The Conquest of Space: Atlas for the Use of Artists and the Milit

Atlas—measuring 1 5/8 by 1 1/8 in. (4 by 3 cm), with a simple black slipcase—is a miniature book by Marcel Broodthaers, made after the model of the fifteenth-century incunable. It was originally published in 1975 in an edition of fifty numbered copies, and it is Broodthaers´s last book, created shortly before his death, in 1976.

The object plays on language and functions in a manner characteristic of Broodthaers´s sense of humor: it refers to the use of atlases by militaries pursuing territorial conquest—a task for which this tiny edition is absurdly unsuitable—in order to make artists aware of their own such victories. Broodthaers deepened the level of intrigue by not following any established geographical organization; instead, he chose to present a small selection of countries in alphabetical order, each represented graphically at the same size.

This facsimile edition, published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York, makes the artist´s book available again for the first time since the original printing, in a limited edition of five hundred copies.