Vlasta Čiháková-Noshiro (ed.): Umění akce (1991) [Czech]

Catalogue for a retrospective of performance and action art in Czechoslovakia, held at Mánes, Prague, 9 Jul-11 Aug 1991, and Museum of Art (Považská galéria umenia), Žilina, 16 Aug-29 Sep 1991.

With texts by Věra Jirousová, Jiří Valoch, Ivona Raimanová, Radislav Matuštík, and Vlasta Čiháková-Noshiro.

Publisher Mánes, Prague, 1991
28+[141] pages
via Miloš Šejn

PDF (72 MB)

Gordon Matta-Clark, Carol Goodden, Tina Girouard: Food (2000) [English/German]

An out of print and hard to find exhibition catalog devoted to FOOD, a collaborative artist-run restaurant in Soho, New York City, founded by artists Gordon Matta-Clark, Carol Goodden and Tina Girouard in 1971.

“For a long time, one or another artist, frequently Gordon, cooked up a storm and served it for dinner. There was no choice of what to eat. Some of the food was extremely creative. Although it was not exactly the same thing as 112, most of the same people cooked and ate there and in a sense it was a spin-off of the space around the corner. Of course it has been thought that Food would make money but on the contrary it only lost it.” Caroline Goodden

“We spread money to the whole art world. I worked at Food two and a half to three days a week. One day a week each person was boss. There was lots of Cajun and Creole cuisine, mostly from Louisiana. A lot of the food came from Phil Glass’ group, the vegetarian group; the dancers, Rachel Lew and Suzy Harris. The space was designed so that the audience–the customers–could watch everything. Food became the vehicle for people to be introduced to the art world.” Tina Girouard

“In honor of Food, this publication is presented in the form of a restaurant menu, and documents the artist’s varied and imaginative work, including sculptures, film stills, and photos.”

Publisher Walther König, Cologne, and Cornerhouse, Manchester, 2000
ISBN 3883754358, 9783883754352
48 pages
via Public Collectors

Wikipedia
Interview about FOOD with Richard Nonas (2009)

Exhibition
WorldCat

PDF, PDF (11 MB)

See also a film about FOOD directed by Robert Frank, 1972, 43 min, on UbuWeb.

Bas Jan Ader: Suspended Between Laughter and Tears (2010)

A catalogue to accompany an exhibition of video, photography, installations and archived materials from the estate of the late Dutch-born and California-based conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader, who is assumed to have perished at sea in 1975.

“Ader’s work centers on short-duration acts of physical and emotional release. In the noted film and subsequent photographs titled I’m Too Sad to Tell You (1971), the artist is seen crying directly into the camera amplifying a simple human emotion – grief – into a profound and revelatory experience. Ader also makes use of the force of gravity as a medium in his performance work, as documented in film and photography. His videos, in many respects, bear an explicit physicality, which are the hallmark of many silent films. Other projects, including the unfinished trilogy In Search of the Miraculous (1975), during which the artist disappeared, stretch the boundaries of sentimentalism through existential journey.

Ader frequently referenced Dutch artistic and cultural traditions in his work. Photographs such as On the road to a new Neo Plasticism, Westkapelle, Holland (1971) reveal his interest in Mondrian and the De Stijl movement, which sought simplified compositions to express a utopian harmony. Dutch landscape and still life painting traditions can be seen in videos such as Primary Time (1974), in which he arranges and rearranges a red, blue and yellow bouquet of flowers, and in photographs like Farewell to Faraway Friends (1971), where the artist casts himself as a romantic wanderer – linking himself to the paintings of 19th century German artist Caspar David Friedrich – but ultimately setting the tone for his physical acts of searching.” (sourced from the exhibition website)

Curated by Pilar Tompkins Rivas. Includes interviews with Ader’s widow, Mary Sue Anderson, and essays by Pilar Tompkins Rivas, Andrew Berardini, and Ciara Ennis.

Edited by Kira Poplowski
Publisher Pitzer College, 2010
ISBN 9780982995600
69 pages
HT cesar, via publisher

Publisher

PDF (3 MB, updated on 2023-5-13)

See also selected works (1970-71) of Ader on UbuWeb.