A Different Kind of Order
Right now I am working on a future blog post, scanning book covers and working up an essay.
In the meantime, I would like to briefly review a selection of some of the books that are on my desk, and in my office, that have persistently remained as others come and go.
I have a bound journal, Artforum vol. 3, Sept-June 1964-1965. I am reviewing by browsing art history journal titles from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, looking for articles on or about photography. Tracing the literature. This includes looking at which books were being reviewed, which photography exhibitions were discussed, and reading artist/photographer interviews. I am also looking at gallery and museum exhibition announcements, advertisements, and other traces. This is an interesting and daunting process. I am using Zotero to manage my bibliography and citations as I slog through this process of discovery.
I have a small publication titled “Publishing as (part-time) Practice: the Swedish graphic designers edition) that I picked up at the 2012 NY Art Book Fair. What is interesting about this publication is that the graphic designers that created it following a daylong symposium in Stockholm in May of 2012 assert the relevancy and primacy of authorship in creative publishing by designers. Essentially making a place for designers within a field previously privileged by “artists” making artist books. Designers are making similar works in this century but it does not seem right to call these same/similar publications “artist books”. Independent publishing by designers, or independent publishing by artists, seems more true to form.
I also have a 1997 copy of Lucy Lippard’s 1973 book “Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object from 1966 to 1972.” This is the first California paperback edition. The contents, in review, include “escape attempts,” Author’s Notes, Preface, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, Postface, and Index. If you have always meant to read this book but have not, and you are interested in conceptual art and photography, I encourage you to pick this book up, or check it out from your library. Then I’d encourage you to read through the catalog published by the Brooklyn Museum of Art last year for an exhibition related to this publication.
Of course I still have a copy of 10 x 10 American Photobooks on my desk. (Noted in a previous post)
I have a file folder from our Library‘s Vertical File for Stieglitz, Alfred. This folder includes the following:
1) “Stieglitz in the Darkroom,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, October 4, 1992 – February 14, 1003.
– A 14 page catalog, or pamphlet, really, with an essay, notes, selected further reading list, and glossary of terms.
2) “Alfred Stieglitz: at Lake George,” June 20-September 22, 1996.
– A single fold exhibition announcement.
3) “The Yale University Library Gazette,” April 1951, vol. 25 no. 4.
– Opening to and starting on page 123 and running through page 130, is an essay by Doris Bry that starts with “What is Stieglitz?”
4) “Alfred Stieglitz and an American place, 1929-1946,” May 2-June 2, 1978, Zabriskie Gallery, 29 West 57 Street, NY 10019.
– A pamphlet, staple bound, 12-page catalog. One page essay, 6 photograph reproductions, one photo per page, Check list of photographs by Ansel Adams, Eliot Porter, Alfred Stieglitz, and paintings by Charles Demuth, Arthur G. Dove, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Georgia O’Keefe. There is a note, too, thanking and listing lenders to the exhibition.
5) Alfred Stieglitz, An exhibition of photographs by, March 15 to April 27, 1958, National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.
– Includes a forward by John Walker, Director, and an essay by Doris Bry, followed by a check list of prints in the exhibition, a chronology, and bibliography, then selected plates from the exhibition.
Two other books of note, on my desk, are “Cultural Hijack: Rethinking Intervention,” edited by Ben Perry, et. al., and “Fully Booked: Ink on Paper,” published by Gestalten. Both are quite interesting. The latter relates to the Swedish publication, noted above.
Have you seen “A Different Kind of Order: The ICP Triennial“? Authors are listed as Joanna Lehan, Kristen Lubben, Christopher Phillips, Carol Squiers. The Executive Director, Mark Robbins, introduces the book with “Out of Order: Director’s Forward.” The curatorial team further introduces the book and themes with short essays. The themes include: Analog; Artist as Aggregator; Collage; Community; Mapping and Migration; Post-Photography; Self-Publishing; The New Aesthetic. Following this introduction are entries for artists, including a brief sketch, place and year of birth, where the artist currently lives, and some color plates. The photographers include: Roy Arden, Huma Bhabha, Nayland Blake, A.K. Burns, Aleksandra Domanovic, Nir Evron, Sam Falls, Lucas Foglia, Jim Goldberg, Mishka Henner, Thomas Hirschhorn, Elliott Hundley, Oliver Laric, Andrea Longacre-White, Gideon Mendel, Luis Molina-Pantin, Rabih Mroue, Wangechi Mutu, Sohei Nishino, Lisa Oppenheim, Trevor Paglen, Walid Raad, Nica Ross, Michael Schmelling, Hito Steyerl, Mikhael Subotzky/Patrick Waterhouse, Shimpei Takeda.
What is on your desk?