Alfredo Jaar | Life Magazine, April 19, 1968

A 1995 work depicting the funeral of Martin Luther King Jr. The black dots indicate African-American mourners. The red dots identify whites.

John Cage | Other People Think

John Cage
Other People Think
Red Hook, USA: John Cage Trust, 2012
13 pp., 18 x 18 cm., softcover
Edition of 1000 copies.

Organized by Alfredo Jaar to be published on the centennial of Cage's birth, this slim volume presents one of the earliest examples of the composer's writings. The text, an essay about the power relationships between North and South America, was presented in 1927 at the Hollywood Bowl amphitheatre. Cage, representing Los Angeles High School, won first prize at the South California Oratorical Contest. He was fifteen years old.

Alfredo Jaar | August 29th, 1994

Alfredo Jaar
August 29th, 1994
Toronto, Canada: Art Metropole, 1997
16 pp., 20 x 12.7 cm., paper
Edition of 1000, 25 signed by the artist

Alfredo Jaar | It is difficult...

Alfredo Jaar
It is difficult...
Toronto: Art Metropole, 1997
10-sheet billboard, overall dimensions 10 x 20 feet.
Edition of 5 (plus 2 printer's proofs and 1 artist's proof)


The quote comes from William Carlos Williams' long poem Asphodel, That Greeny Flower, from 1955. Below is a longer excerpt.



Of asphodel, that greeny flower,
I come, my sweet,
to sing to you!
My heart rouses
thinking to bring you news
of something
that concerns you
and concerns many men. Look at
what passes for the new.
You will not find it there but in
despised poems.
It is difficult
to get the news from poems
yet men die miserably every day
for lack
of what is found there.
Hear me out
for I too am concerned
and every man
who wants to die at peace in his bed
besides.