BLONDE ART BOOKS

A blog, curatorial project, and bookstore focusing on independent publications about and by artists and small presses. www.blondeartbooks.com

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Blonde Art Books & BABZ Fair News

Blonde Art Books & BABZ Fair News

The big news is that Sonel Breslav, Founder of Blonde Art Books, has recently been hired for the position of Director of Fairs & Editions at Printed Matter, Inc.  photo by Azikiwe Mohammed It is a great honor to be joining the Printed Matter team as Director of Fairs & Editions. Over the years, I’ve regularly attended, reported on, and participated in both the fairs in NY and LA. For me the fair…

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Not pictured: A conversation with Sarah Demeuse by Rachel Allen

Not pictured: A conversation with Sarah Demeuse by Rachel Allen

Photo by Maria Baranova, courtesy of Sarah Demeuse Sarah Demeuse is a writer, translator, and curator. She makes publications as well as exhibitions, most frequently in collaboration with Manuela Moscoso as Rivet. Her latest publishing project is dos, a website-podcast-radio play. Exhibition its ostensible subject, medium is as likely the message. In September, Sarah and I went for coffee and to…

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2017 Holiday Market Roundup

Its officially the holiday season, and here is your chance to support your local community of artists, small business, and grassroots advocacy groups. Below we have featured upcoming events where you can stock up on gifts for yourself and your loved ones, as well as fundraising campaigns in the art and publishing communities across the country. Saturday & Sunday, December 2–3, 2017 Forward Union…

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Artist Run Reading Spaces, a panel led by Sarah Hamerman during BABZ Fair 2017

Artist Run Reading Spaces, a panel led by Sarah Hamerman during BABZ Fair 2017

Participants: Gee Wesley, Ulises Books, Philadelphia Kimi Hanauer & Bomin Jeon, Press Press, Baltimore Rachel Valinsky, Wendy’s Subway, Brooklyn Devin N. Morris, 3 Dot Zine and Brown Paper Fair, Brooklyn David Richardson, Dispersed Holdings, Manhattan Moderator: Sarah Hamerman, Artist Book Cataloger, MoMA Library (below is the audio as well as the full transcript of the panel that took place on…

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BABZ Fair (formerly known at the Bushwick Art Book & Zine Fair) is a weekend long event that features small press art and poetry publishers, and individual artist projects, alongside a program of performance, readings, and workshops.

The 5th annual BABZ Fair, the first at Knockdown Center, will be taking place Friday, June 2 through Sunday, June 4, 2017.

Over the years the BABZ Fair has grown dramatically and this year the fair will feature art books and zines by over 100 publishers and artists from across the country.

This year we are collaborating with artist Andrea Arrubla to produce the weekend programming. The full program schedule, including a new expanded program series, and workshop series, will be announced shortly.

FACEBOOK INVITE

FAIR DATES & TIMES: Friday, June 2, 7–9PM: by invitation only Saturday, June 3, 1–7PM: free & open to the public Sunday, June 4, 1–7PM: free & open to the public

LOCATION: Knockdown Center 52-19 Flushing Ave Queens, New York 11378

Knockdown Center is an art center and performance space dedicated to unusual projects and collaborations.

Directions: 15 minutes walk from Jefferson L Stop Nearby buses Q59, Q54, B57, B38 Shuttle runs every 15 minutes from the Jefferson L Stop

Food and beverages will be available for purchase throughout the weekend Hyperallergic is the official media sponsor for BABZ FAIR 2017

PARTICIPANTS:

#Blkgrlswurld ZINE, New York, NY 3 Dot Zine, Brooklyn, NY 10x10photobooks, New York, NY A Women’s Thing, New York, NY Adult Punk, Denver, CO Allison Shea Phillips & Mikey Cote, Brooklyn, NY April Malig, Ridgewood, NY, USA Authorized to Work in the US, Brooklyn, NY Black Cat Journal, Brooklyn, NY BODYWORKBODYWORK, Los Angeles, CA Boo-Hooray, New York, NY Books for All, New York, NY Brain Washing from Phone Towers, Brooklyn, NY Brownbook, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Capricious, New York, NY Celeste Fichter, Brooklyn, NY Christopher Kardambikis, Alexandria, VA Coin-Op Books, Brooklyn, NY CompOne, Flushing, NY Ctrl+P, Baltimore, NY Dancing Foxes Press, Brooklyn, NY Desert Island, Brooklyn, NY Directangle Press // Bitmap Press, Manchester, NH Dispersed Holdings, Brooklyn, NY Draw Down Books, Guilford, CT Edge of Arabia, New York, NY Endless Editions, New York, NY F Magazine, Los Angeles, CA Flat Fix, Brooklyn, NY Fully Booked, Brooklyn, NY Fuse Works: Multiples & Editions, Brooklyn, NY Futurepoem Books, New York, NY Ginger, Brooklyn, NY Glass Press, Amherst, MA Got a Girl Crush Magazine, Brooklyn, NY GRAVEL PROJECTS, Detroit, MI Growth and Culture, Brooklyn, NY Hassla, New York, NY Inpatient Press, Brooklyn, NY Inventory Press, New York, NY Jeremy Nguyen and Tony Wolf, Brooklyn, NY Kayrock Screenprinting, Brooklyn, NY La Liga Zine Litmus Press / Belladonna Series, New York, NY Little Pharma, Ridgewood, NY LOLA PISTOLA, Brooklyn, NY Lorelei Ramirez and Birgit Rathsmann, Brooklyn, NY Maga Books, Brooklyn, NY Marley Freeman and Jamie Chan, New York, NY Matthew Scott Gualco MATH Magazine, Brooklyn, NY Matthew Spiegelman / Secret Office, Brooklyn, NY Megan Piontkowski, Brooklyn, NY Miniature Garden, New York, NY Molasses Books, Brooklyn, NY Monster House Press, Bloomington, IN Montez Press, London, UK & New York, NY mooreartpress209, Brooklyn, NY mozzarella, Brooklyn, NY New Documents / Fillip, Los Angeles, CA Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Brooklyn, NY Open Projects Press, New York, NY PAL / The Pilipino American Library, Queens, NY Parsons Fine Arts MFA, New York, NY Passenger Pigeon Press, New York, NY Pegacorn Press, Brooklyn, NY Peradam, Brooklyn, NY Pioneer Works Press, Brooklyn, NY Press Press, Baltimore, MD Primary Information, Brooklyn, NY Publication Studio Hudson, Troy, NY Pyrite Press RATSAPATSA, Brooklyn, NY REALITY BEACH, Albany/New York, NY Schwib Data, New York, NY Secretary Press, New York, NY Selfish Magazine, Brooklyn, NY Shifter, Brooklyn, NY Shortt Editions: Paul Shortt, Washington, DC Siglio, Catskill, NY Slow Youth, Brooklyn, NY Small Editions, Brooklyn, NY Soberscove Press, Chicago, IL Social Malpractice Publishing, Brooklyn, NY Soft City Printing, Brooklyn, NY Sorry Archive, Brooklyn, NY Soumya Dhulekar & Nicole Rodrigues, Philadelphia, PA Stephanie Rodriguez, Brooklyn, NY STILL Magazine, New York, NY SWAG PURGATORY, Philadelphia, PA T-N-T, East Northport, NY Tang Museum, Saratoga Springs, NY TARWUK, Brooklyn, NY The Bettys The Song Cave, New York, NY Thee Almighty & Insane, Brooklyn, NY Topos Press, Ridgewood, NY TXTbooks, Brooklyn, NY Ugly Duckling Presse, Brooklyn, NY Ulises, Philadelphia, PA Unknown Unknowns, Jackson Heights, NY Upon, Brooklyn, NY Vice Versa Press, Chicago, IL We’re Hir We’re Queer, Brooklyn, NY Wendy’s Subway, Brooklyn, NY White Columns, New York, NY Wing Club / Wilt Press, Portland, Maine Wonder / Troll Thread, New York, NY Zingmagazine, New York, NY Check out a few images from BABZ Fair 2016 at Signal, Brooklyn

