Between the Covers

BETWEEN THE COVERS

CATALOGUE (78pp., $2.50) The book is reproduced by what appears to Public Arts International/Free Speech be The rapid-offset process, sometimes 361 Canal Street known by the brand name of the company New York, N.Y. 10013 which pioneered it, ITEK. The illustrations were prepared through screening via xerox. (It may be that the book is xeroxed; it seems open to question.) My''argument with the book is that it doesn't need to look bad. CATALOGUE is a document in book form Economy of means needn't mean poverty of which attempts to record the performance expression. As proof, one need only recall the festival sponsored on May 15-19, 1979, by elegant and stunning performance scores Public Arts International/Free Speech. Edited and posters printed by the late George Ma- by the organizers of the festival, Carol Parkin- ciunas using both ITEK rapid offset and xero- son, Joseph Nechvatal and Cid Collins, it is graphy, or the masterful graphic works of packaged in an attractive black cover with Joseph Beuys done in a variety of cheap white type. Unfortunately, that is the only media during the '60's. Both are well-known part of this book which is genuinely attrac- in New York. Those who wish to dig a bit tive. (Permit a brief clarification: I did not see more deeply into fine printing done cheaply the festival. I am not reviewing the festival, I are commended to the less-known but equal- am reviewing a book.) It was prepared after ly worthy projects of Czechoslovakia's Milan the festival and seems to be intended as a Knizak, J.H. Kocman and Jiri Valoch; document to stand on its own. It does stand Switzerland's John Armleder and the Ecart on its own. It simply doesn't stand well. Even Performance Group; England's David Mayor; if it is not a performance, a book does per- Mexico's Felipe Ehrenberg; Holland's Ulises form for the eye and mind. In a sense, Carrion, Aart van Barnveld and Mick Gibbs; or therefore, the designed book which com- France's Ben Vautier. All are visual artists municates about performance does have a who have been involved with performance. function to "perform" and can offer Their documents and catalogs have found something of its own if executed properly. form in beautiful books and pamphlets done

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/pam.1980.0.3.30 by guest on 24 September 2021 by the least expensive means while com- his two pages alluded, it could have been contemporary America's answer to Davy municating well through strong visual nothing like the work itself. Cummings' Crockett and Mike Fink? Time will tell. At any presentation and useful, readable format. As poetry suffices. Sublette needs more, as did rate, it's clear that with Disband, feminism one reads through this "book" one comes Collins and Nechvatal. This is particularly the has found a good, pushy voice which mat- across single spreads and presentations that case given the hints toward content offered ches any macho band of guys in the house. have real potential. It might be a far more in- by the story at the right of his two-page teresting book if it were presented well. The spread. Jackson Mac Low's pages work as visual art, poor presentation unfortunately makes a bad Jeffrey Lohn and Yoshimasa Wada offer too. Mac Low, always the master, was blend of promising contents. the another best pages in the book. Both Lohn and Wada smart one. The genius of words and sound knew that in context, The contents themselves are rather intrigu- knew something the others didn't. They knew his words would ing. Despite being continually rendered inef- enough to understand disappear. Ergo: he used none, and as a poet, that the book was he is fective by poor presentation, quite a few bound to be a failure as a publication by vir- heard all the more audibly for his pages have a lot to offer. (How true the tue of the way in which it was being compil- choice. lessons Dick Higgins taught at Something ed. Failing to be able to release much infor- Willoughby Sharp's piece doesn't matter if it Else Press: good design does make a dif- mation at all, the best bet was to produce a was performed. He includes his phone ference!) Theodora Skiptares offers a story of one-two punch which would serve more as a number at the end of the male and female the historic Theodora, a Byzantine Empress, strong little artwork-as-ad than anything else. elements of "The Phone is My Clone" and in- which is charming in its simplicity and in- Lohn's torn photo of himself playing the vites the reader to carry on the performance structive for the sociological data it presents. keyboard stands next to a curt note bearing with him. This is another good use of the (Note that I said sociological and not social. his name. Yoshi Wada faces a school photo space allotted. Joseph Nechvatal's epilogue It is sociological because it studies and from 1948 against a photo from 1949. Both ar- reminds the reader that "The-forms we have describes social situations and information. tists made works which function well in the seen (in the catalogue) are but remnants from One of the minor triumphs of the recent visit book, rather than works which either remind a total picture." True enough. But this could of Joseph Beuys to America was the neat those who were there of what they saw or have been a total picture in itself as a book. distinction he drew between those two terms. frustrate those who weren't there with an un- An American artist asked him about his successful hint. "sociological art." Beuys noted, before answering, that his art was "social, not Disband, the orchestra of Ingrid Sischy, Ilona sociological.") Granet, Diane Torr, Donna Henes, and Mar- PERFORMANCE BY ARTISTS (320pp., $18.00) tha Wilson presents a funky four-page spread Edited by A. A. Bronson and Peggy Gale. A photograph of a piece by Cid Collins and which is workable precisely because they of- Art Metropole Joseph Nechvatal on pages 35 and 36 is fer completed works. They don't present their 217 Richmond Street West forceful. The words-in a neat block, well- performance. A quirky photo of the band with Toronto, Canada M5V 1W2 balanced visually-indicate that the piece its back to the audience is first, doing a had something to do with Tibetan Buddhism. reverse Rockettes leg-kick somewhat remi- A shame not to know more. (The layout of the niscent of a publicity shat by Paul Revem knd The essence of Performance by Artists can pages suggests that if everyone in this the Raiders (remember them, rock fans?). well be summed up catalog had worked at it, perhaps the book Then ... simple: the lyrics to three songs. You by the note in the first would have worked in this format. Unfor- paragraph, stating that tpe book is offered can't hear the music, you can't catch the ac- with "a narrow tunately, Collins and Nechvatal must be inex- tion, but the lyrics work as lyrics. Good time reference in the present perienced enough as editors not to have enough. I must and a broad geographic one." The problem admit that I have never ceas- with known that one of the tasks of an editor is to ed to wonder about Wilson's the book is that in scope and in the word piece, "The that has been out on the grapevine, plan on the fact that very few artists are good Snatch Song." I've never heard it. Some day I the book documentarians of their own work.) Sally must. It is, well .. peculiar. It's got a is considered a "major anthology" with all rare mix that the term implies: serious Cummings' poetry has lovely moments. It of crudity and sexuality mixed with little-kid research, heavy scholarship, and a comprehensive viewpoint. portrays travel, and has the flavor of travel brag-talk that really packs a wallop. about it. The line "in the daylight, it is easier Altogether, however, the brag-talk If this book I? .nderstood as a sampler, to believe that you're heading somewhere," transcends the school-yard squabbles of lit- selected by the editors with regard to what in- is a gem of a motto for those who travel much tle girls and comes more closely to resemble terests them, it is an excellent book. As a ma- at all. Having heard Ned Sublette, however; I that old frontier brag-talk for which the early jor anthology, it fails for precisely the know that whatever the work was to which I American West was famed. Is Martha Wilson reasons that it succeeds as a sampler ... it

Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/pam.1980.0.3.30 by guest on 24 September 2021 is far too limited and subjective. This subject- writers who produce well were not given I ive attitude seems to me reflected in the ar- clear enough task, but were each seemingly tists selected for presentation, a mixture in- asked to "do something." That's a mistak e cluding international inevitables (Acconci, when the something they all do lies not onl y Anderson, Beuys) and a scattering of others. perhaps slightly off their specialties, but ir More than a few significant performance ar- the aggregate becomes too ambiguous with tists are absent. in the whole. The massive collection of FD F The commentaries offer little which is not talented writers used here could have pro available elsewhere. The one piece of major dvuced much more forceful work with focus i work offered in Performance Art is a singular- advance (structural editing, not textua ly rich piece of scholarship by Bruce Barber editing). Janmie entitled "Indexing: Conditionalism and Its Heretical Equivalents." In his text, Barber Performance by Artists is unquestionably a traces the evolution of the application of good book. It can be recommended as a sup - words to art, and-incidentally, but to good plement, and-when the definitive anthology canm"vas purpose-demonstrates the application of on performance becomes available-it wil appropriate scholarly technique to the under- be a useful supplement. As one of the first Co standing of art. The other texts are solid "major anthologies'' on performance enough, by critics and writers I respect however, it had a responsibility it did no deeply-but nothing has been brought to- fulfill. It lacks those qualities which would in soho 148 spring st. to either reader o gether here in a manner compelling enough make a compelling book r to make the book come alive as as book. It re- researcher, with the exception of the Barbe call 966-2661 nyc n.y. mains a scattered collection. text. The talents of the editors and the stature of artists and authors included are The bibliography, suggested at the beginning such that this is twice lamentable-first for as a somewhat comprehensivist addendum what could have been, second for the fact which would make up for the narrow frame of that this cast could have done it with only a the basic book, is sadly lacking. One wishes slightly greater effort. that in addition to his article, Barber had compiled the bibliography. A bibliography compiled with the rigor of conception and the clarity of execution that Barber brings to bear Ken Friedman is an artist and editor of Art Ex- would have in itself been worth the price of press. SUBSCRIPTION/ORDER the book. FORM Several comments on the book seem proper. First, in a 320-page book, there was enough See Last Page room for more material than is presented here. The format is spacious. So spacious that with a little redesign about one third again as much information could have been included. In that additional space, a greater variety of selections could have been added to this material, with an eye toward a larger catholicity of expression. The geography ARTSPERFORMANCE Magazine is interested in does range wide-the varieties of expression and viewpoint, however, are not as wide- receiving short essays on aesthetics and theory, ranging as they may seem at a quick glance. and reviews of performance, music, video, dance. The pieces, to some degree, lack the focus and literary events from around the world. that a little advance editorial direction might have brought up. To a certain degree, good

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