Nothing Is Hidden.

Nothing Is Hidden. By Lynne Cohen. Steidl/Scotiabank, 2012. 172 pp., illustrated throughout, 31,5x26,2cm. Images from here.

Book description:

" 'I feel as if the world can’t be like it is. It seems full of finished works of art'. Lynne Cohen

'Nothing is Hidden' features both well-known and recent unpublished works by acclaimed Canadian photographer Lynne Cohen, beginning with images from the early 1970s.

The book shows the consistency and depth with which she has mined her chosen theme of uninhabited domestic and institutional interior spaces.

Depicting formally and not so formally arranged uncanny interiors, Cohen’s photographs are sometimes wryly humorous, sometimes bleak, and frequently both. Her vision is informed by a profound feeling for the mystery in the ordinary, what is on the surface but out of sight.


This is the first in a series of annual publications to be published by Steidl celebrating the winner of the Scotiabank Photography Award, Canada’s largest contemporary photography award for an established Canadian artist."

Seneca Ghosts.

Seneca Ghosts. By Danielle Mericle. A-Jump Books, 2008. 56 pp., illustrated throughout, 6x8,5". Edition of 500 copies. Images from here.

Book description:

"Danielle Mericle’s enigmatic new book of photographs takes as its subject an elusive herd of white deer that roams a deactivated cold war-era army depot in upstate New York.

Through a compelling mix of photographic empiricism and poetic stream-of-consciousness, this book becomes a reflection on our limited ability to access and engage the political past through personal experience.

'Seneca Ghosts', via its inability to fully articulate the white deer (thus its failure as a useful document), exudes instead the notion of linear history as mere illusion."

Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement.

Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement. By Max Andrews, Eric C. H. de Bruyn, Stefan Heidenreich, Sven Lütticken, Anja Novak, Vivian van Saaze. Alauda Publications, 2012. 240 pp., illustrated throughout, 20,4x26,8cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"The central figure in this book is the American artist Robert Smithson, who achieved cult status in the international art scene during the 1960s and 1970s and continues to generate great interest among artists and curators to this day.

In 1971, Smithson realized the famous Land Art work Broken Circle/Spiral Hill for the exhibition Sonsbeek 71 in Emmen, the Netherlands. It is one of only three Land Art works in the world by Smithson that still remain preserved.

For the first time, this book brings together a complete selection of archival material related to the work - ranging from photographs, film scripts and drawings to original manuscripts and letters - spread over different archives in the Netherlands and the US."


'Robert Smithson: Art in Continual Movement' is part of Land Art Contemporary, and was part of the March symposium Rethinking Robert Smithson.

The Peace Warriors of Two Thousand and Three.

The Peace Warriors of Two Thousand and Three. By Carl Chiarenza. Nazraeli Press, 2005. 40 pp., illustrated throughout, 14x17". Limited edition of 500 copies. Images from here.

Book description:

" 'Everywhere confrontation reigns, conflict is chosen, resolution avoided. My world is a confused collage, a nightmare montage - a world in which, once again, humanity and inhumanity are seen, impossibly, as one and the same.' - Carl Chiarenza

We are delighted to announce the publication of our second monograph by Carl Chiarenza, whose work as artist, educator, art historian and critic has been a significant influence on the American photography scene for many years.

He made these powerful collages in 2003, a time when, he says, 'the world once again went mad'. Coming out of his sense of impotence and frustration at world events, these collages shed their abstraction and do indeed resemble warriors, but these are warriors for peace.

'Chance', says Chiarenza, 'structured these images as much as chance structured our world. But chance itself is structured by human beings'.

His photographs are represented in many important collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Museum of American Art, Washington, D.C.; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston."

Having a coke with you

Frank O´Hara reads his poem 'Having a coke with you' in his New York flat, shortly before his death in 1966.

This is an [updated] re-run (that should be re-run).


"Frank O´Hara reading his poem 'Having a coke with you' in his flat in New York in 1966, shortly before his accidental death.