Juliana Cerqueira Leite at the Capricious table

3DotZine

Nayland Blake

Jen Kennedy of Pilot press…

Paul John and David Kennedy Culter

Small Editions

Hassla

Carly Dashiell and Ted Dodson

BABZ Fair 2016

Alissa Bennett

Corina Reynolds binding workshop for Small Editions

BABZ Fair 2016

Packet Bi-Weekly

International General

Bridget Donahue of Cleopatra’s and Julia Klein of Soberscove

Thank you to our sponsors:

BABZ Fair 2017 BABZ Fair (formerly known at the Bushwick Art Book & Zine Fair) is a weekend long event that features small press art and poetry publishers, and individual artist projects, alongside a program of performance, readings, and workshops.

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'Being in residence' a conversation with Holly Shen and Rachel Valinsky

‘Being in residence’ a conversation with Holly Shen and Rachel Valinsky

Holly Shen, Curator of Visual Arts at BAM, Rachel Valinsky, co-founder of Wendy’s Subway and current PhD student at the CUNY Graduate Center, and Sonel Breslav, founder of Blonde Art Books, started a conversation in late October just after a public program called POLITICAL THERAPY, a workshop presented by artist Liz Magic Laser and Certified Professional Life Coach Valerie Bell with the intention…

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This is the 5th year of the fair and it will be taking place Friday June 2 through Sunday June 4.

We are super exciting to be hosted by Knockdown Center! and this will be the first year that APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN!

Over the years the invitational fair has grown dramatically and in 2016 we featured books and artworks from 30+ publishers and artists from New York, Chicago, California, and Vancouver, a site-specific art installation by Pam Butler, and diverse hourly programmed events.

As always, BABZ FAIR will focus on SMALL PRESS, INDEPENDENT PUBLISHERS OF ART AND POETRY, SELF-PUBLISHING ARTISTS AND COLLECTIVES, & ARTIST PROJECTS.

This year we are collaborating with artist Andrea Arrubla to produce the weekend programming. If you are interested in proposing an event i.e.; book launch, reading, performance, workshops, please fill out the form with the details and we will do our best to include it in the programming.

In addition, the fair will feature a day-long conference that will focus on current critical issues within independent publishing communities as well as emerging practices in production, distribution, and design.

FAIR DATES:

Preview: Friday June 2, times TBD Public Hours: Saturday, June 3, and Sunday, June 4, 1–7pm

LOCATION: KNOCKDOWN CENTER 52-19 Flushing Ave, Maspeth, NY 1137

FEES: $75 for a table (you may apply with a shared table but max. of three collaborators & include names of all proposed exhibitors in your application)

Applications Due April 10

**Applicants will be notified by early May**

If you have any questions please email [email protected]

Please help us spread the word!

Images from BABZ Fair 2016 at Signal, Brooklyn

Juliana Cerqueira Leite at the Capricious table

3DotZine

Nayland Blake

Paul John and David Kennedy Culter

Small Editions

Hassla

Carly Dashiell and Ted Dodson

Jen Kennedy of Pilot press…

BABZ Fair 2016

Allissa Bennett

  Applications Open for the Fifth Annual BABZ FAIR 2017 This is the 5th year of the fair and it will be taking place Friday June 2 through Sunday June 4.

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This year’s holiday gift list is themed Social Medium.

Share your passion with your loved ones. Here are some of our favorite publications and projects from this year alongside links to amazing ways that all of us can help support small business, independent publishers, and artists.

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 50% off ALL VERSO books until Jan 1, with free worldwide shipping and bundled ebooks.

2017 Verso Radical Diary by Verso Books

A stylish diary with dates from across worldwide radical history.

The 2017 Verso Radical Diary and Weekly Planner, produced for the centenary of the Russian Revolution, is a beautifully designed week-to-view planner where you can keep track of your coming year. Alongside illustrations, it features significant dates in radical history, drawn from events such as the English Civil War and Castro’s victory march in Havana, and touches on the lives of characters such as Rosa Luxemburg and Gil Scott Heron, and includes movements such as #blacklivesmatter and the Suffragettes.

MOLASSES BOOKS, 770 Hart Street, Brooklyn Used books / Buy & sell / Beer & wine / Hot & iced coffee & things / Readings, meetings, DJ’s, etc.

Social Medium: Artists Writing, 2000–2015

Paper Monument’s new anthology gathers seventy-five texts — essays, criticism, manifestos, fiction, diaries, scripts, blog posts, and tweets — which chart a complex era in the art world and the world at large, weighing in on the exigencies of our times in unexpected and inventive ways. Get your copy here.

BUY BLACK / BUY LOCAL – List of black artists and entrepreneurs compiled by Devin N. Morris of 3 Dot Zine

Books . Zines . Art cosmica collective , u read press , dominica publishing , 3 dot zine , nia hampton books, mohammed fayaz, nii journal, gallery no. 8

Beauty elo lipcare, kimo bentley, aj crimson

Apparel pas le mode,  the very black project, zelie for she, the greats gallery, lambe culo, my tru nude, treason toting co, provoke culture, philadelphia print works, brandon blackwood,  omondi, xo asante, monif c,  sad sirena, amndmnt, oxosi, kashmir viii, hamid halloman,  l’enchanteur, brooklyn circus

Multi Line higher self, material life

LGBT Books to Prisoners

A trans-affirming, racial justice-focused, prison abolitionist project sending books to incarcerated LGBTQ-identified people across the United States

We are a donation-funded, volunteer-run organization based in Madison, WI that sends books and other educational materials, free of charge, to LGBTQ-identified prisoners across the United States. We have been doing this for nearly 10 years and have sent books to more than 6,000 prisoners in that time. In 2015, we sent 3,042 packages of books with your support.

(above card by Lex Brown)

Words With Love – On behalf of artist Cara Benedetto, Small Editions, and Blonde Art Books.

In 2016, we asked 30 artists and writers to contribute a short text or illustration to Words With Love – a project by women who come together to engage voice, activism, and heart in the form of greeting cards.

Today, we feel these words are more necessary than ever. This holiday season we will be participating in several holiday fairs and events and we hope you will join us in sending cards to your family, friends, lovers, or congressperson.

We are selling limited editions sets for $25 and all profits will be donated to SisterSong, Women of Color Reproductive Health Collective. You can purchase the card sets online.

Art Resources Transfer

Art Resources Transfer is a nonprofit organization committed to documenting and disseminating artists’ voices and work to the broadest possible public. Our two programs, A.R.T. Press and the D.U.C. (The Distribution to Underserved Communities Library Program), activate the key components of the printed book—publication, distribution, and spaces of reading—to create more egalitarian access to the arts and literacy.

