Friday, March 13, 2009

OPEN ARTIST CALL : A BOOK ABOUT DEATH

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH: AN UNBOUND BOOK ON THE SUBJECT OF DEATH

Opening, Thursday, 10 September 2009.    

Exhibition: 10 - 22 September 2009. Emily Harvey Foundation  537 Broadway  New York City, New York 10012 USA


Artists Each Produce Their Edition Of 500 Postcards In The Sprawling Unbound 1000-Page A Book About Death.   The Book Will Be A Limited Edition: 500 Copies (Following The Number Of Artist Produced Cards).


An Open Call To Artists Worldwide To Contribute To A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is an open, unbound book produced by artists worldwide. Artists are invited to create a "page" in the form of a postcard about death– any aspect about death. Works can be of any design, personal or conceptual, color or black and white.

The original work about death stays with you, the artist. The 500 postcards produced from the work is for the exhibition, and are sent to the gallery.

Artists can include any information about themselves on the cards, front or back. There are no taboos here, no age limits, no areas or ideas that are prohibited.  The exhibition organizers only ask that you submit good work, worthy of an interesting and exciting page in this global book

The 500 post cards are then mailed to the gallery in New York City for exhibition. DEADLINE FOR CARDS TO BE IN THE GALLERY: SEPTEMBER 5, 2009.

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH takes its inspiration from the late, underground American artist Ray Johnson (1927 - 1995). Ray Johnson’s unbound “book” of the same title was mailed to his New York Correspondence School “students” and included pages in his idiosyncratic style that were funny, sad and ironic “one-page essays” on death.  With the A BOOK ABOUT DEATH project, artists are invited to plunge into subject in creating their own pages that score the dramatic final dance of death.

EXHIBITION & EVENT: Each artist contribution will be displayed in the Emily Harvey Foundation gallery space in New York. Visitors will be free to take cards and create their own book about death. As the cards are removed, the exhibition will disappear.

During the exhibition, a lecture/panel discussion will take place with a number of leading writers, curators, artists and collectors bringing together a number of salient ideas about death, books, mail art works, Ray Johnson and the global nature of A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.  The panel list will be announced when it is finalized this summer.

There is a website for the exhibition, serving as the portal for A BOOK ABOUT DEATH.


HOW TO SUBMIT
1. Produce an artwork about death. Make 500 postcards and mail the package to The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery 537 Broadway New York City, New York 10012.  All submissions will be accepted if they arrive in time.  Artists may produce more than one card if they wish.

DEADLINE: Postcards should be in the gallery no later than 5 September 2009.

WHERE TO SEND THE 500 POSTCARDS:

The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery
537 Broadway 2nd Floor
New York City, New York 10012 USA
Tel +1 212 925 7651

2. Once images are produced, a light-weight jpg should be e mailed to MATTHEW ROSE, along with the artist's name and URL (artist web site address) for publication on the blog – http://abookaboutdeath.blogspot.com/.  This will allow the organizers to archive the works and artist details. Other artists will also be able to visit the exhibition in progress.

IMPORTANT NOTE: WHEN YOU SEND IN YOUR IMAGES IN JPG FORMAT, SEND LARGE IMAGES (about 300K each; 900 x 600 pixels). THIS WAY THEY WILL BE HIGHLY VISIBLE ON THIS  BLOG AND WEB SITE.

Note: An “official” website is now being created by artist Caterina Verde at the address: A BOOK ABOUT DEATH

TECHNICAL DETAILS
The artist is 100 percent responsible for her/his image and card and delivery to the gallery. 

FORMAT: Postcards should be at least 4 x 6 inches or 10 x 15 cm, but can be any size, but no larger than A4 or 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

To unify the edition, include the words "A BOOK ABOUT DEATH" on your cards or CDs, DVDs or objects.

PRINTING OPTIONS: You can either produce the cards yourself or upload the file to any number of printers for delivery to the gallery. You, as the artist are in complete control of your artwork and cards. 

Option 1: A very inexpensive online printer offers extremely reasonable prices for a 4 x 6 inch (or 10 x 15 cm) card. PDF upload or online design is possible. Payment directly to the printer via MasterCard, PayPal, VISA are options.

Please see: Overnight Prints. TYPE IN CODE FOR DISCOUNT: POSTCARDSALE

Please note: The exhibition organizers are not working with this printer but in our research have determined that their prices are some of the lowest on the market, their print quality is high, service is good and delivery to a NYC address via United Parcel Service is a very good option. 

Option 2: Alternately, artists are free to produce their own cards locally if they need to supervise print and image quality. Artists can sign and number their cards if they wish.

Option 3: Artists can also produce handmade cards, however, these cards must be in an edition of 500 to ensure continuity with other images.  Artists can sign and number their handmade cards if they would like. Variety in paper and material is encouraged.

COST/FEES
Unfortunately we cannot pay any artist or production fees. Each artist has to finance production and delivery.  Like in life.

LASTLY: The organizers will not collect cards for the artists. We ask that those visiting the gallery only take one set per person, leaving enough for others.

Institutions who wish to have a complete book will have to come to the gallery space and get their own pages/cards or assign someone to do it for them.  The organizers are not responsible for the cards, but will see to it that all cards received are displayed and available to visitors. The organizers are not responsible for the return of any remaining cards; should there be any remaining cards, these will become part of the EHF archive.


SPREAD THE WORD

This kind of exhibition functions best when one artist contacts another and encourages participation. We would like to have a large and inclusive "book," one that touches upon the broad subject of death in many languages and cultures. Blog, e-mail, post the web address of this site all over the web. It will produce a more interesting exhibition to have thousands of artists participate.

Please note that A BOOK ABOUT DEATH is not a commercial venture. The Emily Harvey Foundation Gallery has generously donated the exhibition space for the duration of the exhibition.

