Le siècle des lumières
Sophie Massé + Doyon-Rivest. Quebec, Éditions J’ai VU, 2009.
48 pages, ill. (some col.). Text in French.

Published by Éditions J’ai VU, Le siècle des lumières is the tenth publication in the L’image amie series which explores the relationship between photography and creative writing. Using a work by Doyon-Rivest (which was presented at Manif d’art de Québec in the summer of 2008) as her starting point, Sophie Massé develops a storyline for the fictional characters she depicts. The author creates both a scenario and dialogue for these individuals. While reading this text, we witness their arrival, a vernissage, and the relationship that develops between the characters as the story unfolds. An entertaining and interesting mise en scène of protagonists. EL

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posted July 9, 2010

La condition de performance
Glenda León, translated by Eva Labarias, preface by Genviève Marot. Quebec, Éditions Nota bene, 2010. Nouveaux Essais Spirale. 113 pages, col. ill. Text in French.

La condición performática
Glenda León. Havanna, Editorial Letras Cubanos, 2001. Special edition. 77 pages. Text in Spanish.

Written by Cuban artist and art critic Glenda León, La condición performática provides a critical reflection on performance art, from both formal and conceptual points of view. Informed by contemporary theory and avant-garde precedents to the history of performance art, León’s text pays special attention to the social, cultural, and political circumstances of Cuban art production in the late 1990s.

La condición performática makes us acutely aware of the important role that context plays to the understanding of artistic practices and the language that is used to describe them. Although notions such as “transgression” and “public intervention” are fundamental to our comprehension of contemporary artmaking worldwide, they take on other levels of meaning within Cuba.

(more / suite …)

The Standard Corpus of Present Day English Language Usage arranged by word length and alphabetized within word length
Gerald Ferguson. Halifax, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, second edition, 1978.
ca. 150 leaves. Text in English.

Gerald Ferguson (1937-2009) first published The Standard Corpus of Present Day English Language Usage arranged by word length and alphabetized within word length in a small edition of 300 copies in 1970. It represents the culmination of a series of conceptual artworks exploring the alphabet, which began in 1968, shortly after he joined the faculty of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. This series includes Ferguson’s famous typewritten Alphabet Pages and stenciled Period or Dot Paintings. Together with the Corpus, they form an integral part of the canon of Canadian systemic and process art.

In 1972, Ferguson scored a reading of the Corpus in 20 units for a chorus of 26 voices. First performed at NSCAD, Choral Reading was presented again in 1977 at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It exists today as a sound recording. Ferguson considered the Corpus one of his most important works, once describing it as “a variable serial sculpture through time.” In addition to being a pivotal work of conceptual art, it stands alongside the most important achievements of concrete poetry in Canada. EF

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Pour changer le monde: 659 affiches des mouvements sociaux au Québec, 1966-2007

Jean-Pierre Boyer, Jean Desjardins and David Widgington. Montréal : Lux Éditeur, 2007, 360 p., ill. (some col.). Text in English and French. Published by Cumulus Press as Picture This! 659 Posters of Social Movements in Québec (1966-2007)

A compendium of activist posters that have influenced the public sphere of Quebec society since the mid-sixties. Well illustrated with colour and black and white reproductions, it is a visual history of changing social issues and graphic styles. The sections on Cultural Posters and Artist Posters include contributions from Véhicule, Vidéographe, Galerie Média, Éditions Rému-Ménage, ATSA, Frédérick Back, Jesse Purcell, and the free radio/free media movement. FT

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robho : les carnets de l’Octéor
no. 4 (1968)
Editors, Julien Blaine and Jean Clay, 29 pages, b&w ill. In French

An amazing journal full of black and white photographs with texts by numerous authors. Anyone interested in the “new” relational art, ephemeral art, audio art, street art, or environmental art would benefit from this look back in time. Eerily relevant today. KS

Some highlights:

Editorial: “Contre l’Artiste.” The first line reads: “D’abord une évidence – d’ordre simplement esthétique: la fin de l’objet comme porteur de la proposition de l’artiste” (First and foremost, from an aesthetic point of view, the object is no longer the bearer of the artist’s intent);

A text by Yoko Ono: “A propos du Film No 4″ (1967);

Photos of Christo’s early works: Kassel “Emballage d’air” (Wrapping Air) and Berne “Emballage d’un lieu culturel” (Wrapping a Cultural Place);

Daniel Buren’s “Proposition didactique” for the Salon de Mai (1968);

A special feature on Lygia Clark;

A report on “Les Diggers” in New York with their banner “Respirer est mauvais pour votre santé” (Breathing is bad for your health).

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Re-Inventing Radio: Aspects of Radio as Art
Edited by Heidi Grundmann, Elizabeth Zimmermann, Reinhard Braun, Dieter Daniels, Andreas Hirsh, Anne Thurmann-Jajes Frankfurt am Main, published by Verin werks in cooperation with the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research (Linz), MiDiHy Productions (Graz), and the Research Centre for Artists’ Publications at the Weserberg-Museum of Modern Art (Bremen), 2008, 541 pages; b&w ill. In English.

