After the New York Mayor’s office assured the world via Twitter that the Occupy Wall Street library was “safely stored,” it has become apparent that the statement was a half-truth at best.
Books
Posted inBooks
Going Through the Stacks at the 2011 New York Art Book Fair
Now in its sixth year, the New York Art Book Fair, which takes place at MoMA’s hipper sister in Queens, PS1, from September 30 to October 2, features more than 200 exhibitors from Ireland to South Korea. Presented by Printed Matter, the fair is the world’s premier event for artists’ books, contemporary art catalogues and monographs, art periodicals and artist ‘zines. Exhibitors include international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, artists and independent publishers from around the world. As a person susceptible to panic attacks, it is sensory overload city.
Posted inBooks
Digging Into Ai Weiwei’s Online Diary
Reading through detained Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s blog, recently translated by Lee Ambrozy and published as an eponymous book by MIT Press, isn’t fun, and it’s not for the faint of heart. A carefully selected culling of the artist’s massive production of posts between 2006 and 2009, the volume is a guts-and-all portrait of the man who is in all likelihood the most important artist working in the world today. That he remains arrested without charge by the Chinese government only heightens the strained urgency of Ai’s posts, an avalanche of “writings, interviews and digital rants,” as the book’s tagline puts it, that range through political philosophy, aesthetic inquiry and simple documentation of daily life.
Posted inNews
Iconic US Graphic Novel Publisher Calls it Quits
US-focused graphic novel publisher Tokyopop, founded in 1997, has announced that it will be closing the doors on its American operation on May 31. Tokyopop was the first to publish Japanese manga (comics, or graphic novels) in their original, un-flipped state and did much to popularize what has been called the “manga revolution.”
Posted inOpinion
Alternate Realities in a Single Book Cover
Japanese author Haruki Murakami’s latest book, 1Q84, has become a blockbuster hit in the author’s native country, but the English edition is still forthcoming. As a preview, Knopf has released images of the book’s cover, by famous graphic designer Chip Kidd. Using transparent vellum as a jacket, the cover represents the book’s engagement with alternate realities.