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hopeshoodie · 3 years

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The 5 best and worst dressed islanders in S2

To begin, these are all just my opinions.

Starting off with a spicey take, I think Bobby’s the fifth most poorly dressed islander. I say all of that tentatively because the individual pieces are good, I just think the pairings should’ve been better.

I like the shape of his clothes- the unbuttoned short sleeve patterned shirt is really hot right now, the short shorts for his swimsuit, patterned blazer- but I think a lot of the colors and pairings don’t look great. His iconic button up shirt is fine, but the pastel pants, purple shorts, and hawaiian blazer could look better with different colors.

The styling on the statement pieces could be better too. I wish he had a buttoned shirt underneath the hawaiian print blazer. I wish his swim trunks were patterned. I wish they had paired the unbuttoned shirt with some cigarette pants.

He’s got the idea, but lacks the polish that some of the other male islanders have. Even Felix’s outfits seem to match better and have more cohesion.

But his kilt outfits goes off though. For his kilt and his button up short sleeve, I’ll put him head of the rest of them.

My issues with Elisa’s outfits are much the same as Bobby’s- she has some unique ideas but I don’t like how the execution ended up.

I like her in the y2k silhouette- low rise swimsuits and pants, halter tops, and empire waist belts. But the fringe is a weird element, and it mixes a lot of modern stuff like the athletic straps and chains with those elements.

As I’ve said before I think Elisa would be more of a silver and rich jewel tones kind of girl.

Her sleepwear is... Tragic. I like the high waist with hip cut outs as an idea, but the top looks bad with it. The way the two athletic straps cut her body and the top looks to big... Not a fan. It’d be cute with a long/baggy shirt.

Clothing made out of chains is super in right now- but the belt on the outside of the chains is Not It (TM) and the chains should be bigger (because as it is I can’t tell if it’s thread/fabric or proper metal chain).

I get that Henrik has a cohesive theme of granola, but that doesn’t make it not bad

I hate both of his tunic-style shirts. They’re too long and they don’t look good with his pants. Just crop them.

Wearing a carabiner on your pants? In the villa? Jail.

Those shoes are INEXCUSABLE you are not a 58 year old lesbian going kayaking stop it.

This isn’t super suprising, but ugh I hate Blake’s styling.

The metallic fabric of her dress reminds me of that metallic stretch fabric that was really popular in the 2010s? Like the stuff that every other skirt in Forever 21 was made of? And the shape of it is super dated as well

WHO THOUGHT THOSE BUCKLES WERE A CUTE IDEA

In general, the shoes and buckles and design really give me 2012 Seventeen Magazine vibes

46 year old accountant motherfucker. I know he only has to wear vests and khakis to work, but this is his idea of what looks nice?

THE SHOESSSSS. WHAT ARE THOSSEEEEEEEEE?!?!!

The button up shirt isn’t bad but why that shade. Why the nastiest, dingiest shade possible.

None!!! Of his jackets!! Match his pants!!!! They’re not the same shade where it’s a full suit and they’re not complimentary colors they just look bad together.

There’s something to be said for different blazer styles (I love Elijah’s double breasted jackets, you don’t see that very often) but ugh I hate Carl’s. The pockets are too big, there’s too many auxiliary buttons, it just looks like an old man’s suit jacket.

All of his pants are belted and I hate the belts. I hate the belts they chose so much.

BEST DRESSED

I didn't finish making this post, but it was going to be

5. Rahim. He and Noah are tied for this position but Rahim gets it because Noah's casual denim jacket with nothing underneath is a miss. But they both have really nicely paired evening wear, swim trunks that suit them, and a defined identity within their wardrobe.

4. Arjun- his clothes are so well matched, he plays around with colors that all look stunning on him, he has a clear identity, and his wardrobe is a bit more unique than the other boys. Felix could be here with his florals, but that sleeveless hoodie is a crime. Elijah could also be here, I love his pairing a suit jacket and shorts and also his double breasted jackets, but I feel like the colors/fabrics clash.

3. Hope- she and Marisol both have really distinct, curated looks. I was leaning towards Marisol, but she kind of does the same thing over and over again- plain fabric in black or white with classic cuts. Hope is more creative, she has a clear theme and style but uses different patterns and all of her clothing creates different silhouettes. My only complaint with Hope's look is that she doesn't really have an identifiable color motif, but I love it anyways because the animal print is tasteful and distinct. Her prom dress is my favorite outfit in the show.