Re-Inventing Radio is an important book, not only because it contributes to our rereading of the history of radio in contemporary art practices (and its various technological and conceptual extensions), but also because many artists, curators and theorists in the Canadian sound art network are re-contextualized here internationally. This book brings together texts written in 2007 as well as several reprinted essays, interviews, portraits, and descriptions of projects. In brief, and according to the editors of the publication, this is a mosaic that invites associative approaches. Inevitable inclusions are found here, such as Dieter Daniels from Ludwig Boltzmann Institute Media.Art.Research (Linz), but other artists and thinkers such as Tom Sherman, Anna Friz, Hank Bull, Lori Weidenhammer and Nina Czegledy appear as well. The book’s layout by REVOLVER is sober and elegant, with black and white images that recall where and how various artist projects and radio broadcasting events were conceived, realized and recorded. EL.

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Parastamp: Four Decades of Artistamps, from Fluxus to the Internet / A művészbélyeg négy évtizede a fluxustól az internetig
Peter Frank and Kata Bodor. Budapest: Szépmuvészeti Muzeum, 2007, 107 p., ill. (some col.). Text in English and Hungarian.

This is the catalogue of the Parastamp: Four Decades of Artistamps, from Fluxus to the Internet exhibition which took place in 2007 in Budapest. It brings together two essays, including one on the precariousness of the artist stamp in light of digital trends. There is also an interview with curator György Galántai, and a brief chronology of international exhibitions. The work of some Canadian artists, including Anna Banana and Ed Varney, is included in Parastamp. EL

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Precarious Visualities
Edited by Olivier Asselin, Johanne Lamoureux, and Christine Ross. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s Univesity Press, 2008, 438 p., b&w ill., bib. refs. and index. In English.

This new anthology explores visuality (“a notion that refers to the visible condition of art”) and its destabilizing aspects through a collection of sixteen theoretically-based essays that are divided into six thematic sections. The subject is approached by noted Canadian and international contributors from various disciplines including Art History, Film Studies, Communications, and Visual Culture. JL

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The Viewings
DVD. Iwona Majdan. S.l., s.n., 2008. In English.

The subtitle for this DVD provides a clear description of Majdan’s project: “I take on the role of a wealthy woman in search of a new residence. I arrange viewings of expensive flats in London and record the experiences using a small spy camera.”

The Viewings raises issues of auto-fiction, class representation, and voyeurism through a series of guided visits to some very luxurious apartments (with rents ranging from 725 to 4,000 ₤ per week). Given the surreptitious nature of the project, it’s not surprising that the image and sound quality of the recordings are mixed; although this only adds to the aesthetic of the work. Majdan appears whenever her hidden camera finds a mirror or other reflective surface in the apartments she visits (often). Bonus points for listing her stylist in the credits. JL

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Emporte-moi / Sweep me off my feet
Nathalie de Blois, Alexia Fabre, Esther Trépanier and Frank Lamy. Québec, Qc ; Vitre-sur-Seine : Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ; Musée d’art contemporain de Val-de-Marne, 2009, 217 p., col. ill. Text in French and English.

The publication has the appearance of a notebook, or a diary. Indeed, its content is about one of the most intimate areas of our lives and the strongest of emotions: love. Emporte-Moi / Sweep me off my feet is the catalogue for a touching exhibition of the same name, on show at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. In this publication, curator Frank Lamy examines love and desire from different directions, and divides the concept up into smaller components. The exhibition’s other curator, Nathalie de Blois, writes an essay about the works selected for Sweep me off my feet and their significance to the theme. Artists in the show are introduced by half-page texts with images of their works. These works bring into view the pleasurable and painful, momentary and eternal feeling of love. SL

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Julkaisu on ulkoasultaan kuin muistikirja, tai päiväkirja. Sen sisältö käsitteleekin elämänalueista intiimeintä ja tunteista suurinta, rakkautta. Emporte-Moi/Sweep me off my feet (Vie jalat altani) on Quebecin Musée National des Beaux-Arts’ssa nähtävän samannimisen, koskettavan näyttelyn julkaisu. Kirjassa kuraattori Frank Lamy tarkastelee rakkauden tunnetta kaikilta suunnilta, pilkkoen tekstissään käsitteen pieniksi palasiksi. Näyttelyn toinen kuraattori Nathalie de Blois avaa artikkelissaan näyttelyyn valittujen teosten yhteyksiä näyttelyn tematiikkaan. Näyttelyn taiteilijat esitellään julkaisussa puolen sivun pituisin tekstein sekä kuvilla teoksista, jotka upottavat katsojansa rakkauden nautintoon ja kärsimykseen, sen hetkellisyyteen ja ikuisuuteen. SL

Nicosia This Week
An Unofficial Guide to the Biennial that Never Was
Text by Florian Waldvogel, Paul Elliman, Mai Abu Eidahab, Louise Dossing and Susanne Stetzer
Rotterdam, Veenman Publishers, 2008, 192 pages; b&w ill.

This “exhibition catalogue” is for an event that was abruptly canceled in 2006. It presents insight into the impact of this international exhibition as well as the socio-political implications of borders, transnationalism, and the configuration of Europe.

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La era de la discrepancia : arte y cultura visual en Mexico 1968-1997
edited by Olivier Debroise; Mexico; Turner/UNAM, 2007, 470 pages; col + b&w ill.

Essays by Olivier Debroise, Cuauhtémoc Medina, Alvaro Vazquez Mantecon, Pilat Garcia de Germenos, Lourdes Morales, Alejandro Navarrete Cortes and Vania Macias

This publication looks at significant aspects of the arts in Mexico from students demonstrations and Salon Independiente in 1968, through the Panic Movement, conceptual practices, geometric abstraction, concerns with the city and identity, etc.

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