  Do the write thing… Holiday Special This year's holiday gift list is themed Social Medium. Share your passion with your loved ones.

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Letter Writing Fundraiser - Words With Love

Letter Writing Fundraiser – Words With Love

On behalf of artist Cara Benedetto, Small Editions, and Blonde Art Books. In 2016, we asked 30 artists and writers to contribute a short text or illustration to Words With Love – a project by women who come together to engage voice, activism, and heart in the form of greeting cards. (card above by General Sisters) Today, we feel these words are more necessary than ever. This holiday season we…

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COLD OPEN VERSE

A POET TRANSMIT & BLONDE ART BOOKS PRODUCTION

Part of Cold Open Verse – a collaborative project Blonde Art Books and Poet Transmit (Victoria Keddie and Cat Tyc) for Knockdown Center, Queens, and Printed Matter’s 2016 New York Art Book Fair at MOMA/PS1  .

Below is the link to the full preview reel of newly commissioned and open call theatrical trailers for art and poetry publications which was screened in a movie theater setting at Knockdown Center in the basement theater of MoMA I PS1 for the opening night Printed Matter’s 2016 New York Art Book Fair at MOMA/PS1.

Cold Open Verse, on view at Knockdown Center September 8-18, 2016, examined the construct of the ‘trailer’, reconfigured by artists, poets, and publishers interested in an expanded form of communicating their work.

#blondeartbooks  #poettransmit #coldopenverse #artbooktrailers #nyabf2016 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

(1) Any Way You Like ‘Em / Publisher: Which Witch / 2015 Any Way You Like ‘Em is an anthology of works from 18 writers-in-residence at the historic Saugus Cafe as part of the &NOW 2015 literary festival hosted by California Institute of the Arts. The trailer was created to announce the title’s publication in October 2015. (2) The After Eden Fall 2016 Catalogue / Publisher: Y2K / 2016 /  y2klovesu.com The After Eden Agency hosts an extreme home shopping network sale of its Fall 2016 Catalogue, featuring assemblages for each of the seven deadly sins. The After Eden Catalogue is available in print and online from Y2K at y2klovesu.com, launching September, 2016. (3) This is the trailer for 3 Dot Zine Issue 3 featuring audio from Devin N. Morris reading his story “Ritual” from the third issue. 3 Dot Zine Issue 3 is titled “The Issue of Fashions” and will release in November 2016. (4) Upland By Scott Kiernan and Ethan Miller / Publisher: Syntax Workers / 2016 Upland is constructed solely of image-headline pairs as they originally appeared in The Upland News in 1969–72, a newspaper circular from the small Southern California town of Upland, CA. Think of a cheaply-printed local circular with a hefty coupon section in the back, small town stories, and the reporting to match. The images have been further disfigured and destroyed by Google’s Newspaper Project, through compression algorithms and the physical speed of bulk-scanning fragile newsprint material and the The selections were arranged by considering only the text of the image-headline pairs, creating a poem describing an interior tale of Upland. (5) Let it Bleed by Rona Yefman / Publisher: Little Big Man, 2016. With contributions by: Gary Indiana, Moyra Davey, Lia Gangitano and Gil Yefman ‘Let it Bleed’, 1995-2010, chronicling two siblings’ symbiotic existence as collaborative artists, and their mutual desire to live exterior to the norm. The most complex part of this project occurred during Gil’s intimate process of transformation from male to a female, and her subsequent transformation back to become, in Gil’s words, “beyond any gender”. The book combines images of formal role-play and performative acts with snapshots and mixed videotapes that expose very real emotional situations, chronicling an experience of growing up and intense relationships through a curve of fantasies, hopes, and desires; disappointments, confusion, conflicts, and flirtation with familial taboos. (6) Burger is a trailer for William Lessard’s Rembrandt with Cellphone / Publisher: Reality Beach / 2016.

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(7) The Mothership by Stephen Lam / Self-published / 2016 Taking the form of a scientific expedition, The Mothership explores the slippery nature of memory and imagination through the careful juxtaposition of images from various sources and context. Old family photo of the artist’s  mother, images taken during the umbrella movement in Hong Kong, and abstract rendition of everyday objects are put side by side to narrate a tale of a spiritual journey. Two articles on the theme of ‘Mother’ and ‘Ship’ by the artist are sandwiched between images. www.lamscape.com (8) Nochita by Dia Felix / Publisher: City Lights & Sister Spit / 2014 Performers: Elena Polson, Stephen Boyer, Clara Lipfert. Music: South Pole / Summer by Octagrape. A Dia Felix Media & Nuhr Studio Production. (9) LIFE+70[Redacted] by David Moscovich  / Publisher: Lit Fest Press / 2016 / Video Editor: Alexandru Moscu The print version of the single most expensive literary e-book to ever be hacked.  Trailer Soundtrack: David Moscovich at Platforme Intermedia, Audioblast Festival, March 1, 2015 (Nantes, France) Book launch: Tuesday, October 11, 2016, 7pm at bookculture (536 W. 112th Street, Manhattan) (10) Kuntalini by Tamara Faith Berger / Publisher: Badlands Unlimited / 2016 Eat ass, pray, love. Twenty-five-year-old Yoo-hoo experiences a sexual awakening in her yoga class. She breaks up with her boyfriend and travels to Niagara Falls where she meets a cold fish teen prostitute and an ex-Army troglodyte deep in the falls. Yoo-hoo’s unforgettable yogic journey sweeps across the realms of asana, hysteria, enlightenment. (11)  PARASOMNIA / Publisher: F Magazine / 2016-17 Structured as a choose-your-own-adventure, this collection of surrealist vignettes pays homage to psychedelic horror.  Written by Kye Christensen-Knowles, Sean Mullins, Phoebe Nesgos, Sarah Vite, and Krum Wright. (12)  Cheena Marie Lo, Mediapoem for It’s night in San Francisco but it’s sunny in Oakland / Publisher: Timeless, Infinite Light / 2014 What gathers here is a snapshot of a poetic moment. This anthology -not-anthology is a candid flash of the ever-evolving politics, relationships and forms that make up the particular experience of poetry, right [now], in Oakland. The anthology is 60 contemporary East Bay poets in a post Occupy house reading that never ends. (13) Hovering Unpinned: An Eyeful by Patricia Silva / Self-published / 2016 A picture book about body language culled from Hayes Code cinema with original text as a critique of visual taxonomy and modules for seeing/looking/watching. (14) A Potential Space by Juliana Cerqueira Leite / 2016 Bound by Small Editions and funded in part by a project grant from Isabelle Kowal. A Potential Space is an artist’s book by Brazilian sculptor Juliana Cerqueira Leite that proposes a re-reading of the frameworks that surround representations of the female sex. The book contains 83 laser-cut outlines derived from a 3D scanned vagina that was originally cast inside of a body. (15) Wolfe-Arama, Jokes from Ira / Publisher: Ratstar / 2014 Jokes written by Ira Wolfe. Over 3 years Ira emailed Ryan Foerster many times each day. The book is a collection of over 3000 of those jokes. Edition of 500. (16) ABYSSSSYBA: INVISIBILITY OF THE EYES by Rick Myers / Publisher: Nieves / 2016 [Either side of the eye, dispersed and suspended, via videotape, overhead projector, video projector, sound, silver coin, metal file, and a membrane.] (17) AMERICANA GIRL by Bon Jane / 2016 The video is a 45 second preview of two of the characters featured in the book. The characters represent sentimental classical portraiture of girls and women as they are being cast for an imaginary film in which they will play a starring role as a 50’s Hollywood diner waitress.