2. Lottie. Obviously. She has the most different outfits out of anyone, they all match her very distinct aesthetic but are different from each other enough to be interesting. Her prom dress is to die for.

1. KASSAM. The perfect balance of having a unique style but finding pieces that bridged the style and what would be typically worn on a reality show. I'm willing to bet Kassam has crazier looks but the looks he chose look polished, have a clear identity, are well paired, and have awesome finishings that make him and his clothes fun to look at.

#final trash dump

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dissociativecrow · 4 years

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Doing #12-20 because why the fuck not.

[[MORE]]

12. Tips to allies?

Everyone with DID/OSDD is different, so the best advice I can offer is ask your loved one how they want to be treated. Remember that they're a human being, the media stereotypes about this disorder are shitty (seriously, don't believe ANY media stereotypes about a mental illness! Ever!), and they're probably dealing with some tough stuff! Offer a listening ear, and if they say anything like "if you have any questions, let me know!" that's a great opportunity to take an interest in your loved one's life and ask some questions! This stuff can be really lonely.

Also, don't freak out or make a big deal of it if someone else is fronting. Just treat them like a new friend. It's also common in dissociative disorders to have identity confusion and memory issues, so be patient with us 💚.

13. Do you want to integrate?

I want us to continue to get better, however that looks. We're just continuing to work on internal communication and cooperation and trying to make sure everyone's okay. (...Keyword "trying") That's technically a form of integration in itself.

In the more stereotypical fusion sense... feel like we've technically integrated quite a few before? Back in 2018 PTSD Hell there were constant flashbacks and a lot of extremely simple fragments that... Were basically just Stuck In Time? Like... We had a count in the 40s or 50s at some point, but it all just felt like little pieces of intense memories no one could hold onto. After a lot of trauma processing last year it just kinda feels like it's not a big thing anymore, like those memories are easy to access and less scary and less time-stuck.

But we've also never had any of the more Rounded Alters(tm) have a fusion that stuck. (...besides whatever Rush and Sav did recently). But we feel a lot closer as a group and the barriers between some of us feel fuzzier. I'm happy with that, I think. Who knows what the future holds. If we're happy and ok, so am I.

14. What's your system's name?

We don't have one. The people who know we're trans call us by the host's name. Work and school calls us by our legal name, but hopefully that'll eventually change. Some people in the DID community call us Cor& as a collective but it's never really stuck.

15. Do you have any subsystems?

Oh Yes.

Beck, Felix, and Ruth (who might be a subsystem on her own) seem to be part of one.

Damien and Sav/Rush are.

Crow, Jon, Copernicus, (Hi, blurry combination of the three rn) and Beck are pretty close and sometimes hard to distinguish, but I don't know if I'd consider us a subsystem.

I think there's a few others I'm missing.

16. What do y'all disagree on?

Religion. Family and friends. What to do with our life. Politics. Work. Whether we Deserve Things or not. Interests. What to do on a day-to-day basis. Etc. Bro, the better question is what do we agree on. Like, we can agree on clothes, usually? Usually clothes?

17. What are the religions of each alter?

Crow doesn't care about it. Beck is a very progressive Christian. G's into Witchy Spirituality Stuff. Ruth is pretty fundie. Jon and Copernicus are agnostic atheists. I can't remember the rest right now, but we have A Variety. A lot of it's due to how we grew up.

18. Have you "come out" as a system?

Our partner knows, our therapist knows, a few dear friends know, and occasionally we'll mention having a dissociative disorder on our main blog if it's relevant. It's not as much of a Huge Shameful Secret as it used to be, but I think the amount of people who know right now is good. No desire to be out at work or to family or the general public, haha. The people that matter, know.

19. How's your memory?

Well, uh we have unmedicated ADHD on top of all this, so...

You can imagine. Lol.

On the plus side, I don't think we get full blackouts. On the downside... Our memory's not reliable enough to say that for certain. xD

20. Any tips for new systems?

Yes. Be nice to yourselves. ALL of them. Even, and especially, the mean ones. They're probably the ones who need it the most.

