Michael Snow | Questions and Answers

Michael Snow

Questions and Answers

San Francisco, USA: The Thing Quarterly/KADIST, 2016

7" vinyl record

Edition of 250 numbered copies

A 45 rpm single recorded on March 30, 2016 in Toronto.

Curator Joseph del Pesco and artist Euan Macdonald posed fifteen questions to the artist, such as "How does one shape the fortuitous?" and "What is your philosophy of time?". Snow answered with short musical improvisations recorded by Mani Mazinani. The replies to the questions are followed by "an Epilogue, offering reflections on the subjects raised by the questions."

In addition to the hand-numbered copies (on an accompanying card), an additional 250 copies were made available as a free digital download, all of which were consumed within minutes of the email announcement.

Questions and Answers is one of the final projects produced by The Thing Quarterly, before they ceased publishing objects in 2017. The single was released in September of 2016, at the New York Art Book Fair. It quickly sold out. 

The track listing is as follows: 

A1 What Was Your First Thought When You Woke This Morning?

A2 Why Make Films That Only A Few People Will See?

A3 What Moves You?

A4 What's Toronto Like In The First Days Of Spring?

A5 What's Left When You "Take The Spectator Out Of The Illusion"?

A6 Is There Anybody Listening To This Right Now?

A7 What's Frame-By-Frame Truth?

A8 What Are Mysterious Alterations Of Time And Mind?

A9 What Is Your Philosophy Of Time?

A10 Does The Music Start In Your Mind, Your Fingers, Or In The Piano?

B1 Do The White And Black Keys Symbolize Anything To You?

B2 How Does One Shape The Fortuitous?

B3 How Are Waves Visible Registers Of Invisible Forces?

B4 What Is Silence?

B5 What Is The World Coming To?

B6 Epilogue

Martin Kippenberger

Martin Kippenberger died on this day in 1997. 

Mieko Shiomi | Bottled Music #3

Mieko Shiomi

Bottled Music #3: An endless Rondo

Self-published, 1993

9.5 x 7 x 5 cm.

Edition of six signed, dated and numbered opies

The rondo is a musical form dating back to early 17th century Italy. It consists of a principal theme (the ‘refrain’) accompanied by one or more contrasting themes (known as ‘episodes’ or ‘digressions’). The word comes from the Italian form of the French ‘rondeau', which means "a little round”.

Composer and artist Mieko Shiomi wrote and performed a short rondo on synthesizer, and recorded it to magnetic tape. The untethered recording was then bottled up and housed in a jar with a cork top. 

In addition to the formal “Bottled Music” series, Shiomi has created several works collected in jars and bottles [see below].

General Idea | Lucre Shopping Bag

General Idea

Lucre Shopping Bag

Toronto, Canada: Self-published, 1990

27.8 x 40 x 10 cm.

Edition size unknown

The Lucre logo [see previous post] adorned on an oblong black glossy paper bag with offset adhesive-backed label. The work debuted at the ARCO Art Fair (1990) in Madrid at the Yen-Boutique of Galerie Montenay, Paris, France

General Idea | Lucre

General Idea

Lucre

Zurich, Switzerland: Kunsthalle Zurich, 2010

24 x 21 cm. 

Edition of 100

A chenille and embroidery on felt crest, one of ten over-sized patches produced and self-published by General Idea between 1988 and 1991. The crests reproduced some of the trio’s most iconic motifs, recalling both traditional European flags, and high school varsity jackets. 

Intended as a limited edition, fewer than a hundred were produced. The second edition was produced as a fund-raiser for the Kunsthalle Basel in 2010. Seventy-four were made available for purchase individually, and 26 were sold in signed and lettered complete sets.

Lucre features three stylized dollar signs (a self-portrait?) against  crimson red, black, and white. It is possible that the dollar signs are personified in what seems to be a pseudo self-portrait, a recurring trope throughout General Idea's oeuvre that envisions the trio in campy, cartoonish, or absurd renditions of group self-portraits.

A similar, larger crest (54 x 43.5 cm.) of the same name was produced in 1990, without the group name [below, bottom]. Also in 1990, the design appeared on a black shopping bag [see next post]. 

The complete series of crests is on display at Art Metropole until March 29th, as part of On Display: General Idea, a collection of rare and out of print artists’ books, catalogues, and editions by the Canadian collective, produced between 1975–2022 [below]. 

Visit the Art Metropole General Idea page, here, for more information. 

John Smith | The Girl Chewing Gum

John Smith’s excellent short film The Girl Chewing Gum turns fifty a week from today. Its first ever screening took place at the London Filmmakers’ Co-op on the 10th of March 1976. 

In celebration of the film’s 50th anniversary, it will be presented at the Close-Up Cinema in Shoreditch on the exact same date, together with ‘The Man Phoning Mum’ (2011), ‘Being John Smith’ (2024) and the first ever screening of the artist's latest video ‘Two Pids’ (2026).

The programme will screen twice, at 6.00pm and 8.00pm. Smith will be in attendance, in conversation with Stanley Schtinter after the first screening and Erika Balsom after the second. 

The twelve minute film widely acknowledged as one of the most important avant-garde films of the 20th century. It was preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2019. I don’t think I ever taught film or video students without showing it. 

Julian Opie | Tina (from Heads Series)

Julian Opie 

Tina (from Heads Series)

London, UK: The Cristea Roberts Gallery, 2017

13 1/2 x 12 1/8"

Edition of 20 [+5 AP] signed and numbered copies. 

A screenprint on sprayed aluminum sculpture, published by the Cristea Roberts Gallery, in London, as part of the Heads Series. The complete series features six portraits, including Tina, Ian, Zhiyun, Danielle, Bobby, and Faime.