Specific Object is pleased to announce that our judges have named
Esopus magazine, edited by Tod Lippy, the
Specific Object 2007 Publication of the Year.
Esopus is a New York City–based twice-yearly periodical that melds together art, artists' projects, art history, fiction, poetry, interviews, visual essays and new music. Begun in 2003,
Esopus has now reached issue number 10. Published by the non-profit Esopus Foundation Ltd., the magazine has a simple mission: to provide an unfiltered, non-commercial space in which creative people and the public can connect in meaningful, productive ways.
This year's six judges found
Esopus to be a publication that uses graphic design, artistic content -- of all kinds -- and high-quality printing technologies in a manner that is both "seductive" and "inspiring," as well as "intelligent," "elegant" and "full of suspense."
Last year Specific Object acknowledged that in an era of ever higher production values it was refreshing to reexamine a publication,
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition, that had an immediate, unselfconscious, physicality.
Esopus fulfills a similar esthetic function, but from a position of strength through lush production values, spectacularly clever choreography, and the consistent artistic vision of Mr. Lippy.
Throughout its ten-issue history
Esopus has commissioned a diverse range of visual artists to execute new projects for the magazine's pages, including Doug Aitken, Don Bachardy, Frank Benson, Fernando Bryce, Dawn Clements, Beth Campbell, Mary Ellen Carroll, William Christenberry, Bruce Conner, Chris Doyle, Neil Goldberg, Jenny Holzer, Yvonne Jacquette, Colter Jacobsen, Xylor Jane, Gareth Jones, Alex Katz & Vincent Katz, Mark Keffer, Marvin Lazarus, Hilary Lloyd, Ati Maier, Sarah Malakoff, Richard Misrach, Sylvia Plimack Mangold, Richard Tuttle, Kay Rosen, Allen Ruppersberg, Edward Ruscha, David Scher, Berend Strik, and Charlie White.
Past issues of
Esopus have also included personal reflections written by practitioners from a number of different creative disciplines (such as film composer Carter Burwell, choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, lighting designer Jennifer Tipton, and chef Jody Williams); fiction, poetry, and short plays by authors including Christopher Durang, Jen Bervin, Ethan Rutherford, and Stephen Adly Guirgis, and visual essays from filmmakers Claire Denis, Chantal Akerman, Majid Majidi, Apichatpong Weeresethakul, Tsai Ming-Liang, and Peter Hutton.
Starting with issue #7, the magazine instituted “Modern Artifacts,” a series presented in collaboration with the Museum of Modern Art, for which selections culled from the Museum's archives are reproduced in facsimile and accompanied by an introduction by MoMA Archivist Michelle Elligott.
Every issue of
Esopus also includes an audio CD of brand-new music commissioned according to a particular theme. Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, Ryan Adams, Neko Case, Final Fantasy, and Devendra Banhart are just a few of the more than 100 musicians who have created songs for past CDs.
The retail price of in-print issues of
Esopus is $10 and may be ordered directly from Specific Object at:
www.specificobject.com/esopus
Subscriptions to
Esopus, donations to the Esopus Foundation, and additional information about the organization can be found on the
Esopus website:
www.esopusmag.com
In addition to
Esopus, Specific Object also wishes to acknowledge four additional outstanding publications for 2007 out of the over 400 submitted titles:
Black Noise, edited by Amy Granat, John Armleder, Mai-Thu Perret. Published by Ecart Publications.
Frances Stark : Collected Works, complied, edited and designed by Stark and Stuart Bailey. Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König.
Archiv Peter Piller : Zeitung, published by Christoph Keller Editions, JRP | Ringier.
Anonymous Origami, by Stephen Gill. Published by Nobody in association with the Archive of Modern Conflict.
About the Specific Object Publication of the Year Award
From 2004 forward Specific Object will select a
Specific Object Publication of the Year. The winner of the 2004
Specific Object Publication of the Year Award was Jonathan Monk for his book
Cover Version, published by Book Works U.K.; the winner for 2005 was Philippe Parreno's
Fade to Black, published by mfc-Michäle Didier; 2006's award was presented to
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition by Vito Acconci & Bernadette Mayer as part of the Ugly Duckling Presse / Lost Literature Series.
Winners of the award receive a cash prize and the title of
Publication of the Year.. Rules for consideration for the
Specific Object 2008 Publication of the Year award can be found at:
http://www.specificobject.com/projects/Publication_Call
About Specific Object
Specific Object, is a personal venture by David Platzker, which aims to aggregate interesting objects in any artistic medium and present them in temporary locations on an ongoing basis, as well as to present these objects - and additional objects of interest - online at www.specificobject.com.
Specifically, Specific Object is an attempt to isolate distinct works of value - historically, monetarily and / or personally valuable - and show them in an isolated context without the artifice of visual confusion or clutter in hopes of allowing these works, or objects, their own place, space and time. The material to be shown will range from artists' publications, ephemera, prints, multiples and other editions to literature, music / audio works and unique artworks of the contemporary world.
From 1998 through 2004 Platzker was the Executive Director of the non-profit institution Printed Matter, Inc. He is also the co-author, and co-curator - with Elizabeth Wyckoff - of "Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process" (International Print Center New York & Hudson Hills Press, 2000); and - with Richard H. Asxom - the book and exhibition entitled "Printed Stuff: Prints, Posters, and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg: A Catalogue Raisonné 1958-1996" (Madison Art Center & Hudson Hills Press, 1997), which was awarded the George Wittenborn Award for Best Art Publication of 1997 by the Art Libraries Society of North America. Platzker has also curated exhibitions of the works of John Baldessari, Marcel Duchamp, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, Oldenburg, Dieter Roth, and Edward Ruscha in addition to commissioning or curating exhibitions at Printed Matter of Angelblood, Larry Clark, Erin Cosgrove, Meg Cranston, General Idea, Jenny Holzer, Reverend Jen, Allan Kaprow, Yoko Ono, Ryan McGinness, Sonic Youth, Tom Sachs, David Tremlett, Richard Tuttle and the Guerrilla Girls.
In November 2004 Specific Object acquired the inventory of Bound & Unbound from Barbara Moore.
Specific Object is located at 601 West 26th Street / Floor 2M / Room M285, New York, NY 10001. Telephone (212) 242-6253.
For more information regarding Specific Object please visit its website:
www.specificobject.com or email
[email protected]
This press relese is archived at:
www.specificobject.com/projects/2007_Award