Taken from - 'USA: Poetry: Frank O'Hara' produced and directed by Richard Moore, for KQED and WNET. Originally aired on September 1, 1966."

More videos can be viewed here (also read more here, here and here for example).


"Francis Russell O'Hara (March 27, 1926 - July 25, 1966) was an American poet who, along with John Ashbery, James Schuyler, Barbara Guest and Kenneth Koch, was a key member of the New York School of poetry.

[...]

O'Hara's poetry is generally autobiographical, much of it based on observations on what is happening to him in the moment.

Donald Allen says in his introduction to The Collected Poems of Frank O’Hara, 'That Frank O’Hara tended to think of his poems as a record of his life is apparent in much of his work'.

O'Hara discusses this aspect of his poetry in a statement for Donald Allen's New American Poetry: 'What is happening to me, allowing for lies and exaggerations which I try to avoid, goes into my poems. I don’t think my experiences are clarified or made beautiful for myself or anyone else, they are just there in whatever form I can find them'. He goes on to say, 'My formal 'stance' is found at the crossroads where what I know and can't get meets what is left of that I know and can bear without hatred'. He then says, 'It may be that poetry makes life's nebulous events tangible to me and restores their detail; or conversely that poetry brings forth the intangible quality of incidents which are all too concrete and circumstantial. Or each on specific occasions, or both all the time'.

[...]

O'Hara was active in the art world, working as a reviewer for Art News, and in 1960 was Assistant Curator of Painting and Sculpture Exhibitions for the Museum of Modern Art."

Quotes from here and here.

Charles H. Traub.

Charles H. Traub. By Charles H. Traub, text by Marvin Heiferman. Gitterman Gallery, 2006. 40pp., illustrated throughout, 10,5x9,25". Images from here.

Book description:

"Charles H. Traub once used a lens shade one size too small for his square-format camera.

The vignetting caused by the mistake emphasized the intimate perspective of the photographer’s vision.

The square format and proximity to his subjects charged his images with an immediacy that celebrated the character of the times [the 1970s]."

Rest in Peace Gore Vidal

I was very saddened by the news this morning that the seminal writer Gore Vidal has passed away at the age of 86. Rest in Peace.

Read more here, here, here, here and here for example.

La Jetée (Rest in Peace Chris Marker)

La Jetée (1962) by Chris Marker (complete short film, press cc for subtitles).

Avantgarde French filmmaker Chris Marker has passed away at the age of 91, Rest in Peace.

Read more here, here, here and here for example.

in this landscape

© Rare Autumn.

"in this landscape a pretty horse / translates into a man holding a gun". - Yusef Komunyakaa.

Position(s).

Position(s). By Antoine D'Agata. Avarie, 2012. 124 pp., illustrated throughout, 13,5x18cm, with fold-out poster 85,4x64cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"I want that! That what?
That. But what?
That.
To be there, to be the strongest, to be here, getting through wholly, warding off nothing, devouring all, about all eating, before going back to the absolute void.

- Antonin Artaud."

Collected Works/Gesammelte Werke Band 20.

Collected Works/Gesammelte Werke. Volume 20/Band 20, Books And Graphics (Part 1) from 1947 until 1971 / Bücher Und Grafik (1. Teil) aus den Jahren 1947 bis 1971. By Dieter Rot. Edition Hansjörg Mayer, 1972. 232pp., illustrated throughout, 17,1x23,2cm. In English and German.

I don't own this book / I need to own this book (library books envy).


Book description:

This is no 20 in the 26 volume strong 'Gesammelte Werke' series, an attempt by publisher Hansjörg Mayer in the 1970s to republish a comprehensive body of Roth's bookworks.

"Dieter Roth (April 21, 1930 - June 5, 1998) was an Icelandic artist of German-Swiss heritage best known for his artist's books, editioned prints, sculptures, and works made of found materials, including rotting food stuffs. He was also known as Dieter Rot and Diter Rot.

