Ringier Annual Report 2003

[Includes Christopher Williams Video Cooking Project DVD]

Michael Ringier, Martin Werfeli

2003 Annual report for Swiss publishing house Ringier AG. With notes by Michael Ringier and Martin Werfeli. Includes profit and loss accounts, publications, circulations, locations, and impressum. Also includes a laid-in disc featuring a Christopher Williams' cooking project. Printed in black-and-white.

Christopher Williams

Born in 1956, Christopher Williams lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied in the 1970s at the California Institute of Arts under the first generation of West coast conceptual artists. In contrast to the first generation of conceptual photographers, however, Williams mobilizes perfection and aesthetics to enhance the impact of his works. Williams’ photographs, videos, installations, sculptures and performances study the conditions of presentation and representation and call into question spoon-fed perception and true-to-reality reproductions connected to the question of how our communication mechanisms and aesthetic conventions influence our perception and understanding of reality.

Ringier is a multinational integrated media company. Founded in 1833, Ringier is carrying print, broadcast, radio, online and mobile media brands, and is a successful player in the printing, entertainment and internet business. Ringier is a Swiss family-company with headquarters in Zurich.

The Ringier Annual Reports, designed by well-known artists since 1997, is one of the most interesting, generous, dubious and aloof publication series of the decade. Every Annual Report from this multinational media enterprise is an artist’s book and advertising brochure as well as a meeting place (or dance floor) for contradictions. The artist’s book as a site for self-empowerment and self-determination here becomes a communication platform for a family business that is not unfamiliar with the dream of selfdetermination. As a result, the free artist meets the free entrepreneur; both are reflected in their wish for independence, while the entrepreneur pays for the other’s freedom and in return gets art, discussion and attention. Clegg & Guttmann made a start in 1997 and were followed by Sylvie Fleury, Christian Philipp Müller, Harald F. Müller, Liam Gillick, Aleksandra Mir, Christopher Williams, Matt Mullican, Richard Prince, Richard Phillips, Peter Fischli/David Weiss and now Josh Smith.

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