DON'T worry if your experiences don't match up with what you see in Tumblr. Most of the people in the community here have known for years and have had way more time to develop communication, AND there's a big, like, DID Community Culture, that isn't applicable to everyone.

If there's a loud voice in your head yelling at you and telling you you're faking all this and you're stupid for even considering it, trust me, you're not alone in that.

Read up on system responsibility. No mental illness is an excuse to be cruel to pqeople.

Be patient. Try not to compare yourself to others with the disorder. This is about your experience alone.

Try to get some kind of professional help. You deserve it.

Learn some grounding skills, learn about triggers, learn about complex PTSD. It tends to come with the package.

Being new to all this can be really scary. I promise it'll settle down and become sort of a part of daily life at some point.

#multiplicity month #personal

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xsmagazine-blog · 7 years

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[interview] AA Bronson

AA 브론슨(b.1946 캐나다)의 작품이 광주비엔날레에서 대거 소개됐다. 그의 작품이 설치된 팔각정 창작스튜디오는 에로틱한 영적 치유의 기운이 가득했다. <AA 브론슨의 수치심의 집>이라 명명된 이 나선형의 전시장에서 관객을 처음 맞는 작품은 TM 데이비가 캔버스에 유화로 그린 <마법의 숲 속 AA>. 더 가까이 들어와 보라는 듯 AA 브론슨이 오달리스크 자세로 유혹의 손길을 보낸다. 건식 사우나를 연상케 하는 마른 쑥 향과 달달한 향내가 진동하는 1층 전시장 안쪽으로 들어서면 ‘마법의 숲’이 펼쳐 진다. 건물 중앙의 벽감에 발을 치고 대나무 돗자리를 깔고 앉은 브론슨이 MoMA의 C-MAP팀과 인터뷰를 하고 있었다. 널부러진 위스키병, 마른 안주, 타고 있는 초와 향 등으로 구성된 현장 설치 작업 <퀴어 영혼들의 초혼제>는 무명 게이들의 죽음을 애도하는 제단이자, 은밀한 만남의 장소다. 그는 1969년 펠릭스 파츠(Felix Partz), 요르헤 존탈(Jorge Zontal)과 함께 ‘제너럴 아이디어(General Idea)’를 결성, 25년 동안 동고동락했다. 잡지 《FILE》(1972~89)를 창간해 펑크, 퀴어 이론, 에이즈 엑티비즘 등의 문제를 이슈화했다. 1994년 에이즈 합병증으로 멤버 모두가 세상을 떠나자, 그는 큰 실의에 빠져 5년 동안 아무것도 할 수 없었다고 한다. 아픈 동료를 위해 배웠던 테라피 요법을 전문적으로 연구하기 시작했고, 1999년부터 심령술을 접목한 작품을 발표하며 인생과 작업에 전환기를 맞았다. AA 브론슨은 뉴욕 독립 출판계의 전설이다. ‘힙스터 미학’을 대표하는 사진작가 대쉬 스노우는 생전 그가 운영하던 ‘프린티드 메터(Printed Matter, Inc.)’에서 책을 판매하는 것이 소원이었다고 말했을 정도. 2004년부터 6년 간 이곳을 운영하며 젊은 예술가들의 예술 창작욕을 고취하고, 911사건 이후 몰락한 뉴욕의 독립 출판계를 화려하게 부활시켰다. 2005년에는 뉴욕북아트페어를 성공적으로 출범시켰고, 2013년에는 펀딩 디렉터를 맡아 LA에도 북아트페어를 개최했다. 전시장 3층을 빼곡하게 채운 큐레토리얼 프로젝트 <퀴어 진스>는 독립 출판물에 관한 그의 관심과 게이라는 정체성이 집약돼 있다. 필립 아론스와의 협업으로 완성된 아카이브에는 1970년대부터 현재까지 출간된 퀴어 출판물이 한데 모아 있다. 비엔날레의 본전시장에서 섬처럼 떨어진 이 ‘집’에서 한국 관객은 어떤 종류의 ‘수치심’을 느끼게 될까?(K)

The most impressive moment at Gwangju Biennale was the pagoda building where your art works were exhibited. In particular, I remember the third floor. At the first and second floors, we could see some fantastic mood, a religious sublimity, a shamanism unconsciousness, etc., all being mixed with each other. When we arrived at the third floor, we felt that we had met a historical scene that was unknown or almost forgotten. Of course, it was a part of the gay sub-culture history. However, I thought that it was a moment when we faced a primitive historicity of the medium 'zine.' We know that it was presented several times at the art book fair. We wish you would explain to us about the magazine introducing the art work.