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(18) Whore Foods Market by LA Warman / 2016 The video is based on a monthly erotica newsletter Warman sends to subscribers. Organic grocery stores are a private space where individuals across classes (often employees of lower classes and customers of higher classes) and identities meet under the neoliberal notion of Health. When these individuals run into each other things explode and a notion of a forever emerging queered desire becomes central. (19) Lexicon by Celeste Fichter / Self-published / 2014 A video and artists book-cum-pictionary that is an alphabetical arrangement of words and their meanings… however in this case the definitions are found images culled from the internet that take liberties with the meaning of meaning. (20) Black Lavender Milk by Angel Dominguez / Publisher: Timeless, Infinite Light / 2015 An experimental lyric that dreamt of becoming a novel only to wake up as notebook. Employing and smudging elements of poetry, prose and memoir, Black Lavender Milk offers the space of a “novel” as a site of mourning, inquiry and recuperation. Through a complex, hypnotic blur of language, the lyric-as-novel functions as an extended meditation on writing in relation to the Body; Time, Loss, Ancestry and Dreaming. (21) “From the Future”, (2013) Video, book, and song by The Blow (Melissa Dyne & Khaela Maricich). (22) iSn’t She by Morgan Ritter / Publisher: Ambient Press / December 2016 iSn’t She is the evidence of refusing definition while touching myself. This is a promotional video for my poetry reading at Artists Space: Books and Talks (NY). (23) Abra is a living text: a book that refuses to stay on the page. An artists’ book issued in both a limited and trade edition as well as a free app, in Abra poetry mutates under the reader’s touch, inviting them to make the text their own. By Amaranth Borsuk, Kate Durbin, and Ian Hatcher. Trade edition: 1913 Press, April 2016 Limited Edition: Center for Book and Paper Arts, November 2015 Free iPad and iPhone App: Ian Hatcher, November 2015 (24) Spiritual Grave Year by Dan Magers / Publisher: REALITY BEACH / 2016 A hallucinatory trip through the last 40 years of popular culture, Spiritual Grave Year examines modern life through the tragicomic. Edition of 150 chapbooks. (25) The Habiliments by Joe Milazzo /  Publisher: Apostrophe Books / 2016 http://joe-milazzo.com/the-habiliments/  The trailer itself consists of a (silent) sequence of 17 verbo-visual interpretations of individual lines drawn from the poems in the collection. (26) USO: I’ll Be Seeing You by Kim Rosenfield / Publisher: Ugly Duckling Presse / 2013 The trailer for USO: I’ll Be Seeing You  is a recent collaboration between poet Kim Rosenfield and photographer Nikolas Koenig. Filmed on location in Vienna, the trailer previews themes used throughout the book that include ideas of humor, placement/displacement of human and material objects, forms of service, and the affect/effects of performance. (27) Tender Points by Amy Berkowitz / Publisher: Timeless, Infinite Light / 2015 Tender Points is a narrative fractured by trauma. Named after the diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia, the text explores sexual violence, gendered illness, chronic pain, and patriarchy through the lenses of lived experience and pop culture (Twin Peaks, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, noise music, etc.). Music in video by Paul Ebenkamp. (28) Time Tells: A Visual Essay on Time-Jumps in Cinema by Masha Tupitsyn / 2017. “It was in time that his fate was to have acted.” -Henry James Victor Shklovsky wrote: “Love is a play with short acts and long intermissions.” Masha Tupitsyn’s multi-media love manifesto, Love Dog (2013), featured 33 time-jumps in the form of love songs, titles, song lyrics, quotations, and film clips. In Tupitsyn’s new film-essay, Time-Tells, she uses 1000 movie time-jumps and time-stamps to further explore the destinal using what she terms “screen shot criticism.” A largely unexplored cinematic trope and narrative device long present in literature, the time-jump works in cinema as an onscreen visual graphic—a chyron that appears a the bottom of a movie screen to note the time that has elapsed in a narrative. Unlike the time-montage, which speeds time up by summarizing it, the time-jump is a temporal elision or gap in representation. It is time appearing as itself; not as movement-image, but as a destinal time-image of what is not shown or see in the cinematic story. It is therefore a perfect example of what Gilles Deleuze describes in Cinema 2 as “situations and spaces we no longer know how to describe.”  The time-jump is a fated intermission because it uses the space of the film frame, the mise en scene, to log and stamp the interstitial—of what is between acts. An entr’acte, the time-jump is also the interlude between the wrong time and the right time. More importantly, the time-jump is time revealed because it lets us know that the mystery and development of time is all about timing (kairos). In an age when the digital present reigns, the time-jump confirms that time is not for nothing. (29) Winter in Procession is a collection of still photographs that documents the making of an art film between photographer Brendan Burdzinski in collaboration with John Dante Bianchi. The images capture the process of transporting Bianchi’s sculpture Untitled (Ground Figure) from his studio in Brooklyn to an island across a frozen lake in the Adirondacks.  Self-published / 2017. (30) Alles ist jetzt by Julia Wolf /  Publisher: Frankfurter Verlagsanstalt /  2015. Concept + artistic realisation: Julia Wolf. Music: Jean Szymczak. Editing: Manuel Kappmeyer Alles ist jetzt means everything is now, a phrase that is repeated in variations at several points in the novel. It refers to the protagonist’s notion that her memories are not in the past but part of her here and now. (31) Eternal Apprentice by Michael Newton and Emmalea Russo / Publisher: Doublecross Press / 2016.

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(32) Everything is Boring – Written and narrated by Maia Asshaq, video by Jason Sudak for forthcoming publication. (33) Floodgate Companion by Robert Beatty / Publisher: Floating World Comics / 2016. Debut monograph, a cosmic and immersive collection of artwork from the renowned album cover artist. (34) Incantation Hour is a trailer for a video series/performance/music/written collaboration between Cassandra Troyan, Rachel Ellison, & Katherine Harvath (2014). (35) Material Studies by Claire Donato / 2016. Instagram videos that could be used as trailers for a book-in-progress called Gravity and Grace, The Chicken and the Egg, or: How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. (36) It Was All Very Impressive by Josh Sender / 2016. A long-term project that has been moving through various forms and iterations. This iteration of It Was All Very Impressive only existed online for a day as a series of digital artworks loosely broken down into chapters. (37) Double Teenage by Joni Murphy / Publisher: BookThug / 2016. Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend. (38) Seconds Text and Performance by Ian Hatcher. Video by Ian McAlpin for the book Prothesis by Ian Hatcher/ Publisher: Poor Claudia / 2016 (39) Low Ropes Course / Publisher: Publication Studio, Hudson / 2016. Essay Militant Cloth an essay by Jesse Harrod. Editors: Patrick Kiley, Beth Capper, and Jesse Harrod. Contributions by Lisi Raskin, Laurel Sparks, JD Sampson, Beth Capper, Anthony Romero, Jenni Sorkin, Ryan Van Meter, Danny Orendorff, Edie Fake, and Allyson Mitchel. Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend. (40) Landia by Celina Su / Publisher: Belladonna / 2018 Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend. (41) Libido by Cathy De La Cruz / Publisher: Spooky Girlfriend Press /  2017 Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend. (42) Door Girls by Max Steele / Self-published / 2015 Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend. (43) Untitled by Xena Stanislavovna Semjonová Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend. (44) The Estrangement Principle by Ariel Goldberg / Publisher: Nightboat / Coming Soon. Video with Ariel Goldberg and Saretta Morgan. Produced on-site at Knockdown Center during live-taping weekend.

