This week is the highly anticipated Artists’ Books week. A week in which the city of Vancouver celebrates artists’ publishing through an number of artists’ talks, book launches, bookish parties and of course The Vancouver Art/Book Fair (Oct 17& 18th).
The anticipation for the fair can be difficult to contain but it need not be overwhelming. The Artists’ Book Collection is home to a number of books from publishers that are exhibiting at this year’s fair. So, if you’re finding the excitement for the fair just a little too much to handle, come on down to the collection so it’s contents can attempt to sedate your excitement (no guarantees though, looking at these publications may only fuel excitement). One of these books is Hammock Thoughts: With Love From The Hammock Residency, 2006-2013. Which commemorates the first seven years of the Hammock Residency, a program founded and run by local artist Heidi Nagtegaal, who is a returning exhibitor.
Hammock Thoughts is an intriguing object. It has a unique, neon-coloured spray painted cover that creates a tactility on it’s surface. However, this book doesn’t only function as an aesthetic object, it’s also a well translated embodiment of the residency it commemorates.
In Nagtegaal’s note to the reader at the beginning of the book, she describes the residency which she hosts in her own home, as a space; “a porch, a hammock, a garden and a room indoors” where “there are no rules, there is no protocol, but there is specific negotiation according to space and time, and what feels right to the both of us. You do what you need to do to get to Point A to Point B, and if I can help in any way, I will”. In other words The Hammock Residency is an unstructured place of support where artistic exploration and creation in every form is nurtured.
This concept of a nurturing space to work is reflected in Hammock Thoughts. The book is comprised of a collection of reflective writing from previous residents, it’s one body that brings together the words and ideas of many working artists – just as the residency seeks to do.
This writing sways from gracious “thank you’s” for Heidi’s generosity to collaboratively written manifestos. The writing takes a number of forms from storytelling, essays and poetry, the kind of thing that would be nice to read while sitting curled up in a hammock. Though throughout all the writing, theories about being a social citizen, and how an artistic practice can be a socially engaged practice is an issue that seems to be a predominant concern.
Hammock Thoughts is published by Project Space an non-profit organization that’s dedicated to publication as an artistic medium, and whom is fittingly is the purveyor of the VA/BF. Where, this year, Nagtegaal can be found “hammocking” in a reading space where guests are invited to get their tarot cards read by her or to enjoy some home brewed kombucha while discussing art and printed matter.
More information about Nagtegaal’s socially engaged practice and the Hammock Residency can be found on the NoDS project website.
Find Hammock Thoughts in the Collection.
Continued reading from the Collection:
Hammock Thoughts: A Record 2006 until 2014 of Some of the Things
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