The Classroom
Six Cinder Blocks on Top of a Wall, with Andrew Fedynak and Justin Fiset
For over 12 years Justin Fiset quietly documented the back-alleys around his home in West Los Angeles. Fiset’s photographs reveal a fascination with the latent narratives of these strange spaces, which in turn create a specific, often moving, sometimes humorous visual language. His debut 2021 publication, Six Cinder Blocks on Top of a Wall, was presented as a unique wabi-sabi art-object book published by Zatara Press. In this program, Fiset will be in conversation with the publisher, Andrew Fedynak, to talk about his creative process and approach, various artistic inspirations, and other stories related to his introspective documentation of these furtive landscapes. Presented by Zatara Press.
Publishing & Accessibility, with Caroline Kern, Jeanne Vaccaro, and Be Oakley
Caroline Kern (Pegacorn Press) will facilitate a conversation focusing on some of the challenges and considerations of navigating invisible illness and disability as working artists, publishers, and curators within the larger international art book community. The conversation includes scholar and curator Jeanne Vaccaro and Be Oakley (GenderFail), who will also share their experiences of maintaining their artistic practices as people with invisible illness. The pandemic has been referred to as one of the biggest mass disabling events of our lifetime, which has created more space for public discourse surrounding disability and chronic health conditions. This discussion aims to not only inform a larger audience about what these struggles look like, but also help create a sense of kinship for those who identify within the invisible illness spectrum. Presented by Pegacorn Press.
Royal Book Lodge, with John C. Welchman and Véronique Bourgoin
John C. Welchman, author of Royal Book Lodge (Hatje Cantz, 2023) and Véronique Bourgoin will introduce the history and achievements of this exuberant international network of artists formed in the late 1980s in Berlin, Paris, and Marseille, spearheaded by Bourgoin and Juli Susin. Known for its gorgeous and challenging artists’ books, Book Lodge collaborations have given rise to ceramics, photography, film, paintings, sculptures, and exhibitions; its spheres of activity range from European cities to projects in Iceland, Los Angeles, Miami, and Paraguay. Welchman will discuss how the RBL collaborated with former members of the Situationist International including Ralph Rumney, Pierro Simondo, and Gianfranco Sanguinetti. The presentation will be accompanied by an expansive selection of works, images, and contextual materials. Members of the collaborative group will likely be in attendance… in person, in disguise, or by remote control. Presented by Artbook D.A.P.
Can Only Be Hinted At With Words: Californian Text-Based Practices, with Alex Lukas, Sonya Sombreuil, Devin Reynolds, and Saber
The visual output of Californian artists has, for over half a century, embraced the written word as a site for aesthetic play, a tool for asserting identity, and a storytelling device—frequently employed to reflect the unique cultural space of the Golden State. Practitioners have embraced the written word-as-image through lyrical, playful, and colorful uses of text that stand in stark contrast with the cool, san-serif deadpan of their East Coast counterparts. This panel brings together several Los Angeles-based artists to discuss the local influences of their text-based practices, including hand-painted advertising, graffiti, technology, gentrification, migration, and Hollywood and automobile culture in order to explore what's next for the genre. Presented by Written Names Fanzine.
An Indigenous Present, with Jeffrey Gibson and Jenelle Porter
This landmark book is a gathering of more than 60 Native North American contemporary artists, musicians, filmmakers, choreographers, architects, writers, photographers, designers, and more, showcasing diverse approaches to Indigenous concepts, forms, and mediums. Conceived by Jeffrey Gibson, a renowned artist of Mississippi Choctaw and Cherokee descent, and co-edited by independent curator Jenelle Porter, An Indigenous Present documents an increasingly visible and expanding field of Indigenous creative practice, foregrounding transculturalism over affiliation and contemporaneity over outmoded categories. Present by Delmonico Books.
The STUD, with Chloe Miller and Jeanne Vaccaro
Chloe Miller, former STUD bartender and keeper of the STUD Pin Archives, will be joined by scholar and curator Dr. Jeanne Vaccaro to discuss the history and legacy of the STUD, a legendary San Francisco queer bar. This important collection of pins, ephemera, and artwork by Paul “Gidget” Sinclair, notable regular and bartender at the STUD, will make their debut in a new publication by LAND AND SEA. Miller and Vaccaro will also discuss the stakes of preserving queer history and the process of forming an archive. Presented by LAND AND SEA.
Archiving Efforts on Latinx Music in the US, with Marcos Echeverria Ortiz and Osmar Romero
Marcos Echeverria Ortiz, author of The Lost Places of Salsa Music and director of Where We Were Safe, a documentary/oral history archive on the same topic, will be joined by Osmar Romero, director of LA's vinyl collective "El Marchante” to discuss the importance of archiving Latinx music and history in the United States. The program celebrates the second edition of Ortiz’s book, features a short version of the documentary, and stages a conversation between these two figures, who have both dedicated their practices to preserving this important music history. Presented by Terminal Ediciones.
Where My Heart Settles Down, with Wang Yingying and Chenchu Fang
Behind Wang Yingying's almost restrained images lies a period of personal growth and pain—a stage in history that has almost been selectively forgotten by collective memory. With the help of the rich photographs she took while exploring her birthplace, various historical archives, and diaries, Where My Heart Settles Down transformed an artist’s personal journey in search of her family's past and identity into a journey of a broken historical consciousness. This conversation offers insight into Yingying’s artistic process and the making of this new publication. Presented by Jiazazhi.