ALLIE PISARRO-GRANT | DATE 7/11/2011

Deterioration, They Said

In honor of the exhibition Ryan Trecartin: Any Ever, which recently opened at MoMA PS1 to wide acclaim, we are highlighting last year's publication Deterioration, They Said, available here and at our bookstore, ARTBOOK @ MoMA PS1.
Below, a detail of Ryan Trecartin & Lizzie Fitch's 2008 Import Landscape Exploit is reproduced from the book.

This unique publication from JRP|Ringier accompanied an exhibition at the Migros Museum for Contemporary Art in Zurich (Migros Museum fur Gegenwartskunst Zurich) in 2009, featuring works by Cory Archangel, Jessica Ciocci & Jacob Ciocci of Paper Rad, Shana Mouton, and Ryan Trecartin in collaboration with Lizzie Fitch. In the book, curator and editor Raphael Gygax complies information about these contemporary American artists together with critical essays and offbeat, yet related, information on topics such as Garfield the Cat, unicorns, and YouTube. The book is organized into sections from A-Z, a 'structural element' put into place by acclaimed graphic designer Marie Lusa, and the book's unorthodox layout is described by Gygax as imitating the "methods of sampling of the sort employed in the works the exhibition presents." To give you a sense of it, the table of contents is listed below in its entirety :

A - FOR ARCHANGEL, CORY
- On C by Cory Archangel
B - FOR BIOPOLITICS
C - FOR CARNIVALESQUE
D - FOR D(O)I(T)Y(OURSELF) AND BRICOLAGE
E - FOR EXPERIMENTAL FILM / VIDEO
F - FOR FICTION AND NARRATIVE METHODS
G - FOR GARFIELD AND GUMBY
H - FOR HAHAHA OR HYPERREALITY MEETS HYPERMENTAL
I - FOR IDENTITY MARKETING
J - FOR JUNK-STORE AESTHETICS
K - FOR KARMA AND OTHER NEW AGE STUFF
L - FOR LOW TECH
M - FOR MOULTON, SHANA
- Now That I'm a Woman, Everything Is Strange by Thomas Beard
N - FOR NERD
O - FOR OUR OWN COMMUNITY
P - FOR PAPER RAD
- Eleven Evocastions (for Paper Rad) by Ed Halter
Q - FOR QUOTE
R - FOR RHIZOME
S - FOR SPECTACULAR, SPECTACULAR EXCESS
T - FOR TRECARTIN, RYAN & LIZZIE FITCH
U - FOR UNICORN
V - FOR VOID
W - FOR WAR OF FORMS
X - FOR XMAS AND BUY, BUY, BUY
Y - FOR YOUTUBE
Z - FOR ZAK MCKRAKEN AND THE ALIEN MINDBENDERS

Clearly, this is a fun and funny book, but Thomas Beard and Ed Halter (both of Brooklyn's film and electronic arts venue, Light Industries) contribute essays that lend additional critical context for the work. Also of note is the inclusion of Cory Archangel's essay On C, or On Compression, which explains what happens to an image when it becomes a JPEG. The essay is reproduced in full from the book A Couple Thousand Short Films about Glenn Gould, published by Dexter Sinister in 2008.

Below are spreads from Deterioration, They Said.

Above, you see an installtion view of Cory Archangel's 2007 a couple thousand short films about Glenn Gould, alongside text and the artist's bio. Each text in the book appears firstly in English, followed by a German translation.

Above, two pages from Archangel's On C. The text reads: "...Even at high rates of compression, we can still make out the original image...Also, JPEGs don't specify what quantization matrix is used. Photoshop's quantization matrix is different from Canon, etc. etc., so actually one has very little control of the discarded information. Awesome..."

Above, stills from Shana Moulton's 2007 video Whispering Pines 4. Here's a LINK to Moulton's Whispering Pines 3 on YouTube.

Above, another spread of Shana Moulton's work alongside text. To read more about Moulton's work, I recommend Art In General's publication Shana Moulton: The Undiscovered Antique.

Above, another spread from the book. On the left is Jacob Ciocci's 2007 Untitled painting, and on the right are exhibition views of Predrive: After Technology - Jessica Ciocci & Jacob Ciocci at The Mattress Factory Art Museum in Pittsburgh. The Cioccis are founding members of Providence's Paper Rad together with artist Ben Jones. Jones has an upcoming book from PictureBox, Ben Jones & Frank Santoro: Cold Heat - keep an eye out for it.

Above, a spread with Q - FOR QUOTES, R - FOR RHIZOME, S - FOR SPECTACULAR, SPECTACULAR EXCESS on the left, and T - FOR TRECARTIN, RYAN & LIZZIE FITCH on the right. The image is of Trecartin and Fitch's 2008 2 Companies, 1 Bed. Trecartin also collaborated with sculptor Lizzie Fitch for his current show at MoMA PS1. The strange interiors they created lend a sense of uncanny unease to the viewing experience. Below, left, Import Landscape Exploit, and on the right, Early Catcher.

To see more of Maire Lusa's fantastic and destictive book design, check out the following books which are also distributed by DAP: Alex Bag, Yto Barrada: Riffs, Ruedi Bechtler: Flip Flop, Tatiana Trouvé, Between Zones, Malcolm McLaren: Musical Paintings, Tadeusz Kantor, Josephine Meckseper, and It's Time for Action (There's No Option). About Feminism.