We’re all familiar with the phrase uttered by Neil Armstrong when he took his first step on the Moon. But we’re less familiar with the exclamation of Buzz Aldrin, the second astronaut who, free of any injunction from NASA, raved: “Nice view!”

Considered marginal or secondary, the practice of publication initiates, in the transition from the 20th to the 21st century, the freest and most invigorating artistic experiments. BELLE VUE is the sensitive portrait of a furtive generation that considers the published space as a public space and the act of disseminating as an artistic act. The book writes a history of art, parallel to the market, that gives pride of place to short circuits and autonomous economies. Collaborative by definition, the publishing act experiments with the dispersal of authority and puts the myth of originality to the test. At the crossroads of information, action and creation, editorial practices play on disciplines and redistribute values. Those involved in micro-publishing deal with all the energies that make up creation: researchers, artists, publishers, curators, collectors and enthusiasts. Based on twenty-five years of research and action at the Centre national édition art image (cneai =), an art center on the outskirts of Paris, this book compiles sources of reflection on the work as medium, as score and as reproduction in the sense of version. A mikado of quotations, images and narratives crosses the fields of ethnology, politics, economics, philosophy and art. The two hundred and fifty short texts and quotations featured in BELLE VUE are taken from publications, conferences, magazines, newspapers, ephemera, exhibition sheets, websites, documentaries and unpublished texts.

Beyond the history of the cneai =, there is in this book a sum of references on the enigmas relating to artistic emergence and poetic confidence. In contrast to the great history of art and its academic standards of uniqueness and signature, BELLE VUE offers an alternative, jubilant take on art. Each double-page spread is self-contained. The book lends itself to random reading.

JC Cornu, John. Cross. 2018. Insert.
DCD Documentation Céline Duval. no more printed papers. 2018. Insert.
SE Engramer, Sammy. mfA. 2018. Insert.
AF Francesco, Alessandro De. hier F. 2018. Insert.
AF Frémy, Anne. The iconographers. 2017. Insert.
PAG Gette, Paul-Armand. In Praise of Yellow. 2003. Insert.
TH Hirschhorn, Thomas. Where do I stand? What do I want? 2017. Insert.
AM Muntadas, Antoni. CON/TEXTE. 2018. Insert.
PV Vanni, Pierre. I love cneai. 2018. Insert.
ST Takahashi, Samon. Chatou - Maison Levanneur (View from the bridge). 2018. Insert.

BELLE VUE - Contrechamp of a lush artistic landscape. Edited by
Sylvie Boulanger, in collaboration with Pauline Assathiany, Élise Gérardin and Lou von der Heyde. Graphic design by Martin Desinde. Script by Serge Elleinstein. Corrections by Pierre Audoux and Cameron Peters. Paris: cneai =, 2022.