Jalal Toufic: Forthcoming (2000/2014)

“Jalal Toufic is a thinker whose influence in the Beirut artistic community over the past two decades has been immense—notwithstanding that, as he put it, many, if not all of his books, most of which were published by Forthcoming Books, ‘continue to be forthcoming even after their publication.’ In relation to one of these books, he wondered: ‘Does not a book titled Forthcoming suggest, ostensibly paradoxically, a second edition?’ Here’s the revised edition of Forthcoming, a book first published nearly a decade and a half ago by Atelos press.” (Series editors Julieta Aranda, Brian Kuan Wood, Anton Vidokle)

“I once wrote, ‘I am not able to find my thoughts without passing through his [Jalal Toufic’s] words, books, and concepts.’ Now, eight years later, things seem to have gotten worse (or better). Jalal wrote in Distracted: ‘— Are you saying this to me? — Also to myself. One should speak solely when also speaking to oneself. Only then is there a dialogue.’ I can also think of the following situation: ‘— Are you saying this to me? — Yes. And not to myself. And only to you.’ Or an instance in which the following is heard: ‘— Are you saying this to me? — Also to myself. One should speak solely when also speaking to oneself. Only then is there a duologue.’” (Walid Raad)

First published by Atelos, Berkeley, CA, 2000.

Second edition
Publisher Sternberg, Berlin, 2014
e-flux journal series
ISBN 9783956790553, 3956790553
296 pages

Interview with author (Aaron Kunin, Rain Taxi, 2001).
Review: Publishers Weekly (2001).

Author
Editors
Publisher
WorldCat

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Camel Collective (ed.): The Second World Congress of Free Artists: In Three Acts (2013)

“This is a research project that culminated in a six-hour theatrical performance building upon the First World Congress organized in Alba, Italy, in 1956 by Asger Jorn and Pinot Gallizio among others. The Aarhus performance marks a collaboration with six actors and over 30 writers in the performance of original scripts that offer assessment and analysis of the political conditions of artistic higher education, classroom power relations, and the inherent tensions between audience and performer.”

Contributors: Camel Collective (DK/US/MX), Mirene Arsanios (LB), UKK (DK), The YES! Association (SE), Benj Gerdes and Jenn Hayashida (US/SE), Colin Lang (US), Ditte Lyngkaer Pedersen (DK), Sande Cohen (US/TH), Zachary Cahill (US), Eduardo Abaroa (MX), Javier Toscano (MX), Ashley Hunt (US), Johannes Raether (DE), Temporary Institute For Witchpower (DE), Michael Ashkin (US), Andrea Creutz with Sebastien Berthier & Shirin Sabahi (SE), Anthony Davies, Nils Norman, and Howard Slater (UK), Carlos Motta (CO/US), Sean Dockray (Public School) (US), Mónica Castillo (MX), Rum46 (DK), Mary Walling Blackburn (Anhoek School) (US), Dario Azzellini and Oliver Ressler (AT/IT), C. Krydz Ikwuemesi (NG), Miklos Erhardt (HU), J. Morgan Puett, Eva Diaz (US), Sam Gould/Red76 (US), Flo Maak (DE).

Edited by Camel Collective (Anthony Graves, Carla Herrera-Prats, and Lasse Lau)
Publisher Aarhus Kunsthall, Aarhus, 2013
ISBN 9788792025272, 8792025277
296 pages

Congress website (archived)
Photo documentation
Book launch
Editors
WorldCat

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Johanna Drucker: Alphabetic Labyrinth: The Letters in History and Imagination (1995–) [EN, SR]

“The alphabet is at once familiar and mysterious. Its letters have been the object of speculation since their invention almost four thousand years ago; the symbols represent sounds, yet they exist in their own right, often invested with quasi-magical power. Johanna Drucker, who teaches art history at Yale University, examines the imaginative and idiosyncratic ways in which the letters of the alphabet have been assigned value in political, spiritual, or religious belief systems over two millennia. The first book to explore fully this colorful, poetic, and frequently eccentric realm, The Alphabetic Labyrinth is richly complemented by images that have rarely or never before been reproduced. Drawing on a wide variety of little-known sources, both literary and artistic, the author adds a new and exciting chapter to the history of ideas which will prove fascinating to cultural historians, art historians, and anyone interested in the history of writing.”

Publisher Thames and Hudson, London, 1995
ISBN 0500016089, 9780500016084
315 pages

Reviews: Ellen Lupton (Eye, 1995), Cliff Pickover (Leonardo, 1999).

WorldCat

The Alphabetic Labyrinth (English, 1995, 18 MB)
Alfabetski lavirint (Serbian, trans. Branislav Kovačević, 2006)