The dark undertone and furious, obsessive energy of his work ultimately separated him from many of the more lighthearted Fluxus artists. Perhaps despite himself, he was a fluent draftsman and expert printmaker, and his drawings and prints contained his wild energy within peculiarly virtuosic forms."


Quote from here.

A Room of One’s Own/One Thousand Libraries.

A Room of One’s Own/One Thousand Libraries. By Kajsa Dahlberg. Kajsa Dahlberg, 2006. 128pp., 11,4x17,2cm. Limited edition of 1000 copies.

I saw The Moderna Exhibition at Moderna Museet Stockholm in 2010 where the loose pages of this book was exhibited, and I must say I was a bit ambivalent to the work at the time.

I recently came across the bound artist book, which gave me a chance to think about the work again. I'm still ambivalent, but I'm interested in my own reactions (I always have a really hard time being ok with people writing in or earmarking books, especially library books) and I do very much respect the artist's underlying thought-process behind the work.


Book description:

" 'A Room of One’s Own/One Thousand Libraries' [or 'Ett eget rum/Tusen bibliotek'] is the title of Kajsa Dahlberg’s work, a variation on Virginia Woolf’s feminist classic from 1929, translated into Swedish by Jane Lundblad in 1958.

While working on this piece, Dahlberg borrowed and leafed through every copy of the book that was available in Swedish libraries, studying and copying the comments and under-linings that readers had made in these public copies.

The result is a new version, with manually transcribed reader comments from nearly fifty years of Swedish history.

In this exhibition, Dahlberg presents the 121 loose original sheets, which she has had printed and bound as an artist’s book in 1,000 copies.

Many of these are now in Swedish libraries. Thus, the work is both an intervention in the library structure and classification system, and a processing of reader interventions in a particular book.

The relationship between private and public property is central to this work. It also constitutes an analogy to Woolf’s call for female representation in the history of literature. Further complexity is added by the fact that Dahlberg puts her signature on Woolf’s text and complements it with the traces of the readings of those who have borrowed the book.

Thus, she draws attention to the importance of reading, that reception and interpretation are integral to an authorship.

'A Room of One’s Own/One Thousand Libraries' inscribes itself in the tradition that explores the theme of the potential of the self to attain some form of freedom, both in relation to the narratives of others and to economic systems."

Street Smart.

Street Smart. By Joakim Ojanen. Joakim Ojanen, 2009. 32pp., illustrated throughout, 29,7x21cm. Limited edition of 150 copies. Signed and numbered. Limited edition of 40 copies comes with a print.

There is something kind of lovely about these illustrated "city scenes" by Swedish-based artist Joakim Ojanen.

Book description:

"32 pages with 18 nice b/w drawings limited edition of 150 numbered zines."

Desiderata.

Desiderata. By Andreas Trogisch. Peperoni Books, 2011. 36 pp., illustrated throughout, 24x30cm. Edition of 100 copies, signed and numbered. Images from here.

Book description:

"The four so far published photo folders by Andreas Trogisch fascinated and enchanted us. Now the both last folders 'Asphalt' and 'Desiderata' complete the cycle. They are published in an edition of 100 numbered and signed copies.

The sixth and final folder is called 'Desiderata' and contains 28 b&w photographs from the photographer’s extensive work.

The magical poetical aura of these images oscillates between pausing and going on, longing and home sickness and wanderlust. The folder’s title may help a bit to slightly get closer to its mystery. Wishing! Having the desire to be here and away, wishing forwards and backwards, in the end even a fulfilled life.

That is perhaps the reason why one can view Andreas Trogisch’ images best with eyes closed.

Simultaneously to 'Desiderata' the fifth photo folder 'Asphalt' is published. DESIDERATA is also the name of the cassette with all six folders that will soon be published in an edition of only 20 copies."


I have previously also featured 'Asphalt' by Andreas Trogisch.

In the Car With R.

