Announcing the Specific Object 2008 Publication of the Year Award
Given to Sarah Lucas & Olivier Garbay for The Mug
Specific Object is pleased to announce that our judges have named
The Mug, by Sarah Lucas and Olivier Garbay, the Specific Object 2008
Publication of the Year.
This year's brutal, confrontational, contentious, yet somehow able,
four judges found
The Mug to be a publication that stood out among
the over 1,000 titles submitted. Additionally the four runner-up titles
reflect a unity the judges saw in autobiographical artist's
publications produced in 2008.
The Mug, published by Other Criteria, acts as a visual vocabulary, a
compendium, of Sarah Lucas' art and iconographical lexicon which is
mirrored and conjoined by texts by Olivier Garbay. This unity is
described by the artists as "an immediate and still growing
appreciation for one another's company."
According to Other Criteria "
The Mug is a collaborative project
exploring Lucas and Garbay’s working methods. Designed in the style of
an alphabetised address book, it catalogues their thoughts and ideas,
mixing free-form Anglo-Gallic poetry with various artistic experiments,
dabbling in dirt, dominoes, and drinking."
The Mug may be ordered directly from Specific Object at:
www.specificobject.com/The_Mug
In addition to "
The Mug, the judges also wish to acknowledge four
additional outstanding publications for 2008 from the over 1,000
submitted titles:
Album, by Hans-Peter Feldmann, published by Verlag der
Buchhandlung Walther König.
The Collections of Barbara Bloom, published by ICP / Steidl.
Francis Alÿs, Fabiola: An Investigation, published by Dia Art
Foundation.
Helmar Lerski, by Urs Fischer, self-published by Fischer.
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; 2007's award was presented to
Esopus magazine.
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 gallery, bookstore and website based in New York
City.
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 materials shown 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]
