Unreleased Press Release #1
July 2016
Young is Old
An artists’ book improvised by Paul Chartrand, Charles Harris, Christof Migone, Sarah Munro, Ruth Skinner, Quinn Smallboy, and Quintin Teszeri with support from the Department of Visual Arts at Western University.
Book Launch Reception
September 29 5-7 PM, John Labatt Visual Arts Centre at Western University
Young is old is young is old is young is old. Is. “But the most important word in the language has but two letters: is. Is … As for the unforeseeable—the next phrase is unforeseeable to me. In the core where I am, in the core of the Is, I ask no questions. Because when it is—it is.”[1] Third person singular present of ‘be’. “To be or not to be … there's the rub / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause.”[2] This page intentionally left blank. “Impossible to represent, it is equally impossible to re-present; we retain neither the image nor the memory of the darkness of anesthesia, of a physiological syncope. Language can evoke it; but thought comes up relentlessly against this nothingness that rejects it violently … we will be just before, or just after, in the rapture of the aura that precedes the attack, or the calm that follows orgasm…”[3] “I want the forest before the book, the abundance of leaves before the pages, I love the creation as much as the created, no, more.”[4] “…there is indeed an original fault—that of having an origin; that of falling short of the glory of atemporal being; that of not awakening oneself to remain oneself, but of awaiting the lesson of light from the dark world.”[5] “Son, don’t wait / till the break of day / ’cause you know / how time fades away / Time fades away / You know how time fades away”[6] “As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end.”[7] Old is young is old is young is old is Young is Old.
[1] Clarice Lispector, Agua Viva
[2] William Shakespeare, Hamlet
[3] Catherine Clément, Syncope: The Philosophy of Rapture
[4] Hélène Cixous, Without End no State of Drawingness no, rather: The Executioner's Taking off
[5] Gaston Bachelard, Intuition of the Instant
[6] Neil Young, Time Fades Away
[7] Bob Marley, One Love (often misattributed to the Bible)
July 2016
Young is Old
An artists’ book improvised by Paul Chartrand, Charles Harris, Christof Migone, Sarah Munro, Ruth Skinner, Quinn Smallboy, and Quintin Teszeri with support from the Department of Visual Arts at Western University.
Book Launch Reception
September 29 5-7 PM, John Labatt Visual Arts Centre at Western University
Young is old is young is old is young is old. Is. “But the most important word in the language has but two letters: is. Is … As for the unforeseeable—the next phrase is unforeseeable to me. In the core where I am, in the core of the Is, I ask no questions. Because when it is—it is.”[1] Third person singular present of ‘be’. “To be or not to be … there's the rub / For in that sleep of death what dreams may come / When we have shuffled off this mortal coil / Must give us pause.”[2] This page intentionally left blank. “Impossible to represent, it is equally impossible to re-present; we retain neither the image nor the memory of the darkness of anesthesia, of a physiological syncope. Language can evoke it; but thought comes up relentlessly against this nothingness that rejects it violently … we will be just before, or just after, in the rapture of the aura that precedes the attack, or the calm that follows orgasm…”[3] “I want the forest before the book, the abundance of leaves before the pages, I love the creation as much as the created, no, more.”[4] “…there is indeed an original fault—that of having an origin; that of falling short of the glory of atemporal being; that of not awakening oneself to remain oneself, but of awaiting the lesson of light from the dark world.”[5] “Son, don’t wait / till the break of day / ’cause you know / how time fades away / Time fades away / You know how time fades away”[6] “As it was in the beginning, so shall it be in the end.”[7] Old is young is old is young is old is Young is Old.
[1] Clarice Lispector, Agua Viva
[2] William Shakespeare, Hamlet
[3] Catherine Clément, Syncope: The Philosophy of Rapture
[4] Hélène Cixous, Without End no State of Drawingness no, rather: The Executioner's Taking off
[5] Gaston Bachelard, Intuition of the Instant
[6] Neil Young, Time Fades Away
[7] Bob Marley, One Love (often misattributed to the Bible)
Hi All,
I think the strategy of making the press release playfully cryptic is a good place to start, but that it will also have to provide the kind of information that one finds in a standard press release. Like descriptive things about the publication (both form and content), about the impetus, the context, etc. In other words, writing a press release is largely a thankless task; it can be injected with some performative writing-type elements, but I think it can't be only that (especially if it becomes an Akimbo).