In the Car With R. Photographs by Rafal Milach, writings by Huldar Breiðfjörð. Czytelnia Sztuki, 2011. 160 pp., illustrated throughout, 17x21,5cm + poster 64x48cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"This beautiful composition of Rafal Milach's photographs and Huldar Breiðfjörð's text is the summary of both artists’ journey by Iceland.

Rafał Milach describes the book - This story is a personal road diary I have done together with Icelandic writer Huldar Breiðfjörð. We took highway #1 the only road surrounding Iceland and drove 1450km within 10 days. We didn’t care about either the volcanic eruption that took place few weeks earlier or the economical crisis that made Iceland bankrupt. It was a trip of a local with outsider and we both tried to learn of this place on our own. And we both failed coming back with more questions than answers.

'In the Car with R' was already selected as the winner of the New York Photo Awards 2011 Jury’s Choice Prize, for best overall picture or series. A dummy of the book was also given a Photography Book Now 2011 for the best documentary publication."

Zero Mostel Reads a Book.

Zero Mostel Reads a Book. By Robert Frank. Book design by Robert Frank and Gerhard Steidl. STEIDL Robert Frank, 2008. 40 pp., illustrated throughout, 13,7x20,2cm. Images from here.

I came across this book purely by chance and I really love it. Steidl's whole Robert Frank Project is a pretty wonderful thing.


Book description:

"When Robert Frank had completed his first two films, he accepted a commission for a photo-book from the New York Times, which became 'Zero Mostel Reads a Book'.

In it Frank takes the comic actor Zero Mostel (1915–1977) for his subject, and depicts him in cartoonish dimensions - bemused, baffled and apoplectic, as he makes his way through an unidentified hardback volume, seated at a table or on a sofa in a large lounge area.

Originally published "for the fun of it" in 1963 and dedicated to the American bookseller, the book was intended as a present for customers yet it never reached the book market. It has been a collector’s item since.

'Zero Mostel Reads a Book' references a series of theatrical and playful vignettes in which Mostel’s most famous roles - Tevye in 'Fiddler on the Roof', Pseudolus in 'A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum', and Max Bialystock in 'The Producers' - are clearly signaled.

It is a delightful moment of slapstick in Frank’s oeuvre, and directly reflects his emphasis on the moving image at the time."

Supercell.

Supercell. By Kevin Erskine. Hatje Cantz, 2011. 192 pp., illustrated throughout, 38,8x28,8cm. Images from here.

Book description:

"Fascinating and breathtaking large-format photographs of severe weather

At the age of twelve, Kevin Erskine (*1956 in Sharpsburg, Illinois) witnessed his first big storm: a category 4 tornado with wind speeds of over 207 miles per hour raged through the center of his hometown of Hoskins, Nebraska.

Fascinated and inspired by this immense force of nature, Erskine began taking his first photographs with his father’s camera. His passion for photography and respect for nature still motivate him to capture supercells with his large-format camera.

The images depict enormous cloud masses in continually different formations - be it before a thunderstorm, during a tornado, shined on by the red evening sun, or forebodingly dark purple or black by night.

Erskine masterfully demonstrates the ambivalence between the terrifying force of nature and its stunning beauty."

The Sun Shines In.

The Sun Shines In. By Aki Tanaka. Tosei-Sha, 2007. 48 pp., illustrated throughout, 15,5x23cm. Images from here.

This book might be starting off from the most wonderful of premises (or I'm intoxicated by the summer that's just started in earnest)...

I have previously also featured Sunshine Pulse and Sunshine Volition by Aki Tanaka.


Book description:

"In this work, Tanaka Aki took pictures of flowers, but not with the interest of the botanist or the weekend hobbyist.

Instead, she wanted to use flowers as a medium through which to capture sunlight.

The result is a work which is indeed brightly colored, but where the light seems to be leaking out of the images, as if the film had been literally bombarded with visual information and was unable to record it all. But the blurry quality of these images is not to the detriment of the work.

The photographs in this book could be viewed almost as abstract paintings, where the pattern and texture of the color that has been captured might be more important than the real object that they represent."