Fama & Fortune Bulletin No. 5 is an artist’s book conceived, edited and designed by Martin Kippenberger as part of the Vienna-based Fama & Fortune Bulletin series.

Issued in November 1990 in an edition of approximately 800 copies, the booklet comprises 28 unpaginated pages in softcover format and includes poems, visual material and documentation related to Kippenberger’s artistic practice. The publication features the text My Second Self When I Am Gone, three English poems translated by Wolfgang Schlüter, as well as reproductions of works from around 1990. The booklet exemplifies Kippenberger’s characteristic merging of visual art, text, self-staging and publishing strategies. Artist’s books played a significant role within Kippenberger’s oeuvre. A comprehensive annotated catalogue raisonné documents numerous book projects produced between the late 1970s and the 1990s, underscoring his sustained engagement with publishing as an artistic medium rather than mere documentation.

Within this context, Fama & Fortune Bulletin No. 5 can be understood as part of Kippenberger’s broader exploration of the book as a flexible exhibition space: a site where image, text, reproduction and artistic persona intersect. His publications frequently operate simultaneously as artworks, archival traces and instruments of circulation, reflecting his interest in dissemination, authorship and the social life of art.