Rebecca Horn | The Double

Rebecca Horn
The Double
Zurich, Switzerland: Parkett, 1987
25.4 x 8 x 0.6 cm.
Edition of 99 signed and numbered copies [+ 20 AP]


Produced for Parkett #13 and now long out-of-print, this silver-plated brass hammer was issued in a signed and numbered box, with twenty artist proofs numbered in roman numerals.

Fluxus: Selections from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection

[Fluxus] Clive Phillpot, Jon Hendricks
Fluxus: Selections from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection
New York City, USA: Museum of Modern Art, 1988
64 pp., 20.5 x 20.5 cm., softcover
Edition size unknown

The Museum of Modern Art's first exhibition dedicated to Fluxus was installed in the gallery library and curated by then-Director of the Library Clive Phillpot. The exhibition, which ran from November 17th, 1988 to March 10th, 1989, consisted of works from the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Collection. The works included instruction drawings, correspondence, photographs, newsletters, posters, multiples, bookworks and various other ephemera.

The catalogue includes texts by Phillpot and Jon Hendricks, who was the curator of Silverman collection at the time, and remains the leading authority on the subject of Fluxus publications. In 2008, twenty years after this exhibition, the Silverman's donated their collection of Fluxus works to the MoMA, where they are available to researchers.

The catalogue cover features Yoko Ono's documentation of a performance called The Museum of Modern [F]Art, altered with a few scribbles and collaged images of George Macuinas. The pages of the book also contain marginalia by Ben Vautier. Some are classic Vautier: "Do you think this page is jealous of the next one?"; while others appear to be channeling Ono: "Imagine yourself as a branch of the tree out of which this page was made", "Look through this hole at the world", etc.

The museum recently made the catalogue - now out of print, though not expensive on the secondary market - available as a PDF. Download the entire book at the MoMA site, here.

David Shrigley | Dog Beach Towel

David Shrigley
Dog Beach Towel
Fitzroy, Australia: Third Drawer Down, 2017
150 x 75 cm
Edition size unknown

The latest in a long line of Shrigley collaborations with Third Drawer Down is a 100% cotton beach towel.

Stanley Brouwn | 1 X 1 STEP / 1 X 1 M

Stanley Brouwn
1 X 1 STEP / 1 X 1 M
Antwerp/Brussels: Gallerij Micheline Szwajcer Antwerp/Yves Gevaert, 1986
50 x 25 cm.
Edition of 500

"This publication consists of two sheets of paper, folded, in a cardboard cover. One of the pieces of paper measures one meter by one meter, the other has the dimensions of one step by one step"

- Harry Ruhé, Stanley Brouwn. A chronology, Amsterdam 2001 

Brouwn died at his home in Amsterdam on Thursday May 18th, at the age of 81. Read brief obituaries at Art Review, Art News and Artforum, here, here and here. 

Stanley Brouwn | Use This Brouwn

Stanley Brouwn
Use This Brouwn
Frankfurt, Germany: Typos Verlag, 1964
21 x 10.5 cm.
Edition size unknown

A paper bag, rubber stamped in purple ink with the instruction "Use this Brouwn". From Wolf Vostell's DECOLLAGE #4 (see previous posts).

Stanley Brouwn | Phone-Drawings

Stanley Brouwn
Phone-Drawings [part of DÉCOLLAGE #4]
Frankfurt, Germany: TYPOS Verlag, 1964
pp. 4, 30 x 21 cm.
Edition size unknown

Handwritten script about how to create Phone-Drawings, from Wolf Vostell's DÉCOLLAGE #4. Part of the Fondazione Bonotto collection.

DÉ-COLL/AGE #4

[Wolf Vostell, editor]
DÉCOLLAGE #4
Frankfurt, Germany: TYPOS Verlag, 1964
[unpaginated], 29 x 21.5 cm., staple-bound
Edition size unknown

The January 1964 issue of the important DÉ-COLL/AGE. BULLETIN AKTUELLER IDEEN journal featured contributions by artists affiliated with Fluxus and Happenings, including George Brecht, Tomas Schmit, Allan Kaprow, Dick Higgins, Nam June Paik, Al Hansen, Claus Oldenburg and others.

