Artists' Books

Artists' books syllabus: Art & The City

Course Description:
This course considers the many ways that artists and cities clash, cross-pollinate and collaborate. Faced with the rapid expansion of city infrastructure, the gentrification and repression of historic communities, and the rising cost of living, the artists and communities highlighted in this syllabus resist and witness change in different ways. Some plant gardens; others take on the role of neighbourhood archivist. Some build community story-telling projects, while still others subvert authorized uses for shared urban spaces. Taken together, each artists’ book offers a different response to the question: what is the role of the artist in the city?

*All resources listed are available within Emily Carr Library’s Artists’ Books Collection.
 

Part I: Mark-Making
The first section of this course considers the methods used by artists to engage the public or specific urban communities in artistic labour, gentrification and Indigiqueer discourse. These works enlist traditions of print media that developed within a city context, including short-form publications like pamphlets and zines, and urban ephemera such as posters and poetry broadsides.

Textual Bardism

Standard Deviation: What is the Value of Artists’ Work?
Call Number: S756 S73
Publisher: Art Practical
Publication Date: 2014

Together Apart: Queer Indigeneities
Curator: Whess Harman
Call Number: G786 T64
Publisher: Together Apart, Queer Indigeneities 2SQ/Indigiqueer symposium 2019
Publication Date: 2019

Urban Ephemera

Coming Soon!
Author: Diyan Achjadi
Call Number: A345 C66
Publisher: Diyan Achjadi
Publication Date: 2020

Memory Block, Volume 1
Author: Terra Poirier
Call Number: P657 M46 v.1
Publisher: Terra Poirier
 

Part II: Taking Up Space
Having considered various methods used by artists for communicating with the public, this section addresses art, the body and public space. These artists contend with authorized and accepted uses of public space, documenting how individuals and communities alike navigate social scripts, spatialize resistance to political repression and cultivate community life in hostile conditions.

Performance in/and Public Space

Unlearning Walks
Authors: Catherine Grau & Zoe Kreye
ISBN: 9781927394229
Call Number: P835 G73 U55
Publisher: UNIT/PITT Projects
Publication Date: 2014

Six Actions for New York City
ISBN: 9781928570066
Call Number: P574 C74
Publisher: Creative Time
Publication Date: 2007

Reclaiming the Commons

Hidden Islam: Islamic makeshift places of worship in North East Italy, 2009-2013
Author: Nicoló Degiorgis
ISBN: 9788890981708
Call Number: D445 H53
Publisher: Rorhof
Publication Date: 2014

Grow: DIY Manual
Author: Holly Schmidt
ISBN: 9780986681929
Call Number: S3466 G76
Publisher: Other Sights for Artists' Projects
Publication Date: 2014

A Practical Guide to Squatting
Author: Larraine Henning
ISBN: 9780646904313
Call Number: H366 P73
Publisher: Waxcastle Workshop
Publication Date: 2013
 

Part III: Storying the City
With an awareness of how art and artists can interact with and shape city environments, this final section moves through approaches to storytelling in an urban context, exploring documentary forms such as the archive, photography and interviews as tools for community empowerment. These artists' books combat the relegation to and erasure of communities in the historical record and their lived environments, concluding with the power of art and storytelling to enhance Black/collective liberation movements.

Recovering Hidden Histories

A Sign For The City
Author: Sabine Bitter & Helmut Weber
Call Number: B477 S54
Publisher: City of Vancouver Public Art Program
Publication Date: 2009

Love Letters
Author: Amie Siegel
ISBN: 9783959050494
Call Number: S584 L68
Publisher: Spector Books
Publication Date: 2015

Küba
Author: Kutlug Ataman
ISBN: 9781902201160
Call Number: A873 K83
Publisher: Artangel
Publication Date: 2004

Towards Collective Liberation

Quilt of Hope: Vancouver Artists for Black Liberation
Curator: Nanyamka (Nya) Lewis
ISBN: 9781989428047
Call Number: M665 B533 Q55
Publisher: BlackArt Gastown; Moniker Press
Publication Date: 2021