Last week I was at the opening for a fab book show, Reading in Installments: Book Art Meets Installation, curated by Elysa Voshell and on display here in Philly through April 20 at the Center for Emerging Visual Artists. (Check it out!) Someone mentioned the uncanny knack that some book artists who have been long devoted to the democratic multiple have developed for strictly defining what does and does not count as book art. That is, those who have championed publishing books cheaply and distributing them widely, ostensibly as a democratizing practice, seem strangely resistant to embracing a plurality of practices within the book arts field.
The Book Arts List administered by Peter Verheyen through the Philobiblon website periodically displays a similar intolerance (through no fault of Peter's, I might add). A thread of the past few days demonstrates perfectly the behavior that causes me to unsubscribe from the list in disgust approxmately once a year. Someone submitted an inquiry to the list seeking resources connecting queer theory and the artist book. There were some thoughtful and supportive responses, but unfortunately these were counterbalanced by a cavalcade of those ready to set this individual straight, as it were.
Many lambasted the researcher for making assumptions about the marginalization of artist books, as well as about their connections to queer theory. However, these individuals made a swath of assumptions about the person posting the question -- first, that as a student this was an inexperienced researcher and scholar, and second, that there was something offensive about this conclusion or connection. As it turns out, the individual is a writer with multiple Master's degrees. And as John Cutrone succinctly put it in a post to the list, it seems quite clear that both artist books and the LGBT community are marginalized and are linked, at the very least, in this. See eco-feminism and social justice for more on the idea that all oppressions are connected. (Not that I'm claiming the word "oppression" for application to artist books, as many are able to practice in such a field precisely because they inhabit a position of privilege.)
I know that the Book Arts List is comprised of many different people, vocal and not, and I feel a strong sense of community with some of these people. But I find myself hard pressed at present to feel that this List as a whole is a community, or at least one I would be other-than-embarrassed to be a part of. There are few individuals out there writing about the artist book. I would think the book arts community would want to support such writing, even if it focuses on a part of the field to which they do not feel connected. I can only think that there is a deep sense of homophobia at play here, even if expressed in the guise of promoting proper scholarly methods. Otherwise, why not let the research process take care of itself. If there's not information to support the idea, there won't be a paper to be written. I suspect that there's a good deal to investigate here - hence the backlash on the list.
And all this within a week of the legalization of same-sex marriage in two states. Change comes, but it doesn't come easily. This week I am proud to be a former Vermonter, at least.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Art is Not Work
Well, there's good news and there's bad news for arts funding as it relates to the freshly passed economic stimulus bill.
Good news: The bill passed with $50 million in additional funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bad news: That amount was almost axed from the bill.
Good news: Arts workers and organizations mobilized to speak up for themselves and contact their representatives to preserve this funding.
Bad news: Many of our elected representatives, as well as our citizens, fail to recognize work in the arts as, well, work. The Senate wanted to rule out using stimulus money for museums, arts centers and theaters. Is it not self-evident that these institutions, besides supporting artists, provide actual concrete jobs to artists and non-artists alike? Might I also point out that, as these jobs provide relatively low wages, dedicating $1 million to museum jobs would likely employ more individuals than if we send that $1 million to even shovel-ready infrastructure projects? I'm not suggesting axing infrastructure investment; goodness knows we're grossly overdue for some. Neither am I suggesting that anything is right with poorly paying workers in the arts and culture. But I am wondering where people think arts and culture spending is so frivolously going if not towards creating and supporting jobs. P.S. Art is work, too!
For a little more on your legislators and this funding issue: www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/arts/16mone.html.
Good news: The bill passed with $50 million in additional funding for the National Endowment for the Arts.
Bad news: That amount was almost axed from the bill.
Good news: Arts workers and organizations mobilized to speak up for themselves and contact their representatives to preserve this funding.
Bad news: Many of our elected representatives, as well as our citizens, fail to recognize work in the arts as, well, work. The Senate wanted to rule out using stimulus money for museums, arts centers and theaters. Is it not self-evident that these institutions, besides supporting artists, provide actual concrete jobs to artists and non-artists alike? Might I also point out that, as these jobs provide relatively low wages, dedicating $1 million to museum jobs would likely employ more individuals than if we send that $1 million to even shovel-ready infrastructure projects? I'm not suggesting axing infrastructure investment; goodness knows we're grossly overdue for some. Neither am I suggesting that anything is right with poorly paying workers in the arts and culture. But I am wondering where people think arts and culture spending is so frivolously going if not towards creating and supporting jobs. P.S. Art is work, too!
For a little more on your legislators and this funding issue: www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/arts/16mone.html.