Please contact [email protected] with any questions or if you would like more information about the publications featured in the reel. Many thanks to all the artists who submitted to the open call and to those who are participated in tapings and performances at Knockdown Center.

A special thank you to Knockdown Center and Printed Matter. Yours, Blonde Art Books & Poet Transmit.

Cold Open Verse – Preview Reel COLD OPEN VERSE A POET TRANSMIT & BLONDE ART BOOKS PRODUCTION Part of Cold Open Verse…

[blondeartbooks]

Cold Open Verse is a collaborative project Blonde Art Books and Poet Transmit (Victoria Keddie and Cat Tyc) for Knockdown Center, Queens, and Printed Matter’s 2016 New York Art Book Fair at MOMA/PS1.

Cold Open Verse, on view at Knockdown Center September 8-18, 2016, examines the construct of the ‘trailer’, reconfigured by artists, poets, and publishers interested in an expanded form of communicating their work.

The exhibition presents the works of artists, Constance DeJong, Sophia Le Fraga, and Ian Hatcher within three tableau “sets” that will be activated in a real-time broadcast event on September 16 at 7PM. Each artist highlights a unique aspect of production within their respective sets, exploiting the structure and structural errors of broadcast with time latency (Hatcher), using an instrument for dissemination as the principal artist (DeJong), or recreating the tv sitcom set (Le Fraga).

Sophia Le Fraga, SOPH NO FILTER, 2016. Installation at Knockdown Center.

An adjacent room becomes the movie theater interior for the playback of an hour long reel of artist made trailers for forthcoming publications or book-related events. The opening reception included readings by William Lessard, Claire Donato, LA Warman, Emmalea Russo & Michael Newtown, Masha Tupitsyn, and Devin Morris, each who submitted trailers to the preview reel.

(Still: Trailer for 3 Dot Zine Issue 3 featuring audio from Devin N. Morris reading his story “Ritual” from the third issue. 3 Dot Zine Issue 3 is titled The Issue of Fashions and will release in November 2016.)

For one weekend, the gallery transformed into a live tv studio to produce new commercials by Max Steele, Cathy De La Cruz, Celina Su, Ariel Goldberg, Jesse Harrod, Joni Murphy, and Xeňa Stanislavovna Semjonová.

These spots combined with an open call submission leading up to the exhibition culminate in a new book trailer preview reel of over 40 videos.

Ariel Goldberg and Saretta Morgan

Publications featured in trailers

The full reel will be screened in the basement theater of MoMA I PS1 on, Thursday September 15, 6-9PM, the opening night Printed Matter’s 2016 New York Art Book Fair at MOMA/PS1.

(Still: PARASOMNIA, published by F Magazine, 2016-17. Written by Kye Christensen-Knowles, Sean Mullins, Phoebe Nesgos, Sarah Vite, and Krum Wright.)

(Still: The After Eden Fall 2016 Catalogue by Y2K (Emmy Catedral, Carlos Rigau, and Jocelyn Spaar), 2016, Recorded at BRIC Arts Media Center, y2klovesu.com)

(Still: Upland by Scott Kiernan & Ethan Miller, published by Syntax Workers, 2016)

Preview reel contributions by: Maia Asshaq, Robert Beatty, Amy Berkowitz, Brendan Burdzinski, Cathy De La Cruz,  Angel Dominguez, Claire Donato, Kate Durbin/Amaranth Borsuk/Ian Hatcher, F Magazine, Dia Felix, Celeste Fichter, Ariel Goldberg, Jesse Harrod, Ian Hatcher, Bon Jane, Juliana Cerqueira Leite, Cheena Marie Lo, Ryan Foerster/RATSTAR, Stephen Lam, Bill Lessard, Khaela Maricich/Melissa Dyne, Dan Magers, Joe Milazzo, David Moscovich, Scott Kiernan/Ethan Miller, Devin N. Morris, Rick Myers, Joni Murphy, Morgan Ritter, Kim Rosenfield, Emmalea Russo/Michael Newton, Josh Sender, Patricia Silva, Xeňa Stanislavovna Semjonová, Max Steele, Celina Su, Timeless Infinite, Light, Cassandra Troyan, Masha Tupitsyn, Rona Yefman, LA Warman, Y2K (Emmy Catedral, Carlos Rigau, and Jocelyn Spaar).

The focus on the ‘book trailer’ initially began with the exhibition, This Summer…, curated by Blonde Art Books at Interstate Projects in 2014. This Summer… centered on a preview reel consisting of 11 videos by artists and publishers of independent art and poetry books. For Cold Open Verse, Poet Transmit and Blonde Art Books create a multi variate exhibition investigating the structural and theoretical framework surrounding the artist-made advertisement, while nurturing the fantasy of televisual production.

The final evening of Open Cold Verse, presents a rare screening event featuring films by Fiona Banner, Moyra Davey, Jibade-Khalil Huffman, and Gerardo Madera. Sunday, September 18, 7-10PM

(Still from Moyra Davey, My Saints, 2014. Courtesy of the artist and Murray Guy, New York)

– Fiona Banner, Mistah Kurtz – He Not Dead, 2014 and Phantom, 2015 – two films produced for the publication, “Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad. A work by Fiona Banner. Photographs by Paolo Pellegrin. – Moyra Davey, My Saints, 2014. “Burn the Diaries” published by Dancing Foxes. – Jibade-Khalil Huffman, Working Title for the book “James Brown is Dead” published by Future Plan and Program, 2011 – Gerardo Madera, Untitled Printer for Xavier Antin (test video), 2014, book and video by Gerardo Madera. “Printed at Home” published by Common Satisfactory Standard.

Cold Open Verse @ Knockdown Center & Printed Matter’s New York Art Book Fair – MoMA I PS1 Cold Open Verse is a collaborative project Blonde Art Books and Poet Transmit (Victoria Keddie and Cat Tyc) for…

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OPEN CALL FOR BOOK TRAILER VIDEOS !

OPEN CALL FOR BOOK TRAILER VIDEOS !

Blonde Art Books is teaming up with Poet Transmit to present a series of upcoming events in conjunction with Printed Matter’s New York Book Fair at MoMA I PS1 and an exhibition Knockdown Center, Maspeth, New York. We are currently seeking existing theatrical trailers, self­-produced commercials, and live broadcast performance to create a book preview reel. The videos should function as a trailer…

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On Thursday, July 28 at 6pm, Fortnight Institute, a new gallery and bookshop in the East Village, will host an evening of readings performed by artists in their current exhibition, Summer Reading on view through August 11th. We recently visited the gallery and spoke with its two founders Fabiola Alondra and Jane Harmon about their book-centric ambitions.

