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Photo by Cecily Eno
Photo by Cecily Eno
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More about the release
7 Notes

"What Art Does" by Brian Eno and Bette A. — a low priced black & white limited edition PDF available for one week.

Drawing on his experience as an artist, Brian Eno has written this book on his approach to art, made in collaboration with Bette A.

"What Art Does" examines the function of fictional worlds — such as pop songs, detective novels, soap operas, shoe tassels and the hidden language of haircuts — and suggests a new theory of art.

The 777 hand painted special editions of "What Are Does" sold out in a matter of days. To mark books being shipped to collectors, Brian and Bette A have decided to offer a black and white PDF of the book which will be available for one week, from Dec 3rd until Tuesday 10th. It will be priced at $1 / £1 and all profits from both of these limited editions will go to charity.

Copies of the PDF can be purchased at Metalabel and Enoshop.

Full colour, illustrated Hardback and ebook editions will be available on general release from Faber on 16th January 2025 with North America following on 25th March.

Brian Eno and Bette A. will be giving an illustrated talk on ‘What Art Does' on Mon 27th of January at the British Library. This event will also be available to watch live via the British Library website.

Release Notes (7)

About Brian Eno

About Brian Eno Brian Eno is an artist. He was born in Suffolk and studied art at Ipswich and Winchester art colleges. After art school he joined the band Roxy Music and over the next five decades he continued to make music with others including Talking Heads, Devo, U2, Laurie Anderson, James, David Byrne, Coldplay, David Bowie, Grace Jones, Jon Hassell, Harold Budd and Fred Again. Brian’s visual art has been shown internationally in over 200 venues. He is involved in activist work, such as the climate charity Earth Percent and HardArt, both of which he co-founded, and Stop The War coalition. Brian often lectures, trying to answer the question: What does art do?

About Bette A

Bette A. is an artist, born in Amsterdam. As a child she liked to write plays and her primary school teachers allowed her to practise them in the gymnasium. She joined a youth theatre group in her hometown. Bette continued to study Image and Language at the Gerrit Rietveld Art Academy of Amsterdam, where she learned to follow wild ideas. After doing a Master in Creative Writing at Oxford University she started writing in both English and Dutch, and published her novels ‘Rus Like Everyone Else’ and ‘What’s Mine’. Aside from writing novels, Bette makes short stories and drawings, and teaches in art schools. In 2019 Bette co-founded TRQSE - a network of artists and scientists who work together on social projects.

About Earth Percent

A charity that channels funds from the music business to organisations that do the most impactful work around the climate emergency, from GreenWave, involved in the farming of eco-friendly regenerative ocean crops, to Client Earth, who, among other things, take legal action against the biggest polluters. Earth Percent was co-founded by Brian Eno.

About Heroines! Movement

A worldwide non-profit collective of grassroots teams making story projects and school programs around local women role models, encouraging all children to dream big and to chase those dreams. The Heroines! Movement was co-founded by Bette A.

About the authors

Bette met Brian through TRQSE — a network of artists and scientists who work together on social projects. They started collaborating on social projects and talking about art. Their conversations led to working together on 'What Art Does', assembling the ideas Brian has developed during his working life, and turning them into a book.

"What Art Does" Artist Edition

"What Art Does" was originally released as 777 hand-signed and hand-painted artist editions, which sold out in a matter of days on Metalabel and Enoshop.

Color, hardback, and ebook editions

Full colour, illustrated Hardback and ebook editions will be available on general release from Faber on 16th January 2025 with North America following on 25th March.

CategoryArt, Publishing
Release Date3 December 2024
Catalog NumberN/A

"What Art Does" Limited Edition PDF of the book

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A limited edition black and white PDF of the book "What Art Does" by Brian Eno and Bette A for just $1. Limited edition available for one week exclusively at Metalabel and EnoShop. Hardcover and ebook release in January (UK) and March (US).

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