A Brief History of Invisible Art is a fully illustrated catalog with essay by Ralph Rugoff, which brings together artworks from six decades that place a pronounced emphasis on the conceptual and communicative possibilities of the work of art, while bypassing its seeming requirements of visibility and materiality. In surveying this terrain, the exhibition includes works that represent a wide range of aesthetic practices and that engage with surprisingly diverse concerns. Whether underscoring the role of the audience, mocking the theological aura of museum rhetoric or calling attention to the importance of linguistic description in cultural production, these works prompt us to see through the more grandiose distractions of contemporary art and so to think more clearly about its underlying functions.

Featured Artists: Art & Language, Michael Asher, Robert Barry, James Lee Byars, Maurizio Cattelan, Jay Chung, Trisha Donnelly, Tom Friedman, Carsten Höller, Bethan Huws, Bruno Jakob, Yves Klein, Glenn Ligon, Jonathan Monk, Gianni Motti, Andy Warhol.

Published on the occasion of Mechanisms, a group exhibition at CCA Wattis Institute (October 12, 2017 to February 24, 2018). It includes an essay by curator Anthony Huberman as well as contributions from artists Zarouhie Abdalian, Terry Atkinson, Lutz Bacher, Eva Barto, Neil Beloufa, Patricia L. Boyd, Jay DeFeo, Harun Farocki, Richard Hamilton, Aaron Flint Jamison, Jacob Kassay, Garry Neill Kennedy, Louise Lawler, Park McArthur, Jean-Luc Moulène, William Pope.L, Charlotte Posensenke, Cameron Rowland, and Danh Vo. Trisha Donnelly designed the cover.

Instead of documenting the exhibition, the catalogue reflects and expands on some of its core ideas. Designed by Scott Ponik and Julie Peeters, the book’s fabrication makes use of different printing techniques and “machines,” including an offset printer, a letterpress, and thermography, as well as a wide range of natural and synthetic paper stocks. Contributions by each of the exhibiting artists range from photo essays, theoretical essays, video transcripts and stills, interviews, and works designed especially for the page.

The CCA Wattis Institute in San Francisco dedicates year long seasons of discussions and public events to a single artist. In 2014–15, Joan Jonas was “on our mind.” This book brings together essays from writers, curators, art historians and artists that focus on a single work, from Jonas’ earliest films through her installation for the US Pavilion at the 56th Venice Biennale. The book also contains excerpts from readings and public lectures, and images by some of the other artists whose work was evoked in public and private conversation. Contributors include Jacqueline Francis, Renée Green, Quinn Latimer, Sarah Lehrer-Graiwer, Patricia Maloney, Elizabeth Mangini, Judith Rodenbeck and Lynne Tillman.