CARMEN WINANT, Choices, Changing, 2016

Blonde Art Books: This is my first time seeing the show, and I would really like for you to walk me through it a little. I noticed first that it is installed in a pretty straight forward way. Most of the objects are installed on display shelves and on the permanent book shelves. The exhibition is very different from the last show I saw here, which was a solo presentation of works by Carmen Winant. And I guess my first question or thought when I first learned about Fortnight Institute was about your interest in publishing or let’s say book as art object that’s incorporated into the program – and where it comes from?

  Jane Harmon: When we started Fortnight Institute, we knew books would be a major part of our program. In previous exhibitions, we’ve been using our permanent shelves as a way to display books relating to our exhibitions from independent booksellers. We wanted to have a selection of books from these booksellers without bookshops. Additionally, we show books made by artists, as was the case with our first exhibition Who Says Pain is Erotic? with Carmen Winant. Artist BP Laval published a book for his exhibition with us, Basil Vaseline. When we began to think about a summer show we knew we didn’t want to do another solo show, we wanted to do something unexpected. Chris Habib, an incredible artist in the summer show, said to us “why don’t you guys do what you do best, do books” and then it seemed obvious and the idea brought us full circle. Fabiola and I have a history of working together with rare books and publishing artists’ books at Fulton Ryder. She was also doing private salons, which she referred to as “Salon Society,” where she was experimenting with the idea of approaching artists to produce unique artist books. The interpretations were varied, from people very skilled with experience making artist’s books to people who had never made one before.

BABS:Fabiola can you tell me a little more about these salons?

Fabiola Alondra: I’ve always been interested in the history of salons, especially in writer and poet Natalie Barney’s weekly salon that she held at her home in Paris. Artists and writers would gather and engage in conversation, ideas were shared and challenged, it was fun, it was private, it was stimulating. On a whim, I decided to do my own humble version of a salon out of my apartment in Brooklyn Heights and called it, “Salon Society.” They were invitation only weekend-long salons done every 4 months or so. I invited artists (both young and established), writers and booksellers to be part of the salon. I asked artists and writers to make a unique book for the salon, which was displayed throughout my apartment intermixed with rare books, ephemera, and my own collection of stuff. The juxtapositions and conversations between the new, the historical and personal were exciting and they allowed for new readings/viewings and ideas. And of course, all this was done in the intimacy of my space, people laying across on the floor carpet, standing or sitting on the couch, drinking and most of all there was a feeling of collaboration and community. ‘Salon Society’ was short -lived but many of its ideas evolved and continue in a new way through Fortnight Institute.

OFER WOLBERGER

The artists in the salon had carte blanche when I asked them to make a unique artist’s book. I wanted to pose a challenge because artist’s books can take many forms and interpretations and I wanted to be surprised with the results, and I was, happily surprised. Art and books are inseparable, they should always be intertwined.

JH: Sometimes the objects weren’t ‘books’’ and this was interesting to us. However, the connection to what a book is remained in some way. After we saw this develop, we knew we wanted to take those ideas further and come up with an assignment in thinking about summer and reading. It’s a time when everyone gets excited to dive into a nice beach read, something light, consumable and relaxing.

RACHEL LIBESKIND, Tablet I, 2016

FA: We started thinking about the newspapers and magazines that publish their  ‘Top Ten Summer Reads’ or the many lists that are published around this time of year. This starting point organically expanded into a more poetic and complex exhibition. Fortnight Institute has turned into a summer library for those who want skip the beach and want something a little bit darker, a little bit heavier, both literally and physically. For example, one of the pieces in the show, by Rachel Libeskind, Tablet I, is a Hebrew braille book cast in concrete and cement, weighing 60 lbs. It takes the form of an open book but it becomes more of a monument, perhaps a tombstone. It is tactile, you can touch it, feel it, and even hear it, in its deep silence.

JH: There is also a strong diversity of materials used in the show  – blood, tree branches, concrete, bubble gum, glass, garbage/debris, fabric, marijuana. We encouraged artists to play with the potential of what a book is and what an artwork is.

CHRIS HABIB, Rambo Forever, 2016

CHRIS HABIB, Rambo Forever, 2016

CHRIS HABIB, Rambo Forever, 2016

FA: We hope and want to dismantle tradition with the format and theme of this exhibition (and with any exhibition for that matter) and not feel like works are ‘exhibited’ in a space devoid of energy but rather as a space that feels “lived-in,” as someone recently said of our space and Summer Reading.

BABS: Is Summer Reading primarily comprised of unique works that were made for the show?

JUSTIN JAMES REED, Untitled (Diptych), 2016

FA: Most works were made specifically for the exhibition with a few historical exceptions, such as Moses Hoskins’s piece the Book of Debris, Volume #13 from 1995 and Ed Ruscha’s first edition 1969 copy of Crackers, which he kindly donated to us for inclusion in Summer Reading. When we invited Ruscha to be part of the show, he replied and was interested, and based on the concept of the show, he chose “Crackers.” This pick, this gesture was what compelled us to include this book, which is not a unique copy in the same way that the other pieces in the show are.

BABS: I’m thinking specifically about how you describe artists books in the press release for Summer Reading. In opposition to the typical summer book these objects are – illegible unconventional objects, they are heavy, sticky, volatile and demand your full attention.  Personally, I often struggle with the idea of the time spent with a book – for example during my commute I want to engage with books the way that other people do on the subway. My thought is – can I travel with the books that I collect? Maybe they aren’t unique or rare books but somehow the content seems to resist the context of the subway ride. Maybe it is how much space the book needs, that it requires more physical engagement, or how the artist book can become a contrary object. And although there may be a book that seems really accessible / manageable the content still challenges the space. I’ve recently reading a number of artist written erotica novels… this genre is always a little tricky on the subway.

Within the concept of the show how did you think about accessibility in terms of touching the books?

FA: Maybe about 40% touching? It was important for us and for some of the artists that viewers physically engage with the objects. It changes your experience and perception of what you are looking at and/or reading. For example, Canadian artist Sondra Meszaros’s piece, “Bound,” and New York based artist, Jon Beacham’s work, “Contents,” are both meant to be re-arranged by each different viewer, each person creating their own narrative of what it is they are looking at. Each reading therefore becomes unique. Kalen Hollomon’s mirror book, “Primitive Man,” becomes charged and active only with the presence of the viewer, reflected in the pages of the book itself, a mirror self.

JORDAN NASSAR Babcia (Sto Lat), 2016

JORDAN NASSAR Babcia (Sto Lat), 2016

BABS: Was there a discussion around access and intimacy that a visitor can have with these objects in a way that differentiates them from art objects. These ideas feel like a bit more complicated here.

JH: I guess that’s a good thing. Most of these works are not text based. I think the accessibility brings it back to art, in a way that you can come in, spend time, look and sometimes even touch. And a lot of our visitors do stay awhile in the space, not only looking and sometimes touching, but also asking questions, conversing.

FA: Fortnight Institute is about bringing people together, we welcome you to come by and discuss ideas and engage with what we are putting out there. It is about art and books, but also about community and conversation. We know a lot of the locals who have lived on the block for 30 years or more and we invite them to our space and openings. Our events always feel inspiring because of the great people that come by to support what we do and in turn we meet others, creating an atmosphere of creativity and excitement. We like the collaborative spirit both in organizing our events and in putting together our exhibitions.

