Consisting of an internal report written by conceptual artist and philosopher Adrian Piper in 1998, Necessary Questions takes Wellesley College, Massachusetts—where she was then on staff—as a case study in institutional racism and neglect. As such, the report could be read simply as an administrative document, though one drenched in meticulously clear advice that could still be, despite being written twenty-three years ago, taken up on a glaringly universal level. Yet the role it went on to play in Piper’s life proves it’s not just a context-specific document, but an all-too-real example of exactly what it stood against: the ways in which the langue of protocol and the false façade of civility are utilised as tactics to ensure that one stays in their place.

It is the third title from Unbidden Tongues, a series edited by Isabelle Sully that focuses on previously produced yet relatively uncirculated work by cultural practitioners busy with questions surrounding civility and civic life—particularly so in relation to language.

Experimental Jetset’s second volume in its self-reflective series is an inquiry into the role of the city as an infrastructure for language and vice versa, seen through the lens of four significant movements: Constructivism, Situationist International, Provo, and Post-Punk. Emerging from a research project and exhibition by the design studio, the book features extensive footnotes by 20 guest authors, including Linda van Deursen, Owen Hatherley, Adam Pendleton, Simon Reynolds, Lori Waxman, Mimi Zeiger, and others. An added bonus: it comes with a 26-page zine, zooming in on the design typology of the original exhibition.

This publication was conceived by Visual Culture Research Center in Kyiv and tranzit in Prague as a follow-up of The Kyiv International—’68 NOW project conducted in May 2018. This collection of texts by contemporary historians, political philosophers and artists explores the political and cultural heritage of the revolt and struggle of 1968, the legacy of which remains a symbol of liberation and rebellion against entrenched power structures, and a cultural and artistic benchmark for Western Europe. The commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Prague Spring and Soviet military invasion of Czechoslovakia continues to define political and cultural divides across the continent.

Designed by Uliana Bychenkova, based on a grid by Experimental Jetset. Cover image and emblems by Experimental Jetset.

Guidebook of the Kyiv Biennial, an international forum for art, knowledge and politics that integrates exhibitions and discussion platforms. It adopts an interdisciplinary perspective at the intersection of science, politics and art in order to reflect on the crucial issues of the contemporary world. Organised by the Visual Culture Research Center.

Designed by Uliana Bychenkova, based on a grid by Experimental Jetset. Cover image and emblems by Experimental Jetset.

From shaming and shamefulness to shame-avoidance and shamelessness, the experience of shame influences our social behaviours, decision making abilities, and desires. Shame determines what we show and what we hide. And yet, as an emotion that begs for its own concealment, what is the structure and appearance of shame? How does shame interact with the realm of the visible, and where does it surface in visual culture? In this extensive historical and contemporary analysis of shame and its power, artist Andrea Büttner probes the definitions and representations of shame. The book includes close readings of Sigmund Freud’s writings on play and fantasy, challenges theoretical approaches to Andy Warhol’s queer performativity on film, and frames Dieter Roth’s representations of shame in his writing and moving image work.

Designed by HIT.

Produced on the occasion of Cosima von Bomin’s exhibition Fondorientierte Ausstattung (Fund-oriented Equipment) at Neue Galerie, Graz, 27 October –1 December, 2002.

“The fact that Poul Gernes once built a ship in order simply to burn it on the open sea, and that Bas Jan Ader set off alone in a small sailing boat in 1975 in order to cross the Atlantic in 60 days, a project that ended in his vanishing without trace, allows Cosima von Bonin’s “skerry cruiser”, stranded in all pomp and elegance here in Graz, to appear not only as a metaphor for unfettered proliferation and boundless world domination but, above all, as a symbol of failure, of misadventure, perhaps even of hubris.”—Neue Galerie, Graz, press release. More information on the exhibition can be found here.

Designed by Yvonne Quirmbach.