'Modern Artifacts' includes all 18 installments of the series, copresented with Esopus and the Museum of Modern Art Archives, that originally appeared in Esopus, the award-winning nonprofit arts annual that suspended publication in 2018.ā ā ā ā Each of these installments focuses on a particular part of the MoMA Archivesāsubjects include the museumās first guest book, its āArt Lending Serviceā program, activities in the museumās garden, materials from the archives of contemporary artists such as James Lee Byars, Scott Burton and Grace Hartigan, and correspondence, photographs and other ephemera related to exhibitions such as the groundbreaking Spaces show in 1970 devoted to installation art.ā ā ā ā The book, which features several removable inserts of archival materials printed in facsimile, also includes brand-new contributions commissioned from six contemporary artistsāMary Ellen Carroll, Rhea Karam, Mary Lum, Clifford Owens, Michael Rakowitz and Paul Ramirez Jonasāwho have each created a project in the book inspired by a particular item or series of items in the MoMA Archives.ā ā ā ā Pictured here:ā ā The first issue of Possibilities + essay by Robert Motherwell for the never-published 2nd issueā ā Removable card by Robert Indiana created for MoMA's Junior Council ā ā An Alfred H. Barr Jr chart facsimile for Cubism and Modern Artā ā Correspondence & facsimile insert from James Lee Byars to curator Dorothy Millerā ā Brochures related to MoMAās Art Lending Serviceā ā Mary Ellen Carroll project on Margaret Scolari and Alfred Barr/ MoMAās strong involvement in getting artist refugees from WWII to the Statesā ā Clifford Owens facsimile of a 1969 petition by Faith Ringgold and Tom Lloyd calling for a Martin Luther King Wing for Black and Puerto Rican Art. The petition is removable and meant for distribution.ā ā ā ā @esopusmag #modernartifacts @mecstudios @clifford_vo #esopus @themuseumofmodernartā ā https://www.instagram.com/p/CCMFg3XJYdy/?igshid=1j7tt44otqguh