Yes, the third floor was entirely different from the first and second floor. There I presented an exhibition-within-the-exhibition, titled "QUEER ZINES". I first put together Queer Zines for the NY Art Book Fair in 2008. The collector Philip Aarons approached me with the idea. He was interested in the phenomenon of the queer zine. They begin in the late seventies, and the earliest seem to emerge from the explosion of punk zines that started in 1976 in London. Like punk, queer zines are made by people who feel estranged from society, with the philosophy of "Just do it!". The punks were also publishing their own records in small quantities and exchanging them with each other. Queer zines were mostly made by people who did not feel part of the gay liberation movement; they felt like outsiders, even in homosexual culture. With their zines, they could find each other, and most people traded zines in the mail. I think of this exhibition as an "artwork" by me... it is not "curated" in the normal way.

It might be an unnecessary worry, but many Korean readers may well doubt why your interview is featured in our planned edition about 'independent publication.' Why should it be a zine? Or, why should it be an independent publication? I thought that your art activities were inseparable from the independent publications. In 1960s, I mean when you were energetic enough to change the world anew as 'a hippie,' what did the independent publication mean for you? (I understand that your first work was an underground newspaper, "The Loving Couch Press.")

In the 60s, the web offset press was designed and became popular. This was a printing machine that allowed for small-run production of newspapers and magazines. The result was the phenomenon of the "underground newspaper". Underground newspapers were published by hippies and other underground and alternative groups across Europe and North America, as well as Australia. Prior to this time, independent publications were usually small poetry presses, run by poets. But this was an entirely new phenomenon, something that could change the face of culture.

Your full-scale magazine production was "FILE," a model of the general ideas. It might be a work using the magazine as a medium. Anyway, it was your model project that had lasted longest from 1972 until 1989. Please, explain to us how you started the project, in terms of its process, background, and contents of the magazine. (I once heard that there had been a considerably conservative but small artists' community in Toronto. Do you remember an episode regarding the atmosphere at that time?)

Yes, we began FILE because we were very unhappy with the art world in Canada and especially with the magazine Arts Canada. We felt that we needed our own art magazine, and so we started FILE. At the beginning it was a kind of diary, showing projects by ourselves and our friends, work that mostly we received in the mail. But after some years it developed into a magazine of artists' projects. At that point we became bored, and stopped. Our first subscribers were Andy Warhol and Joseph Bueys.

I read that you had repeatedly read Robert's Smithson's essay "Incidents of mirror-travel in the Yucatan" that had been featured in "Art Forum" in 1969. When you were producing "FILE," do you remember having been affected or inspired by any work or figure? If so, how were you affected or inspired? (We hope you will explain to us about the movement of the art scenes at that time.)

Yes, that is right! You have doe your homework! Other artists who inspired us at that time were Andy Warhol, with the Factory, the way in which his social activity generated his art activity, not to mention Interview Magazine. And also Joseph Beuys, mostly for his enormous production of low cost multiples and his philosophy of direct democracy. We were also big fans of the Velvet Underground, William Burroughs, and Yves Klein. We were interested in a certain kind of performance too, especially Yoko Ono.

Although it can hardly be simplified, the timing when you started your art activities is overlapped with conceptual artists' emergence. At that time, those conceptual artists concentrated on the art works like publications, which deviated from the existing art works. Could your earlier work be evaluated in such context of the art history? (One common point I feel might be a resistance to the art market.)

Yes, that is right. The conceptual artists and the Fluxus artists were mostly just a little older than us. Like them, we resisted the art market (not difficult to do in Canada, as there was no art market there at the time). Also at the same time, Gilbert & George appeared, who were the same age as us--we exchanged stuff in the mail all the time, publications and small editions.

What was a characteristic of “FILE” production in its process? I would like you to explain to us about its production process. (printing methods, selection of contents, sales, etc.)