You can use the button at the bottom right of this post, near the comments button, to send this post to a friend, artist, writer or anyone you think could be interested in contributing. 

MORE INFORMATION:

A BOOK ABOUT DEATH
A BOOK ABOUT DEATH BLOG
EMILY HARVEY FOUNDATON
RAY JOHNSON ESTATE

DOWNLOAD THIS ARTIST CALL
Artistas : PDF en español.

CONTACT MATTHEW ROSE. 

PRINTING: OVERNIGHT PRINTS (US)

TYPE IN CODE FOR DISCOUNT: POSTCARDSALE

20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome--I will spread the word on my blog as well!!

Anonymous said...

"We have also included an image/text by Ray Johnson that could be printed on your cards."

1). Where is this?
2). Just to verify, we are NOT also supposed to submit the original artwork as well? Correct?

Victoria Champion said...

"Unfortunately we cannot pay any artist or production fees. Each artist has to finance production and delivery. Like in life."

Wait...you want artists to do all this at our their expense but not receive any payment? Why should anyone do that? In life, artists get paid for their work.

MATTHEW ROSE said...

Anonymous : No, don't submit the original work of art, only the 500 post cards. Your image will be posted on this blog, and then the A BOOK ABOUT DEATH website along with the other entries. The result will be a giant tapestry; each image will be published along with a link to your website.

The exhibition will take place in New York City at the EHF on 537 Broadway. Opening 10 September 2009.

Victoria: The cost to produce 500 postcards via the online printer proposed is about $50. We are not selling your work, you are contributing to an expansive project. The cards will be taken by visitors; your work will circulate and your website will be permanently posted and connected to this project. No one is getting paid for this project. No one. That is the spirit of this book. You can produce the cards yourself (at home, at a friend's printer, or by hand). Hope you reconsider and send in your cards. Thanks for writing.

MATTHEW ROSE said...

Artist Call Ahora en español : http://matthew.rose.paris.googlepages.com/abookaboutdeathunlibrosobrelamuerte

Jennifer Kosharek said...

Hey , I'm Jennifer Zoellner #7 and just wanted to let you know that Overnight Printing did a fantastic job--the colors are beautiful! I'm so excited about this show!

charles olsen said...

Looks a great opportunity to get some exposure in New York although I've just checked the cost of 500 cards with the discount and delivery included and it's $81.26 rather than $50 (via www.overnightprints.com)

Finola JC said...

I love the idea of this exhibition with the transformation it will, no, is undertaking already, mirroring what comes with any death.

tweeted it to my followers!

greetings from St. Lucia / Barbados and wish you well with the exhibition

Unknown said...

So... How many spots are left? I don't want to get all into this and send them off if the quota has been filled....

MATTHEW ROSE said...

Hello LS and others who have asked similar questions: THERE IS NO LIMIT to the number of artists who can be part of this global exhibition. We are NOT cutting off any entries. We simply put up 1000 as a guide, but if we received 10,000 entries, that would be fine as well.

So please feel free to contribute and to spread the word far and wide.

Questions: e mail me at matthew.rose.paris at gmail dot com.

Thanks... Matthew

C Mehrl Bennett said...

The above info mentions that visitors to the gallery are free to take cards to make up their own BOOK ABOUT DEATH. If a contributing artists shows up at the opening, perhaps they could take away as many postcards (of larger variety) as they contributed, and thus their expenses are met "in kind". Many of us can't attend (like myself) but appreciate further sharing of our works via website documentation.

MATTHEW ROSE said...

C Mehrl Bennett,

If anyone, artist included, does come to the opening, they can take one of each. It is the generosity of the artist that the cards are in the gallery to be sure, and it will undoubtedly be the generosity of the visitor to take only one card per artist (there are 500 total per artist) in order that someone else might also have the same opportunity. We would strongly discourage upending the edition by taking 10 of one and 10 of another ... not terribly fair. But as I said, anyone could come and pull together a complete set, and thus have in their mitts the entire show! That's pretty cool, no?

Dr. Brignone said...

Hi, I wonder if

1) the book will be sent to the artists;

2) the post card must be single sided or double (with the space for the stamp, the author ©...)

MATTHEW ROSE said...

Dr. Brignone, The Book is available in the gallery for the taking. Cards can be printed on both sides. The only thing artists need to do is print in any size, any style, any language the phrase "a book about death," somewhere on the card.

Dr. Brignone said...

Thank you, Matthew, but what about if I am living in Italy and I cannot come to the Gallery? Will I can buy a copy an will you send it to me?

MATTHEW ROSE said...

Hello Dr. B.,

No, nothing is for sale. The exhibition's cards are free. But you'd have to be in NYC or have someone collect the cards for you. We are not encouraging people to take more than several cards each. The idea is to allow visitors to take the cards. Documentation is on this blog and the web site http://abookaboutdeath.net/ as well as on the live web cast and the subsequent videos...

It will be a rare, limited edition book. Your work will be seen, though, no doubt.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Matthew for your time to answer questions. I am not in NY and I am planning to order my postcards online (cheaper). The postcards will be shipped to me and then I will ship to you. I was wondering if I could just have the order shipped straight to you instead, in order to eliminate a shipping charge. Thanks again and great idea.

Anonymous said...

matthew, I hope, that the result will be a giant tapestry with a giant projection. But hopefully somebody will look at the boxes. WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THE berlin ONE recieved the giant place???
best, across (no anonymous but it is faster)

Anonymous said...

Matthew and your team, listen to my voice: Thnks for your project and work which you have done. thanks in advance,
across

Anja said...

Hello,
How has moved the Mailart Call on since 2009? I have not followed your blogspot every time.
Faithfully and a good day