BABS: I think that it’s in the nature of this form. It’s a collaborative form. I talk about this a lot in the context of distribution and production – that the form itself requires a lot of collaborative thought. It is intrinsic for there to be a community around publishing or around artist books. Is Fortnight Institute thinking about one day having an imprint? Or have you already published?

JH: We haven’t published under a FI imprint but maybe one day. We have a show coming up with Curtis Talwst Santiago. When we all met, we all knew it would be a good idea to release an artist’s book to accompany the exhibition. Talwst immediately started thinking of ideas for what it is he wants to publish and we happily advise on the process.

FA: We really embrace the collaborative elements of book making and want artists that haven’t published before to dive into it.

JH: And there are so many options now, for example BP Laval self-published his book on an online service. Not only did we have a physical publication when his exhibition was on view but we also made it available online for free by uploading it to our website. And ultimately, the book was still more popular in its physical form. We debated whether we should just keep it as the object or put it online. And we decided to do both.

BABS: This seems to make a lot of sense for people who aren’t here in New York to see the show or an art book in person. I think it’s an important thing to be aware of, online accessibility, in publishing. If distribution is not as strong as we want it to be for small press and independently published books then the online form, the pdf, the interactive, is absolutely necessary.

JH: We are super embracing of this! And if you look at these books, they are handmade and unique, but we also love what technology can do. We have a book that is hand-bound with ribbon by Betty Tompkins and on the opposite wall you have Chris Habib’s 3D printed silicone molds, which he filled with pure bazooka gum, dehydrated and froze, among other complex processes.

Betty Tompkins, Checklist, 2016

Betty Tompkins, Checklist, 2016

Betty Tompkins, Checklist, 2016

BABS: As we finish up, can you talk a little more about your location in the East Village and your motivations to open a gallery / bookstore.

JH: We are in the East Village on East 4th between 2nd Avenue and Bowery. East 4th St. is a special street will all small independent shops and theaters, as well as the only food co-op left in Manhattan. When we started renovating to move in, the neighbors would come by and ask, ‘what is happening here?’ and we would tell them ‘this is going to be an art store and book shop’ and they would say ‘a bookshop, what are you crazy?’ We like that this is a small ‘shop,’ it works for books very well, for art, and for what our general mission is. Small spaces are centers of creativity.

FA: We knew from day one that we wanted a space specifically in the East Village, not only for its history and spirit, but also because it is not saturated with galleries in the same way that Chelsea or the Lower East Side is.

JH: It’s a space where we can do things that don’t only fit within contemporary art, but can be used in other experimental ways. We have a lot of interest in archival and historical work. And in both established and emerging artists. We are also interested in performances and thinking about Happenings again and how we can bring these back. We have one this Thursday, July 28th!

FA: This is why we call ourselves an Institute. We like the word because an institute is an organized body that has a purpose. It also takes away from the omnipresent “gallery” term that feels limiting to us and what we want to do.

JH: When people come here they often carry a book to show us. One of our collectors came with a book from the series that Moses Hoskins did, all made from bits of debris from the streets of New York in the 1990s saying, ‘You guys need to see this!’ He brought them to an opening just to show us and it was inspiring and now it’s in our Summer Reading exhibition.

MOSES HOSKINS Book of Debris, Volume #13, 1995

MOSES HOSKINS Book of Debris, Volume #13, 1995

MOSES HOSKINS Book of Debris, Volume #13, 1995

MOSES HOSKINS Book of Debris, Volume #13, 1995

MOSES HOSKINS Book of Debris, Volume #13, 1995

BABS: Carmen Winant, who had her first New York show here a months ago, produced these unique works on paper – press release that were directly related to the show, a beautifully written text became this really beautiful object – a very special idea of a ‘take-away’ press release.

FA: We knew we didn’t want a traditional press release so when we talked to Carmen about it she suggested to write an experimental text, which she did and not only did she write it, but she painted each one in red food coloring and signed and numbered them. Forget press releases, it’s all about experimental text!

JH: So many of these artists are interested in experimenting. We asked Marilyn Minter to be in the current show and now the Spray On prototype is the impetus for a box set of inkjet prints she is producing. The space and our shows have inspired some of the artists to produce something more that will have a whole other life beyond the show.

  Reading Revisited: A conversation with Fabiola Alondra and Jane Harmon of Fortnight Institute On Thursday, July 28 at 6pm, Fortnight Institute, a new gallery and bookshop in the East Village, will host an evening of readings performed by artists in their current exhibition, …

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BABZ FAIR 2016 - Bushwick Art Book & Zine Fair

BABZ FAIR 2016 – Bushwick Art Book & Zine Fair

The fourth annual BLONDE ART BOOKS – BABZ FAIR will feature new and recent publications by invited independent publishers, and individual artists and writers working in and around New York. Since 2012, Blonde Art Books has been dedicated to promoting independent publishing & self-published art books through exhibitions, book fairs, talks, and online exposure. This year, and for the first time, we…

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On Thursday May 19 Shandaken will launch it’s first publication, Jokes for the Campfire, at Friends and Lovers, Brooklyn.

We hope the conversation and preview below will encourage you to attend the event, purchase this hilarious book, and support Shandaken, the unique residency program for visual artists, dancers, writers, curators, scholars, and musicians founded by Nicholas Weist.

——–

Blonde Art Books: Can you give a brief history of Shandaken?

Nicholas Weist: Shandaken was founded in 2011 by a group of artists and art workers. Since that time we have offered residencies to over 60 cultural practitioners and presented dozens of free public events—including talks, screenings, workshops, exhibitions, and performances. Our signature program, The Shandaken Project at Storm King, takes place on the grounds of the world-renowned sculpture park, Storm King Art Center. This program offers residents the opportunity to live within an outdoor museum while pursuing self-directed goals in the studio. With the belief that time and space are the foremost needs of cultural practitioners who develop transformative ideas, we offer up to six weeks of free room, board, and studio space to important but under-recognized individuals and collaborative teams.

BABS: Can you say a little about the inspiration for this book?

NW: The house we use for the program accommodates three residents at a time, but about 15 will come through over the course of each summer season…. not to mention dozens more friends and peers who visit for dinners or field trips or what have you. Because these folks overlap in space (and feeling) but not in time, we develop strategies to bring them together in other ways. One was a massive retrospective exhibition we held last year in the East Village—the joke book is the latest effort in this direction. In both of those cases, alumni from different cohorts contributed toward a common goal, and met each other and shared something in the process.

BABS: There are so many aspects of the campfire, as a central space of gathering, that can be explored – how much time is actually spent by the campfire?

NW: The campfire in the title is real—s’mores are a number-one priority for most folks who come to the country from a city—but it’s also a metaphor for the way that Shandaken encourages community generally. One aspect of our program that sets us apart from other residencies is our decision not to offer any professional development. Where other organizations might set up studio visits or other promotional opportunities for their residents, we strongly emphasize informal social exchange, and make hospitality an institutional priority. We’ve found that when you bring a few interesting, curious people together in the countryside, it often results in organically derived professional affiliations down the line. So we work hard to cultivate a household atmosphere, and to make sure that colleagues and alumni pass through to hang out with the current residents. Jokes for the Campfire is a non-narrative, incomplete, non-archival history of all the dinners we’ve ever had and all the parties we’ve ever thrown.