FILE was a newspaper pretending to be a magazine. There were usually 64 pages, in an edition of 3,000, printed on newsprint, with a glossy cover added afterward. It was based on the design of LIFE Magazine so that it would look familiar on a newstand. It cost almost nothing to print, which was lucky, as we had no money. Jorge and Felix and I would choose the contents our of things that people sent us in the mail. This was the time of mail art, and sometimes we would get 30 or 40 or even more packages from artists each day. We sent the first three issues out for free. We sent one to every person we could think of who we thought was interesting. Mostly these people were in New York or Europe, and somehow word got around quite fast about this new kind of magazine--nothing like this existed at the time. Evetually we realized that there was always one "trendy" store in every mid-sized city in Europe and North America, and these were the stores that sold FILE nest. We also tried to reach as many libraries as possible.

Since "FILE" was published as a book in 2008, we could reconfirm its history. How can we attach a historical meaning to "FILE"? Oliver Zahm of "Purple" magazine said that "FILE" had been a role model when he began to make magazine at the age of 17. I remember the passage "an alternative to the alternative press" that was the last editorial of "FILE" in 1989. Not only you produced a magazine, but you also established an artist run center "Art Metropole" in Canada in 1974. What was the motive for it?

Art Metropole grew out of FILE. The distribution of FILE was quite successful and other artists began asking our advice. We began Art Metropole as a distribution center for artists publications and low cost multiples but also as an archive of the same materials.

What programs were run there?

Art Metropole was a role model of Printed Matter founded by Sol LeWitt, Lucy Lippard, Carl Andre, Walter Robinson, etc., in New York in 1976. Since 2004, you have been a director of the institution. You were active in New York for long, but you might have been subject to various mixed feelings when they offered you the director. What was your sentiment, then?

I lived in New York from 1986 through to 2012. When Printed Matter asked me to join the Board of Directors in the 90s, I was very pleased to do so. I love books and I love Printed Matter. In 2004, the organization was having big financial problems. It seemed like it might have to close. The Board asked me to work as Director for 6 months, to see if I thought it could be saved. In the end I worked there for 6 years instead. In that period I also founded the NY Art Book Fair and the LA Art Book Fair. Printed Matter became the center of an international co I am very mmunity of artists and independant publishers. At the most recent NY Art Book Fair there were more than 350 exhibitors from more than 25 countries.

When you were appointed the director of Printed Matter, what roles, missions or vision were given to you? When you began to work for them, we know that people interest in the independent publication was quite different than now. When Printed Matter greeted its 30th anniversary, the first art book fair was held in New York in 2006. Many people indicate that you played a central role in upholding New York as the center of art books. We wonder why you started the art book fair again. Was there an internal or external special purpose on you?

When I began working at Printed Matter, I was very aware that most of the art book stores in New York had closed. At one time New York was a world center for art books, but that time was gone. Famous art booksellers, like George Wittenborn and Jaap Rietman, were gone, and even the museum bookshops were getting smaller and smaller. The idea of the first NY Art Book Fair was to try to establish New York as a gathering place for art book publishers once more. At the same time, it allowed us to see the new books that people were doing, to order books for ourselves, and also to meet the artists and publishers and make new friendships and networks. The first NY Art Book Fair was organized very quickly. In three months we had 70 exhibitors, from large publishers like Taschen, to small artist-run publishers doing political work. The DIA Foundation donated the space in a building around the corner from Printed Matter and everything happened very quickly.

The art book fair or the book store selling small-scale independent publications seems to set a kind of 'art community building' as a Utopian idea. Not only artists but also publishers, curators, gallerists, critics, etc., gather together. Of course, the vision or goal of the community is quite different among people. How about you? We feel your (common) work always starts from such an idea...

Yes, I am--and have always been--a community builder. I think my important accomplishment during this period at Printed Matter was to build an international community of art publishing friends, with their annual get-together at the NY Art Book Fair. It is exciting to see the happy faces, and to see how many new projects begin with the friendships that are formed there.

Now, New York Art Book Fair has been established as the hottest event where young international artists gather. As a leader of this event, what do you think is the secret of its 'success'? Why have so many people been enthusiastic about New York Art Book Fair? (I could not but help bursting into laugh at the scene where you showed an ATM machine at a speech.) I would like to use the expression 'poor but sexy.' I remember that Holland Cotter of "New York Times" defined the first New York art book fair as such. "“The NY Art Book Fair…is evidence that alternative is still vital, sexy, and free.”

