JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag is transferred to a non-profit foundation
After 15 years of commercial publishing, JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag will be transferred to a nonprofit organization.
In 2019, the shares of JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag AG and thus the stock of titles and the distribution system will be transferred to the "Fondation Suisse pour l'édition d'art" (FSEA) under the chairmanship of Swiss artist John M. Armleder. The purpose of the foundation is to make high-quality art projects known to a broad public through collaboration with editors and publishers. The foundation will continue to distribute the books published over the years and support the publication of new titles.
JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag, based in Zurich, was founded in 2004 by Swiss curator Lionel Bovier, who had already founded JRP Editions ten years earlier, and Ringier.
Difficult market environment for art books
To date, the art publisher JRP|Ringier has published more than 700 books. Even though the company has worked with renowned artists, authors, curators, institutions and galleries worldwide, it has always been a major challenge from an economic perspective, according to the press release. In today's digitalized and globalized world, the production and international distribution of art books would hardly be profitable, writes JRP|Ringier in a press release. Numerous publishers in Europe and the USA have already had to make this negative experience in recent decades.
The transfer of the shares in JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag to the FSEA ensures the distribution of the publishing titles and at the same time enables new structures to offer a public audience to projects by artists and institutions in Switzerland. Lionel Bovier and Michael Ringier will be represented on the Board of Trustees, while Lukas Haller, who has been Managing Director since 2016, will ensure the availability of the published titles.
Six employees in Zurich affected
JRP|Ringier Kunstverlag and the associated bookshop "Kunstgriff" in Zurich currently have six employees who will be affected by the change in ownership structure. The company will start talks with the employees immediately and try to find individual solutions. A social plan has been drawn up and is to be implemented by the end of April 2019. A decision on the future ownership structure of the bookshop is still pending.
