract and personal ritual.
'TurnOnArt' TV, an online channel by Ivorypress, produces a series of videos documenting fairs, events related to the art world, and interviews with artists, curators and gallery owners.
Its programmes feature interviews with artists such as Not Vital, Olafur Eliasson and John Isaacs, promoters of the publishing world like Louise O'Hare The London Bookshop Map and have also documented fairs such as ParisPhoto, Frieze New York and Pinta London.