I think the secret to its success is to always say 'yes'. Say yes to the most unknown but energetic young artists who want to make a difference in the world. Say yes to the small publishers with experimental ideas. Say yes to the old-fashioned antiquarians, who love their artists books, and who know more than anybody. Say yes to the art librarians, who have made such a fantastic success of our annual conference at the NY Art Book Fair. Include as many people as possible as long as they are passionate, fun, and smart. It helps if they are attractive too. Many people have remarked on how sexy the audience is at the NY Art Book Fair but I often think it is mostly because people are excited and happy to be there, they have a real energy and that makes the fair sexy too.

If there was the widest difference between you as an active general idea striker and those who were engaged in 'independent publications,' what was it? Q 6-6. At a speech you explained about the Russian constructivism, Dadaism, Fluxus and other art trends. Then, you said that "the history of an artist's independent publication started with resistance." Some people express that you are 'counter-culture guerrilla." Other people question that 'resistance' is still relevant to the independent publication. It is doubtful that the enthusiasm about the independent publications might be another way to approach another commercial system. What is your position between the enthusiasm and cynicism surrounding the independent publications?

Yes, this is true, and I think it is still true about many artists' publications. Publishing is an easy cheap way to get your ideas out into the world, especially if those ideas do not agree with the mainstream marketplace. But the territory of the artists' book can be shared with all kinds of people. In fact it takes all kinds of people to make a community. So I always tried to include more commercial publishers too, where their enthusiasm for the artists was genuine, and the publishing was of high quality.

At an interview in 2010, you said you feared that the New York Art Book Fair might be 'institutionalized'. What kind of 'feared'? As the event has grown, it might well have faced various problems. We fear that the essence of 'independent publication' would be tarnished in terms of its connection with the conventional art institutions. If there is a problem against its success, what is it? And how much do you say the art book fair has been successful?

The NY Art Book Fair has been incredibly successful. My fears were (so far) unfounded. I was afraid that all the big publishers would join in and take over the fair, but that has not been the case. And I completely underestimated the number of small publishers in the world, and the size of the community that they represent. There has not been pressure to make a more mainstream fair, as I feared... most people seem to love the fair for what it is.

Some people indicate that the success of the art book fair may well be tarnished by a negative criticism of it. How do you evaluate the art book fair in our contemporary art history? Q 6-9. On the other hand, you have invented a model artist who recreates a new institution incessantly. How do you think about an artist's institutionalization?

It's true that I am an artist who is constantly founding my own institutions, from FILE Megazine and Art Metropole in the early 70s to the School for Young Shamans, and the Institute for Art, Religion and Social Justice more recently. I'm not sure why I do that. I love to build structures, and to involve other people!

Q 6-10. As the New York Art Book Fair has been successful, the LA Art Book Fair is being launched. What is the main difference between the two events?

We feel that the participants are as much different as the localities. When we began the LA Art Book Fair, my idea was to involve more publishers from the Pacific rim: from Seattle and Vancouver to Japan, Korea and Australia. In fact, that has not been quite the case. But an enormous number of publishers from the west coast of Canada and the USA exhibit at the fair, and also a lot of Europeans--they are attracted by the myth of Los Angeles, and of course the January weather. But in Los Angeles I tried to emphasize different kinds of exhibitors, more young people and more zines, but also more people working with unusual interdisciplinery ideas, where publications are hybridized with performance and with social practice. We have much more space in Los Angeles, so it is possible to do that.

The success of New York and LA has contributed much to the book of the global art book fairs. We think that you have toured to various art book fairs. Amsterdam, Tokyo, London, Paris, etc. If there is a difference between the art book fairs you observed and those you curated personally, what is it?

I think that most art book fairs tend to reflect the age and interests of the people who organize them. Miss Read: The Berlin Art Book Fair (for example) is excellent, as far as it goes, but it does not include young people, nor does it include much older people. It is relatively academic, with no zines, and no queer presence either. The London Art Book Fair, on the other hand, represents a lot of older publishers, more mainstream publishers who the bureaucracy of the Whitechapel Art Gallery are familiar with. This year it hired Gareth Long, a London artist who once helped me with the NY Art Book Fair, to rtry and bring a new excitement to that fair. The foinal result was very good, as far as it went. But there was not enough space, and not enough interest from the people in power, to really do something more youthful and exciting.

