The Classroom
537 W 22nd St, New York, NY 10011Unpacking Independent Publishing in South Asia, with Editions JOJO
Kaamna Patel (Editions JOJO) moderates a conversation with artist Cheryl Mukherji, curator Rahaab Allana, and editor Varun Nayyar to unpack the independent publishing landscape in and from India. Themes addressed will include representation, modes of production and circulation, and speculations on the future of photobook publishing across the South Asian region. This discussion is held on occasion of Kaghazi Pairahan: Publishing and Resistance in South Asia, currently on view at Printed Matter. Presented by Printed Matter, Inc.
Read at Your Own Pace and Place, with Further Reading
Editors Januar Rianto and Almer Mikhail will share insights into their multifaceted—and sometimes hard to define—modus operandi and highlight some of the imprint’s latest releases on graphic design, food culture, art, and creative writing. Initially conceived as an online compendium of reading references, Further Reading expanded into curatorial practice and exhibition-making before finding its footing as a publishing practice. Guided by independence and the ethos of alternativeness, along with a strong Southeast Asian identity, these facets informed their approach, methodologies, and decision-making processes. Further Reading assumes various other roles, including cultural programming, printing, distribution, and acting as a foundry, adapting to diverse forms and functions to effectively convey its intents. Presented by Further Reading.
Río de agua viva (Living Water River), with Ana Andrade and Lorena Mostajo
Ana Andrade visited the Tijuana River—a body of water between Mexico and the United States—for a number of years. Over time, she photographed the river’s dramatic transformation and the increasingly endangered livelihoods of both the people and the non-human life forms in it. In her debut photo book, Río de agua viva, Andrade frames this world as a post-apocalyptic dystopia. The artist will be joined by the publisher, Lorena Mostajo, to talk about the origins and challenges of this project in such a complex geopolitical environment as well as the stories derived from her time at the river. Presented by Taller California.
Thus Waves Come in Pairs: Thinking with the Mediterraneans, with Barbara Casavecchia and Omar Berrada
Thus Waves Come in Pairs: Thinking with the Mediterraneans begins with a conversation between the artist Simone Fattal and the late poet and artist Etel Adnan. The book builds on their exchange to collect interdisciplinary reflections on the Mediterraneans expressed through art, poetry, oceanic thinking, science, and activism. For this event, the book’s editor, Barbara Casavecchia, will be in conversation with writer, translator, and curator Omar Berrada, who contributed a series of poems to the book, to discuss the Mediterraneans’ interconnected cultures and bodies of water, and the possibilities of narrating their current transformations. Presented by Sternberg Press.
The Book of Night
Throughout her career, artist Mary Heilmann has experimented with the book form. One of her earliest experiments is The Book of Night (1970), currently on view at Dia Beacon as part of the exhibition, Mary Heilmann: Starry Night. A bound compendium of unstretched canvases referencing astronomical constellations, this large, children’s book-like work hems painting into a three-dimensional object, blurring the boundaries between media and providing a tactile interface for interacting with the cosmos. On the occasion of this exhibition and taking The Book of Night and its 2016 facsimile published by Small Editions as a point of departure, this talk will consider the haptic and performative dimensions of artists’ books and what is lost and gained in the reproduction of such unique titles. Presented by Dia Art Foundation.
Belly of a Glacier, with Ohan Breiding
While researching and filming the ancient ice archives at the US National Ice Core Laboratory in Lakewood, Colorado, artist Ohan Breiding speculated on how natural disasters are embedded in the ice and represented in institutional memory. While the archive is full of absent-presences, Breiding envisions how the matter of ice and air/volcanic rock/ash fill in the gaps, and disclose the entangling of destruction and preservation. Breiding, along with book contributors, will discuss the artist's longstanding investment in the question of ecological care, the landscape-as-witness, and memory work as volcanoes continue to erupt and erase boundaries, offering new trans-temporal and trans-spatial imaginaries. Presented by nico fontana.