The Invisible Journey ─ Julien Berthier

An artist’s book following a rock-boat as it drifts through postcards, landscapes and imagined journeys across time and place.

The Invisible Journey is a publication by French artist Julien Berthier. In 2021, invited by fellow French artist Thomas Mailaender, Berthier undertook a residency at the Tuna Club in Calanques National Park, south of Marseille. There, in reference to the surrounding landscape, he created a mobile work by attaching a rock sculpture made from the same resin as the hull to an old boat. Once launched onto the sea, the piece appeared to merge with the scenery of the site.

The book continues this reflection on landscape by inserting the same rock-boat into a wide range of postcards. Deliberately adopting a rough method of montage, Berthier cut out the image of the boat by hand and pasted it directly onto the cards. In this way, his rock-boat sets off on a journey through different places and eras, accompanying the travel records of unknown others.

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Title: The Invisible Journey
Artist: Julien Berthier
Publisher: RVB Books, 2023
Format: Hardcover with PVC dust jacket
Size: 320 × 160 mm
Pages: 112 (169 original postcards & collages)
Language: French / English
Edition: First edition
ISBN: 978-2-492175-24-4