A collection of essays and visual projects about reading practices by renowned artists and writers.
READING ROOM is over three years in the making. It began with our reading residency series in the fall of 2016: 40 artists and writers were given quiet hours in the dispersed reading room on the Bowery. We then asked our resident readers to document and expand on their reading time. The result is a polyphonic meditation on the act of reading.
Edited by David Richardson. Contributions by Gini Alhadeff, Michael Ballou & David Scher, Eva Barbarossa, Matthew Burgess, D. Graham Burnett & Alyssa Loh, Jimmy Cajoleas, Michael Cunningham, Lisa Dalfino & Francesco Cavaliere in collaboration with Mattia Capelletti & Costanza Candeloro, Jeff Dolven, Hal Foster & Sandy Tait, Yara Flores, Leigh Gallagher, Marie Howe, Alan Huck, Madelyn Kent & Helen Singh-Miller, Vanessa Kowalski, Mary Marge Locker, Marco Maisto, Dorothea von Moltke, John Muse, Leonard Nalencz, Charles Perry, Christopher Potter, Sal Randolph, David Richardson, Luc Rioual, Walker Rutter-Bowman, Liz Scheer, Hermione Spriggs & Curtis Tamm, Paul Soulellis, Randall Szott, Elena Taurke, Sofia Theodore-Pierce, Jennie Uleman, Emma Wippermann, Audra Wolowiec, Caroline Woolard, and Carrie Yamaoka. Photography by Joshua Mathews and M. Perov.
This pocket-sized volume documents an experiment in reading--both its practice and performance--as an act of research and reflection. In 2016, the artist-run platform and publishing initiative dispersed holdings, invited artists and writers to participate in their 'reading residence.' During this time, the Bowery apartment space was transformed into a reading den, where readers were able to use the space and time at their leisure. Published years after the physical project, Reading Room both documents, reflects on, and continues this investigation into the activity of reading--what better year than 2020 to consider one of our most solitary practices. With a mix of visual-verbal essays and reflections from the residents, including Leigh Gallagher, Paul Soulellis, and Caroline Woolard, this volume offers a prescient reflection on an activity for which we have come to have a new appreciation. As co-founder David Richardson concludes in his editor's contribution, 'We offer this book to you such that you might use it to mark out some space and time in the world. Some space and time to read.'--Megan N. Liberty, 20 Best Art Books of 2020, The Brooklyn Rail
Literary Nonfiction. Essays. Collaboration. Poetics. Art. Literary Criticism.
