Get Rid of Meaning
Kathy Acker
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln, 2022, 400 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 27.4 × 33.5 cm, English
Price: €28

American author Kathy Acker was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century. Working through an experimental and avant-garde tradition, she wrote numerous novels, essays, poems, and novellas from the early 1970s to the late 1990s. As a postmodernist, plagiarist, and post-punk feminist, she continues to inspire generations of writers, philosophers, and artists. Get Rid of Meaning is the first comprehensive publication on Acker’s work from an artistic and literary perspective. It includes previously unpublished material from Acker’s personal archive and other collections. The publication is the compilation of a multipart research project including an exhibition and a symposium at Badischer Kunstverein in Karlsruhe.

With contributions from: Kathy Acker, Eleanor Antin, Dodie Bellamy, Hanjo Berressem, Ruth Buchanan, William S. Burroughs, Anja Casser, Georgina Colby, Leslie Dick, Claire Finch, Johnny Golding, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Anja Kirschner, Chris Kraus, Sylvère Lotringer, Douglas A. Martin, Jason McBride, Karolin Meunier & Kerstin Stakemeier, Avital Ronell, Carolee Schneemann, Daniel Schulz, Matias Viegener & McKenzie Wark.

#2022 #caroleeschneemann #chriskraus #dodiebellamy #eleanorantin #kathyacker #lynnhershmanleeson #mckenziewark #ruthbuchanan #sylverelotringer #verlagderbuchhandlungwaltherkonig #willholder #williamsburroughs
Where does my body belong? From institutional critique to infrastructural transformation Or Standards and Mothers
Ruth Buchanan
Published by Artspeak, Vancouver, 2021, 20 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 15.2 × 22.9 cm, English
Price: €15 (Out of stock)

With texts from Ruth Buchanan, J.C. Sturm, Anne Boyer. The first instalment of BEACON, a pamphlet series in ten issues’ focusing on how the commitment of artists’ to wider social movements informs contemporary artistic practice. The series will feature texts by artists whose practices engage with language and visual arts.

#2021 #anneboyer #ruthbuchanan
Curatorial Feelings
Eloise Sweetman
Published by Shimmer Press, Rotterdam, 2021, 132 pages + 34 page insert & card (colour & b/w ill.), 12.4 × 19 cm, English
Price: €13

Curatorial Feelings is a book that collects arts practitioner Eloise Sweetman’s writing from the past decade, written on the occasion of exhibitions she curated, written on and for individual artworks, as well as for public talks. Sweetman often wrote while, and not before, the artworks were on view. The time of retrospection, and of being with artworks, imbues her language. Moving between prose and poetry, impressions and reflections, coursing through the writing is a commitment to senses, to subjectivity, to social responsibility.

Sweetman writes to the work of Malin Arnell, Gwenneth Boelens, Katarzyna Kobro, Charlotte Posenenske, Miyeon Lee, Arin Rungjang, Jo-ey Tang, Katie West, Zarouhie Abdalian, Ruth Buchanan, Sofia Caesar, Theo van Doesburg, Marcel Duchamp, Ian Kiaer, Lee Kit, Liu Chao-tze, Ma Qiusha, K.R.M. Mooney, Elena Narbutaitė, Kate Newby, Shanta Rao, Himali Singh Soin & David Soin Tapperser, and Louwrien Wijers.

Edited by Eloise Sweetman and Jo-ey Tang. Designed by Dongyoung Lee.

#charlotteposenenske #curating #eloisesweetman #joeytang #krmmooney #katarzynakobro #katenewby #katiewest #louwrienwijers #malinarnell #ruthbuchanan #shimmerpress #shimmerrotterdam #zarouhieabdalian
On Performance
Published by Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, 2012, 192 pages (colour & b/w ill.), 16.5 × 23.5 cm, English / German
Price: €20 (Out of stock)

On Performance is the first volume to be published in the KUB Arena publication- series; it not only documents the performance project that took place in the KUB Arena in the winter of 2010/11, but also contains in-depth essays by Giles Bailey and Eva Meyer examining the theory and history of performance. Artists’ contributions especially created for the publication by Ruth Buchanan, Coming to Have A Public Life, Is It Worth It?, Simon Fujiwara, Suchan Kinoshita, Kooperative für Darstellungspolitik, Falke Pisano, and Ian White appear alongside an interview with the participating artists by Eva Birkenstock and Joerg Franzbecker, with accompanying comments by Marina Vishmidt. Designed by HIT Studio.

#2012 #evabirkenstock #falkepisano #hit #ianwhite #kunsthausbregenz #marinavishmidt #ruthbuchanan #suchankinoshita
Uneven Bodies (Reader)
Edited by Ruth Buchanan, Aileen Burns & Johan Lundh, Hanahiva Rose
Published by Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Ngāmotu New Plymouth, 2021, 120 pages (single colour ill.), 21 × 29.7 cm, English
Price: €20

Uneven Bodies (Reader) is a comprehensive collection of writing produced as an outcome of a symposium of the same name held in Aotearoa New Zealand in early 2020 that addresses the politics of collections today and the complex terrain of power in which this conversation sits. The collection places specific emphasis on Indigenous positions, linking this into the so-called international paradigm. Topics covered include collecting contemporary both inside and outside the institution, repatriation, deaccession, and Indigenous methodology in collection work. With keynote contributions from Prof Linda Tuhiwai Smith, Gabi Ngcobo, Dr. Clémentine Deliss, and Wanda Nanibush and nine other positions, the readers offers a template for how we can imagine collecting in the future; full of mutated spaces we don’t yet know how to move in, full of powerful languages we still need to learn how to speak, together. Designed by HIT.

#2021 #collections #gabingcobo #hit #ruthbuchanan
The scene in which I find myself / Or, where does my body belong
Ruth Buchanan
Published by Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre, New Plymouth, 2019, 96 pages (b/w ill.), 21 × 29.7 cm, English
Price: €4

A comprehensive exhibition guide for The scene in which I find myself / Or, where does my body belong at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth, curated by Ruth Buchanan.

Presenting the largest number of collection works ever shown at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, including treasured highlights, the project seeks to break (open) the mechanisms of collecting and challenges the role and success of the museum. If a collection is meant to reflect the society that creates it, there are problems with the methodologies if amongst this highly regarded collection, so few perspectives are captured.

This conflict in motion is made visible through the lens of a gallery collection, and provides a crucial course alteration for the future. Here, the collection becomes the scene, and the body in attendance is dynamically addressed, and each of us – the institution, the visitor, and the artist herself are implicated in what these future procedures may be.

A PDF of the publication can be downloaded here.

#2019 #hit #ruthbuchanan