The issue included influential works such as George Brecht's Motor Vehicle Sundown (Event) and Canadian Fluxus artist Robin Page's Guitar Piece, which is said to have been the impetus for Pete Townsend's smashing of his guitar in the The Who shortly afterwards. It also includes two works by Stanley Brouwn, who died last week at the age of 81 (see following posts).

The table of contents page not only incorrectly spells Brouwn's name without the letter 'u' (something George Maciunas also got wrong in the Fluxus Yearbox nameplate he designed for the artist), but also misspells the editor's name as 'Volf' Vostell.

The full contents is as follows:

George Brecht: Motor Vehicle Sundown (Event)
Tomas Schmit: Zyklus
Tomas Schmit: “Handel, Handlungen, Händel, Behandlungen” (zu Pop Art, Fluxus, Happenings, Dé -Collage, Nouveau Realisme)
Stanley Brouwn: Use this Brown [sic]
Stanley Brouwn: Phone Drawings
Allan Kaprow: Sweeping (a Happening)
Allan Kaprow: Push and Pull (a furniture comedy for Hans Hofman)
Allan Kaprow: Mirrors (a Happening)
Allan Kaprow: Words (An Environment)
Allan Kaprow: Tree (a Happening)
Allan Kaprow: Reportages and Photos from other Happenings
Dick Higgins: Seven Lectures
Bazon Brock: 4 Donnerstags – Manifeste
Bazon Brock: Bloom – Zeitung
Bazon Brock: Roman
Nam June Paik: Third Symphonie (the longest symphonie [sic] in the world)
Nam June Paik: Exposition of Music/Galerie Parnass. Photos/ect./Text: J.P. Wilhelm
Name June Paik: Reportagen etc.
Robin Page: Guitar Piece (Performance YAM Festival NY/63)
Wolf Vostell: 9 Dé -Collagen (Geschehnisse)
Wolf Vostell: “Leben Als Bild=Bild Als Leben” Galerie parnass Wuppertal veranstaltet dazu
Wolf Vostell: Bus Ride zu 9 verschiedenen Stellen: Kino/Bahnhof/Gärtnerei/Steinbruch/Garage/Fabrik/Keller/Schwebebahn/Garten
Frank Trowbridge: Three Pieces for Theater
Claes Oldenburg: Pop Art (jacke, tasse, kuchen)
Claes Oldenburg: Happenings
H. J. Dietrich: “Ereignisbilder”
J. J. Lebel: Catastrophe (A Happening)
J. J. Lebel: “Quelques indications supplémentaires sur la mort et son incidence sur l’activité artistique dite d’avant-garde”
Al Hansen: Parison 4 Marisol (a Happening)

Cory Arcangel turns 41 today

Wolfgang Laib | Untitled Beeswax slab

Wolfgang Laib
Untitled Beeswax slab
Basel, Switzerland: Galerie Buchmann, 1990
26.4 × 32.4 cm
Edition of 40 signed, numbered and dated copies

Solid Beeswax slab issued in a cardboard box whose lid is printed with a photograph of one of Laib's beeswax slabs installations.

On Kawara | I Am Still Alive

On Kawara
I Am Still Alive
Berlin, Germany: Edition René Block, 1975
[208] pp., 21 x 24 cm., slipcase
Edition of 450 numbered copies

In 1969, On Kawara sent a telegram that read "I AM NOT GOING TO COMMIT SUICIDE DON’T WORRY", followed by "I AM NOT GOING TO COMMIT SUICIDE WORRY" and " I AM GOING TO SLEEP FORGET IT".

These were followed, a month or so later, with another that read "I AM STILL ALIVE." Almost nine-hundred more identical telegrams would follow, addressed to dozens of friends and acquaintances, for more than three decades. By this time Kawara had stopped writing about or explaining his work. In response to inquiries from journalists or curators, he would typically send a telegram reading "I AM STILL ALIVE".

This first edition by Edition René Block (another would follow in 1978) contains reproductions of the telegrams. It is available here, from Harper's Books, for $1750.00 US.