Boring Island: A Gelitin Children’s Book

Formed in 1993, the Austrian artist collective Gelitin is famed for its participatory works and events, which have followed somewhat in the tradition of Relational Aesthetics. This artist’s book, done in the style of a children’s book, marks a new development in their activities–not as an artist’s book (of which they have produced several), nor as an irreverent, deadpan gesture of humor (ditto), but as a new take on the children’s book. Not quite for children, Boring Island recounts the collective’s 30-day adventure on a small island: there were animals, hunger, wind, waves, the sun blazed, it was stormy, and endlessly boring. The book describes Gelitin’s adventures (or boring lack of adventures) in diaristic form, and is illustrated throughout with cartoonish watercolor drawings.