A comprehensive record of the London-based art collective BANK’s notorious project from the late 1990s, a fierce critic of the language elements of the art market.

Between 1998 and 1999, BANK operated The BANK Fax-Bak Service. For the project, the group’s members, Simon Bedwell, John Russell and Milly Thompson proof-read and copy-edited more than 300 press releases published by galleries in London and New York. The procedure was simple: after adding their mocking corrections, the artists faxed the promotional texts back to the respective galleries. The BANK Fax-Bak Service exposes the art market’s (ongoing) sisyphean effort to legitimize itself through boasting, self-important and nonsensical language. Published in collaboration with Treize (Paris), this volume is a comprehensive record of BANK’s notorious project from the late 1990s.

Edited by Tenzing Barshee, Gallien Déjean, Dan Solbach. Designed by Dan Solbach.