Vol 3: Reading Things

admin — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:13:54 +0000

Sub-Title

Date of Publication

November 1993

Location

Publisher

Chance Books: London

Designer

Stephen Coates

Body

From the introduction to Reading Things

The substance of our material culture, refracted through the advertising media, is an increasingly dominant site for the struggle to represent an individual's most powerful desires, aspirations and fears. In countries with a sophisticated culture of consumption, we are constantly encouraged to associate and identify, with a bewildering range of things.

From Tampax to Trade sanctions, these consumer choices - if media theory is to be believed - may embody the last remaining coherent space of personal and cultural representation.

Research into the nature of the object has traditionally concentrated on the production and distribution of things by industry and retail. This analysis has taken the form of market research, target sampling, advertising and statistics. Such a particular representation tries to identify gaps for the profitable manufacture of commodities, to effectively locate, isolate and eventually stimulate demand.

Clearly this is a warped perspective, it may account for what, or how many things are in circulation, but it does not begin to offer any understanding of how they are actually used.

The theme of Reading Things lies in attending to things as they fall from the commodity loop into their rich and varied lives. How exactly are objects patterned with meaning and value? How for instance do they begin to trap historically transient -Love beads, Ben Sherman's or safety pins ?

Most of our material world, like the iceberg, lies beneath the threshold of our comprehension. Things flow past and rest silently as a sediment shaping our consciousness. If our experience of time is dovetailed into the representation of the present, the object, like the pop song, can snare the fleeting moment as it falls away from memory.

How people actually utilise things is extremely resistant to representation. Through the diverse contributions presented in Reading Things, the intention is to establish and then play back some of the procedures of use, against tactics for art. Reading Things recognises that it is often only the shift in context, the suspension of utility, that separates the two.

Text and artists projects from Richard Wentworth, David Joselit, Caroline Russel, Lolly Batty, Daniel Miller, Roger Estop, John Cussans, David Dibosa, Rachel Evans, and John Miller.

You can read the essay that intoduces the theme of the publication Reading Things: The Alibi of Use.

Description

176 pages, 60 B & W images

ISBN/ASIN

0 9513932 3 5

ArtWords Link

Vol 2: The Missing Text

admin — Fri, 17 Nov 2006 15:10:59 +0000

Sub-Title

Date of Publication

November 1990

Location

Publisher

Designer

Body

Sight Works: Volume 2 The Missing Text

Explores issues currently marginalized within the discourses of contemporary art.

Text and artists projects from John Williams, MSOC, Tania Kovats, Jonathan Dronsfield, Mari Mahr, Douglas Gordon, Stan Douglas, Celine Suprenant, Martin McGeown, David Reason, Eric Wear, Graham McCann, Susan Foale, Elspeth Probyn and Paul Buck.

Description

ISBN/ASIN

ArtWords Link

Vol 1: Several Enquiries

admin — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 20:09:49 +0000

Sub-Title

edited by Marysia Lewandowska

Date of Publication

October 1988

Location

London

Publisher

Chance Books

Designer

Body

The book emerged out of a series of commissioned installations -entitled the Drawing Room- in an abandoned building, in central London. The gathered texts and artist projects focus on the question of site as related to contemporary art practice and theory.

Text and artists projects from Desa Philipi, Bill Burns, Caroline Wilkinson, Elspeth Probyn, Antoni Malinowski, Shelagh Wakely and Andrea Fisher.

Description

96 pages, 24 B&W images

ISBN/ASIN

0-9513932-0-0

Sight Works

Vol 3: Reading Things

Sub-Title

Date of Publication

Location

Publisher

Designer

Body

Description

ISBN/ASIN

ArtWords Link

Related Films

Related Projects

Related Publications

Vol 2: The Missing Text

Sub-Title

Date of Publication

Location

Publisher

Designer

Body

Description

ISBN/ASIN

ArtWords Link

Related Films

Related Projects

Related Publications

Vol 1: Several Enquiries

Sub-Title

Date of Publication

Location

Publisher

Designer

Body

Description

ISBN/ASIN

ArtWords Link

Related Films

Related Projects

Related Publications