Ken Friedman | Theatre of the Object: Event Scores 1956-2016

Ken Friedman
Theatre of the Object: Event Scores 1956-2016
Achill Island, Ireland: Redfoxpress, 2016
18 screenprints, 76 pp. book, boxed
Edition of 50 signed and numbered copies

Available for $75 US, from the publisher, here.

Robert Rauschenberg | Opal Gospel

Robert Rauschenberg
Opal Gospel
New York City, USA: Racolin Press, 1971
45.7 × 50.8 cm.
Edition of 230 signed and stamped copies


"Opal Gospel is among Rauschenberg's best known multiples, a three-dimensional "book" consisting of Native American stories, songs, poems and found imagery printed on a series of transparent acrylic pages which rest in a Lucite base. Rauschenberg's design encouraged the viewer to remove and read the various pages and re-arrange them in novel combinations, thus altering the object's appearance and meaning. For him, the work's evocative power was magnified by incorporating the idea of chance, which in this case is provided by the viewer's active participation. Reflecting on the work's content and meaning, Rauschenberg noted that "Spiritually and factually, [Native American] drawings improved the hunt and chronicled their history both generally and personally so that it could be understood by other tribes and other generations. It could be read or felt at one instant. [Art] should be a form of therapy."

- artsmia.org

Xu Bing | Book from the Sky

Xu Bing
Book from the Sky
Beijing, China: Self-published, 1991
50 x 33 x 10 cm.
Edition of 100 signed and numbered copies

Originally created for a monumental installation of books, wall and ceiling scrolls, these hand-woodblock printed books contain four-thousand invented characters that cannot be decoded. Believing that writing is the “essence of culture”, the artist renders all readers illiterate with his pseudo-Chinese characters which appear plausible but in fact carry no discernible meaning.

“Any doctoring of the written word results in transformation at the core of a person’s thinking…My approach is filled with reverence, yet mixed with mockery; as I tease [the written word], I also hold it above the altar.”

- Xu Bing

Daniel Spoerri | Faux Arman par Spoerri

Daniel Spoerri
Faux Arman par Spoerri
Vrai Puces, 1976
20.32 x 53.34 x 7.62 cm.
Edition of 600 signed, titled and dated copies

Faux Arman might be read as a tribute, parody, or a simply a conflation of styles.

50% off Criterion Films

Barnes & Noble (online and in their stores) are offering all Criterion Collection Blu-rays and DVDs for 50% off. The sale ends Monday August 6th. Dancing dogs, talking gorillas and more.

Visit here for details.

Roman Opalka | 1965 / 1-∞

Roman Opalka
1965 / 1-∞
Berlin, Germany: Edition René Block, 1977

12" vinyl LP

Edition of 400

Opalka contributes the cover artwork, liner notes, and the sole voice heard on the recording. Parallel to his panted canvases, which count from one to infinity, the artist speaks the number out loud for a pair of microphones. The disk - hard to come by in good condition - features a gatefold sleeve and one track per side: the twenty-two minute "Detail 1987108-2010495" and the twenty minute "Detail 2136352-2154452."

"It sounded very meditative, but always remained visual art"

- René Block, publisher

Watching Night of the Living Dead

Watching Night of the Living Dead is a re-animation - if you will - of George Romero's 1966 feature Night of the Living Dead, made entirely from scenes in other films, and television shows, where characters are watching the horror classic. Originally named Night of the Flesh Eaters, the film was retitled at the insistence of the distributors, who swapped out the title card and accidentally omitted the copyright symbol. 

This minor clerical error has haunted everyone involved ever since, as it robbed them of all future profits from one of the most lucrative independent movies ever made. With the film not protected by copyright, drive-in theatres could program it without paying royalties, and television stations could air it incessantly. A decade later, it's public domain status led to the VHS market being flooded with unauthorized (but legal) copies, often from substandard prints. 

The word 'zombie' is never used in Night of the Living Dead (Romero thought of them as "dead neighbours") but the film basically set the template for all future iterations of the monster. The contemporary zombie (as portrayed in countless movies, TV shows like The Walking Dead, comics, novels, etc.) owes an enormous debt to Romero. His Zombie is basically the last new popular mythology that is publicly owned. 

Sequels, remakes and adaptations followed, as did the use of the film in other projects. When characters watch television in a film, securing those rights can be costly and time-consuming. If the clip used is in the public domain there is no cost or paperwork. Subsequently, Night of the Living Dead has appeared in countless other productions. 

My project collects these clips and presents them over a bed track of the original film, with I believe about 70% coverage. It stars Anthony Hopkins, Gwyneth Paltrow, Gary Oldman, Victoria Abril, Jennifer Tilley, Amber Lynn, Robin Williams, Cloris Leachman, Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Beverly D’Angelo, Tracy Morgan, Jessica Biel, John Hawkes, Elle Fanning, and a young Ryan Gosling, among others. 

Earlier today the CBC ran a four-and-a-half minute piece about the project, here: 

https://www.cbc.ca/arts/night-of-the-living-dead-has-a-scarier-story-than-you-think-because-copyright-is-terrifying-1.4768307

Thanks to Lise Hosein for the text, and for commissioning the short film, and to Corrie Brough for filming and Erik Sirke for the edit (complete with the classic "coming to get you" line ominously repurposed against me). And thanks to Kristy Trinier, Clayton Smith, Ryan Doherty and everyone at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, for debuting the piece. It continues there until September 9th: 

https://saag.ca/art/exhibitions/0732-watching-night-of-the-living-dead