Friday, January 23, 2009
The New Economy
I'd like to clip a comment from Paul Krugman, in the Op-Ed section of the NYTimes yesterday, that characterizes a moment in Obama's Inaugural Address that had me scratching my head as well:
"Thus, in his speech Mr. Obama attributed the economic crisis in part to 'our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age' — but I have no idea what he meant. This is, first and foremost, a crisis brought on by a runaway financial industry. And if we failed to rein in that industry, it wasn’t because Americans “collectively” refused to make hard choices; the American public had no idea what was going on, and the people who did know what was going on mostly thought deregulation was a great idea."
I second that. This was meant to be the People's Inauguration...so why blame the economic meltdown on its victims?
"Thus, in his speech Mr. Obama attributed the economic crisis in part to 'our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age' — but I have no idea what he meant. This is, first and foremost, a crisis brought on by a runaway financial industry. And if we failed to rein in that industry, it wasn’t because Americans “collectively” refused to make hard choices; the American public had no idea what was going on, and the people who did know what was going on mostly thought deregulation was a great idea."
I second that. This was meant to be the People's Inauguration...so why blame the economic meltdown on its victims?
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Work of the Coming Change
In Monday's New York Times, Jesse L. Jackson, Sr. contributed a great piece on Dr. Martin Luther King's last birthday, which he spent working, never stopping the work of social justice and change. Jackson holds this as a model for our observation of Obama's inauguration, and this sentiment was threaded through Obama's inaugural address as well. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/19/opinion/19jackson.html
What are you going to do to push for change in the coming year?
As artists, how can we advocate for ourselves in tough economic times? Moreover, how do we ensure that our work is relevant to these times?
Quincy Jones has started a petition for the Obama administration to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. You can find it here: http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html. The Book Arts List (archives at www.philobiblon.com) has been home to some lively debate about whether or not this is a good idea.
On a related note, the recently formed Impractical Labor is now offering subscription-memberships. While it is still unclear exactly what forms this project will take, I applaud them for reviving the union idea. Their Research Institute " summarizes, analyzes, and interprets previously published works on similar topics (industrial history, technologies and handcraft, economics, art as service, sociology of work, & so on) and publishes these reviews as the ILSSA Reference Collection." This quote is from their website, where you can find out more: www.impracticallabor.org.
What are you going to do to push for change in the coming year?
As artists, how can we advocate for ourselves in tough economic times? Moreover, how do we ensure that our work is relevant to these times?
Quincy Jones has started a petition for the Obama administration to appoint a Secretary of the Arts. You can find it here: http://www.petitiononline.com/esnyc/petition.html. The Book Arts List (archives at www.philobiblon.com) has been home to some lively debate about whether or not this is a good idea.
On a related note, the recently formed Impractical Labor is now offering subscription-memberships. While it is still unclear exactly what forms this project will take, I applaud them for reviving the union idea. Their Research Institute " summarizes, analyzes, and interprets previously published works on similar topics (industrial history, technologies and handcraft, economics, art as service, sociology of work, & so on) and publishes these reviews as the ILSSA Reference Collection." This quote is from their website, where you can find out more: www.impracticallabor.org.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Gender on the Brain
The New York Times published an article this weekend about the declining percentage of women making up computer science students—10%, down from 20% seventeen years ago and from 40% in the mid-eighties.
Meanwhile, I am reading Journal of Artists’ Books (JAB) 24, which features a long interview between Tate Shaw and Chris Burnett about road literature and the artist’s book, coinciding nicely with Burnett’s talk on the same at Pyramid Atlantic last weekend. Inevitably Kerouac’s classic is referenced, not least because the famous scroll manuscript is currently on display at Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book and Paper, the current home of JAB.
My own strong response to On the Road at age 15 aside, there seems to be a gender divide in its contemporary reception. Particularly coming to it as adults, many women I know have little patience for the book.
And I find myself asking: is there a gendered aspect to road literature?
Over the course of a road trip covering 700 miles, Shaw and Burnett conversationally compile a prodigious list of 235 references—books of many sorts, pieces of art, fiction, theory. To the best of my ability, I calculate that thirty of these were works by women (with fractions figured in for works with multiple authors). This is roughly 13%, so it is safe to say that road literature is doing better than computer science by a narrow margin.
My goal is not to fault Shaw and Burnett for this disparity. To be sure, any attempt at gender balance in academic and critical conversation is hampered by a deeply entrenched history of bias in publishing, academe, the arts, and the culture at large. And I wonder how the overall theme of the road trip ties into our gender norms.