BABS: Did the jokes come about organically or is this an activity that you introduced as, lets say – a release from a long day in the studios, a kind of conversation starter after a day of solitude – a playful gesture to encourage an intimate and more spontaneous exchange…

NW: All of the above! But the project was less about generating new ideas or relationships, and more about summing up a few years of those happening on their own. Of course the tragic thing about a joke book is that humor becomes pretty wan when it’s written down… Imagine reading the words “pause for dramatic effect.” But I think the pale shadow is an honest way to represent any lived history. A compendium that’s funny but sad, because it reflects the past but entombs it as well.

BABS: Will you do a follow up to the book with spooky campfire stories? Or campfire recipes?

NW: I’ve been thinking for years we should do something related to food, since it’s such an important element of the residency. But scary stories sounds great too!

  Contributions by residents and friends including: Amelia Bande, Robert Beatty, Phillip Birch, Michael Buhler-Rose, Andrianna Campbell, Sean J Patrick Carney, Ariel Dill, Chris Domenick, Dan Fox, Laura Frantz, Chris G, Elise Gardella, Gabrielle Giattino, Solomon Goldbas, Gordon, Colleen Grennan, Brendan Griffiths, Stefan Gunn, Frank Haines, MacGregor Harp, Terry Hempfling, Mary Hill and Tryn Collins, Christopher Ho, Gloria Holen, Heather Hubbs, Jac and Nora, JPW3, Kathryn Kerr, Lila, Reuben Lorch-Miller and Laura Splan, Weston Lowe, Ryan James MacFarland, Gerard McCarthy, Robbie McDonald, Andrea Merkx, Virginia Lee Montgomery, Ceci Moss, Elizabeth Orr, Whitney Platt, Shellyne Rodriguez, Em Rooney, Brie Ruais, Michael Rudokas, Sven Sachsalber, Carmelle Safdie, Jorge Sanchez, Nolan Simon, Joshua Smith and Liz Hirsch, Michael Stamm, Maureen Sullivan, Lumi Tan, Joey Teeling, Jeff Tranchell, Jonathan VanDyke, Siebren Versteeg, Jacques Louis Vidal, Zola Ray Warsh, Emily Weiner, J. Weist, Ana Wolovick, C. Spencer Yeh, and more; published by Shandaken

  Did you hear the one about… ‘Jokes for the Campfire’ Launch Event On Thursday May 19 Shandaken will launch it's first publication, Jokes for the Campfire, at Friends and Lovers, Brooklyn.

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Dispatch from Sydney: The Future of Now

Dispatch from Sydney: The Future of Now

by Naomi Riddle ‘Time moves in one direction, memory another. We are that strange species that constructs artefacts intended to counter the natural flow of forgetting.’ – William Gibson, Distrust That Particular Flavor (2012) A shimmering silver blimp hangs from the roof in the Turbine Hall on Cockatoo Island in Sydney. Every so often the light refracts off the silver material, which is as…

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An important element of the exhibition Photo Poetics: An Anthology is the accompanying reading room. The show is curated by Jennifer Blessing, working with assistant curator Susan Thompson, and currently on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York through March 27, 2016. It includes photography, video, and installation by Claudia Angelmaier, Erica Baum, Anne Collier, Moyra Davey, Leslie Hewitt, Elad Lassry, Lisa Oppenheim, Erin Shirreff, Kathrin Sonntag, and Sara VanDerBeek.

It is clear that these artists are deeply invested in the book – its form, content, and its ability to transform and disseminate image and information.  On the fifth floor adjacent to the galleries of the exhibition is a open circular room bathed in natural light. In the room are two long tables with a display of over 40 books about and by these artists.

We spent some time here  – as you do in a reading room –  unfolding ephemera from previous exhibitions, readings descriptive texts about an artists work and essays written by the artists themselves, noticing certain design considerations, and stacking…

Below is the full catalog and some images of the Photo Poetics reading room:

Erin Shirreff, Albright Knox Gallery, ICA, Boston, 2015 Erica Baum, The Naked Eye, Bureau, New York, Crevecoeur VE, Paris, 2015 Sara Vanderbeek, Sensory Spaces, Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, 2015 Moyra Davey, I’m Your Fan, Camden Arts Centre / Camilla Wills, 2014 Kathrin Sonntag, If Only You Could See What I’ve Seen, Cooper Gallery, Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, 2014 Lisa Oppenheim, Works 2003-2013, Sternberg Press, 2014 Moyra Davey, Burn the Diaries, Museum Modernerkunst Stifting Ludwig Wien Institute of Contemporary Art, Vienna, University of Pennsylvania, Dancing Foxes Press, New York, 2014 Anne Collier, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, 2014 Anne Collier, Still Lifes, Wood Kusaka Studios, 2014 Elad Lassry, 2000 Words, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, 2013 Elad Lassry, White Cube, 2013 Erin Shirreff, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston/ Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa/ Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2013 Kathrin Sonntag, Green Doesn’t Matter when You’re Blue, Aspen Art Museum, 2013 Leslie Hewitt, Sudden Glare of the Sun, Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis, 2012 Anne Collier, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, 2012 Elad Lassry, On Onions, Primary Information, 2012 Elad Lassry, Rat Hole Gallery, 2012 Moyra Davey, The Wet and the Dry, Paraguay Pres – Castillo/Corrales, 2011 Sara Vanderbeek, Hammer Museum, 2011 Erica Baum, Dog Ear, Ugly Duckling Press, 2011 Elad Lassry, Luhring Augustine, 2011 Leslie Hewitt, ICA, Boston, 2011 Elad Lassry, White Cube Hoxton Square, 2011 Stan, Sara, and Johannes Vanderbeek, Amazement Park, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery (Skidmore College), 2010 Moyra Davey, Speaker Receiver, Kunsthalle Basel, Sternberg Press, 2010 Moyra Davey, Copperheads, Bywater Bros. Editions, 2010 Erica Baum, Sightings, Onestar Press, 2010 Elad Lassry, Kunsthalle Zurich, 2010 Kathrin Sonntag, Futur Intérieur, 2010 Sara Vandebeek, To Think of Time, Whitney Museum of American Art, 2010 Anne Collier, Woman with a Camera (35 mm), Hassla Books, 2009 Claudia Angelmaier, L’image et L’objett, Landesgalerie Linz am Oberosterreichischen Landesmuseum, Fotohof Editions, 2009 Kathrin Sonntag, Dracula’s Ghost: Everything we can Imagine Does Exist, 2009Erica Baum, The Naked Eye, Free Association, Notebook Series No. 1, 2009 Anne Collier, Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver, 2008 Moyra Davey, Long Life Cool White, Harvard University Art Museum, Yale University Press, 2008 Kathrin Sonntag, In Der Gak SUPERKALIFRAGILISTIGEXPIALIGETIK Gak Gesellschaft Fur Aktuelle, Argo Books, 2008 Erica Baum, Roll Playing, 2008 Claudia Angelmaier, Color and Grey, 2007

The Photo Poetics Reading Room An important element of the exhibition Photo Poetics: An Anthology is the accompanying reading room. The show is curated by Jennifer Blessing, working with assistant curator Susan Thompson, and currently on view at the Solomon R.