Best,
Christof
I think the strategy of making the press release playfully cryptic is a good place to start, but that it will also have to provide the kind of information that one finds in a standard press release. Like descriptive things about the publication (both form and content), about the impetus, the context, etc. In other words, writing a press release is largely a thankless task; it can be injected with some performative writing-type elements, but I think it can't be only that (especially if it becomes an Akimbo).
Best,
Christof
Young is Old book launch at Western University
The Department of Visual Arts at Western University is pleased to present the launch of Young is Old, an artists’ book by Paul Chartrand, Charles Harris, Christof Migone, Sarah Munro, Ruth Skinner, Quinn Smallboy, and Quintin Teszeri.
Book Launch Reception
September 29 5-7 PM, John Labatt Visual Arts Centre at Western University
Young is Old, the product of Christof Migone’s 2016 graduate course on improvisation, is a perfect bound artists’ book set within a denim slipcase and published in an edition of 70. Various inserts and interventions punctuate its 168 black and white pages of musical notation, matrices, collages, cut ups, cut outs, slides, negatives, blind contours, photographs, image writing, redacted writing, found writing, forged writing, backwards writing, upside down writing, exquisite corpse writing, anagrammatic writing, palindromic writing, and lists. While it eschews the conceptual tradition of a guiding set of rules – preferring to drift amongst different visual, spatial, and linguistic logics – it remains an unabashed descendent of the Xerox aesthetic, keen to maximize the photocopier’s possibility for spontaneous organization, reorganization, theft, omission, and dissemination. Once the seemingly paradoxical title to do with time and being was decided, the book was sporadically conceived on shared walls, private floors, chalkboards, and screens.
Amongst the improvisation, the syncopation, the making-it-up-as-we-go-along, the popping in and the dropping out, the chasms of white and the Sharpie blackouts – if there is an impetus in there, somewhere, if il y a une raison d’être, quelque part, it can be located in the most dislocated quality of the book: the first 84 pages are the same as the last 84, except they’re rotated 180 degrees, which means telling the first page from the last page is impossible, which means telling the front from the back is impossible, which means what? There are two beginnings, a middle, and no end? Two endings, a middle, and no beginning? Are endings the same as beginnings? Is it a loop? A space-time block? A book?
The Department of Visual Arts at Western University is pleased to present the launch of Young is Old, an artists’ book by Paul Chartrand, Charles Harris, Christof Migone, Sarah Munro, Ruth Skinner, Quinn Smallboy, and Quintin Teszeri.
Book Launch Reception
September 29 5-7 PM, John Labatt Visual Arts Centre at Western University
Young is Old, the product of Christof Migone’s 2016 graduate course on improvisation, is a perfect bound artists’ book set within a denim slipcase and published in an edition of 70. Various inserts and interventions punctuate its 168 black and white pages of musical notation, matrices, collages, cut ups, cut outs, slides, negatives, blind contours, photographs, image writing, redacted writing, found writing, forged writing, backwards writing, upside down writing, exquisite corpse writing, anagrammatic writing, palindromic writing, and lists. While it eschews the conceptual tradition of a guiding set of rules – preferring to drift amongst different visual, spatial, and linguistic logics – it remains an unabashed descendent of the Xerox aesthetic, keen to maximize the photocopier’s possibility for spontaneous organization, reorganization, theft, omission, and dissemination. Once the seemingly paradoxical title to do with time and being was decided, the book was sporadically conceived on shared walls, private floors, chalkboards, and screens.
Amongst the improvisation, the syncopation, the making-it-up-as-we-go-along, the popping in and the dropping out, the chasms of white and the Sharpie blackouts – if there is an impetus in there, somewhere, if il y a une raison d’être, quelque part, it can be located in the most dislocated quality of the book: the first 84 pages are the same as the last 84, except they’re rotated 180 degrees, which means telling the first page from the last page is impossible, which means telling the front from the back is impossible, which means what? There are two beginnings, a middle, and no end? Two endings, a middle, and no beginning? Are endings the same as beginnings? Is it a loop? A space-time block? A book?
I have attached my version of Quintin's previously sent press release.
Best,
Sarah
Best,
Sarah
Many thanks to both Sarah and Quintin. I can put together a final edit and send it to Susan by early next week. I'm also fine with stepping aside if someone else would like to do this, just let me know by Sunday morning. If anyone else wants to add/remove/alter anything between now and then, feel free to email.
Christof
Christof