Burnett discusses stream of consciousness writing as linear, parallel to but never quite caught up with real time (20). On the other hand, comics artist Lynda Barry points to the act of writing as the actual carrier of the art, the image, the narrative (What It Is, 2008, Drawn & Quarterly)--rather than simply its scribe.
Meanwhile…yes, all this attention to the road coincides with the 50th anniversary of On the Road’s publication, but it also comes at a time when the road trip’s death knells are sounding. The price of oil has sky rocketed. The limits of our fossil fuel supply are becoming clearer, as are the disastrous impact of a car culture on the earth’s climate. If I throw out the term “eco-feminism,” that says enough, right?
Meanwhile, I am reading Journal of Artists’ Books (JAB) 24, which features a long interview between Tate Shaw and Chris Burnett about road literature and the artist’s book, coinciding nicely with Burnett’s talk on the same at Pyramid Atlantic last weekend. Inevitably Kerouac’s classic is referenced, not least because the famous scroll manuscript is currently on display at Columbia College Chicago’s Center for Book and Paper, the current home of JAB.
My own strong response to On the Road at age 15 aside, there seems to be a gender divide in its contemporary reception. Particularly coming to it as adults, many women I know have little patience for the book.
And I find myself asking: is there a gendered aspect to road literature?
Over the course of a road trip covering 700 miles, Shaw and Burnett conversationally compile a prodigious list of 235 references—books of many sorts, pieces of art, fiction, theory. To the best of my ability, I calculate that thirty of these were works by women (with fractions figured in for works with multiple authors). This is roughly 13%, so it is safe to say that road literature is doing better than computer science by a narrow margin.
My goal is not to fault Shaw and Burnett for this disparity. To be sure, any attempt at gender balance in academic and critical conversation is hampered by a deeply entrenched history of bias in publishing, academe, the arts, and the culture at large. And I wonder how the overall theme of the road trip ties into our gender norms.
Burnett discusses stream of consciousness writing as linear, parallel to but never quite caught up with real time (20). On the other hand, comics artist Lynda Barry points to the act of writing as the actual carrier of the art, the image, the narrative (What It Is, 2008, Drawn & Quarterly)--rather than simply its scribe.
Meanwhile…yes, all this attention to the road coincides with the 50th anniversary of On the Road’s publication, but it also comes at a time when the road trip’s death knells are sounding. The price of oil has sky rocketed. The limits of our fossil fuel supply are becoming clearer, as are the disastrous impact of a car culture on the earth’s climate. If I throw out the term “eco-feminism,” that says enough, right?
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Book Artists With a Backup Plan
I hope I won't be spoiling the surprise by announcing plans for the zine Book Artists With a Backup Plan, which is to be put into action by Katie Baldwin and myself--and some credit goes to Helen, as well, for incubating the idea. While packing up the last bits of Katie's house for a move, we were thinking of that gap between our training and the realities of the job market, and the backup plans we contemplate and enact when at a loss about how to put our skills to use in a way that will also pay the rent.
Katie mentions her undergrad senior class theme of, "would you like fries with that?"
I think of my successors at UArts and their plans for a book arts pin up calendar.
As for me, every time I'm at a loss I think about how many pastry chef jobs are on Craig's List. However, I can't seem to get anyone to hire me to bake cupcakes, so I guess it's back to teaching.
The zine is scheduled to coincide with the Hybrid Book Conference in Philadelphia in 2009. Watch for our call for entries, and in the meanwhile, be thinking about which back up plans you'd like to share.
Katie mentions her undergrad senior class theme of, "would you like fries with that?"
I think of my successors at UArts and their plans for a book arts pin up calendar.
As for me, every time I'm at a loss I think about how many pastry chef jobs are on Craig's List. However, I can't seem to get anyone to hire me to bake cupcakes, so I guess it's back to teaching.
The zine is scheduled to coincide with the Hybrid Book Conference in Philadelphia in 2009. Watch for our call for entries, and in the meanwhile, be thinking about which back up plans you'd like to share.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Democratically Activist Book Arts
Please help my research!
I am gathering information about all artists who are currently engaging ideas of the democratic multiple and/or activist practice in their book arts work. Any and all ideas and references can be posted as a comment here or emailed to matasillo at earthlink dot net. Thank you very much. I will be speaking on this topic at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair and Symposium, November 7-9, 2008, in Silver Spring, MD. More information on the Symposium at www.bookartsfair.org.
I am gathering information about all artists who are currently engaging ideas of the democratic multiple and/or activist practice in their book arts work. Any and all ideas and references can be posted as a comment here or emailed to matasillo at earthlink dot net. Thank you very much. I will be speaking on this topic at the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair and Symposium, November 7-9, 2008, in Silver Spring, MD. More information on the Symposium at www.bookartsfair.org.
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