You have been active as an educator for long. When you were active as an general idea, you used to say that students were the most important audience. In that respect, the art book fairs may well have played as an educational public arena. Furthermore, we experience 'publicity' in that people make and sell something together. Since you started the collective activities earlier, the art book fair may have been very relevant to your art activities. In this context, what educational aspect did you focus on when you started the art book fair?

As much as possible, I have tried to bring together ideas about education, making art, and just enjoying living. The NY Art Book Fair has many layers. A person can involver themselves as much or as little as they want, and in different kinds of ways. They can actually hear artists talk and meet them in person, through the talk series called "The Classroom", or they can attend the more academic conference, which brings together academics and librarians from around the world. Or they can spend all their time in the zine section, talking to the artists who actually make the publications, and learning how these things are done, and how to do them oneself. It is true that every exhibitor has their own network, and so each exhibitor also acts informally as a kind of publicist for the NY Art Book Fair. At the same time, each exhibitor is also an educator, as well as being a salesman. All these aspects merge at the NY Art Book Fair.

While you have been engaged in the art book fairs, being active as director of Printed Matter, you may well have faced numerous independent publications. Actually, you have collected the artists books for long. What would you like to recommend to us? Is there any special or memorable ones?

Oh my god, I think I own at least 10,000 artists' books, and I don't know how to choose one above another. My own advice is to buy what is new and what you love. Don't spend so much money on older and out-of-print books. The new ones will be out-of-print soon enough! Support living artists!

When people heard that you would leave Printed Matter at 2010, many of them did not spare applause for your contribution. On the other hand, many others worried how book stores and art book fairs would change. Why did you leave Printed Matter and art book fairs? (We know that you are still engaged in them as a member of the board.) One aspect of Printed Matter and the book fairs for me was that everyone began to think of me as the "book person". My identity as an artist was being eroded. I began by going back to school at Union Theological Seminary--I wanted to explore spirituality, and this seemed a way to do it. That led to founding the Institute for Art, Religion, and Social Justice and soon I was organizing artists' talks and exhibitions again! But finally I moved to Berlin, where I can really focus on my own work. My exhibition The Temptation of AA Bronson at Witte de With in Rotterdam was chosen as the best exhibition in the Netherlands for 2012. This led to my project at the 10th Gwangju Biennale, and next I will do two simultaneous exhibitions at the Graz and Salzburg Kunstvereins. None of these are big institutions. I am happiest when working in an intimate milieu.

You have used many media for your work. Among them, what attractions do the books (zines) have for you? As a professional, do you have another standard for independent publications or art books? Q 11. To many young artists, you are a living legend, colleague and role model. What advise would you like to give to them who are yearning for creation? In addition, we would like to comment for our young Korean independent publishers and sellers. Just do it! (laughs)

Q 11-1. At the interview with Stuart Comer of MoMA, you said, “Korea is a zine-crazy country.” What did you mean by that? (laugh)

Because you are Korean yourself, you may not realize that the Korean interest in making and in looking at zines is very special. Most countries do not have the same intense interest. We have noticed this at the NY Art Book Fair with our Korean exhibitors. They always have a very sophisticated and intelligen and informed approach to zines and to visual publishing (I guess I include graphic novels too).

What is your future plan? (I once read your interview that you would make another art book fair in Berlin.)

Now that I am away from New York, and set up in my new studio, I find myself most interested in developing my own work. I love collaboration and I will continue to collaborate with many artists, especially younger artists. But also I want to spend some time developing my own publishing projects... I have many ideas! However, my interest in other artists' publications and zines will not go away. For example, I am including the Queer Zines exhibition, with some recent additions, in my exhibition in Graz and Salzburg next year. I am honored to continue on the Board of Printed Matter. But I am very aware of my age--I turn 69 during the next Art Basel--the coming few years are my opportunity to make art, and to undertake the projects I love with the people I love. I wanted to finish this interview on the most important word of all, and that is LOVE.

#aabronson

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