The Infinite Library: Books 1–50
Daniel Gustav Cramer and Haris Epaminonda
Published by New Documents, Los Angeles & Badischer Kunstverein, Karlsruhe, 2022, 228 pp. + 22 loose inserts (colour & b/w ill.), 24 × 33 cm, English/German
Price: €55

Begun in 2007 by artists Daniel Gustav Cramer and Haris Epaminonda, The Infinite Library is composed of an archive of over 100 books made through the recombination of pages from one or more found publications. Each book is dismantled, modified, and reorganized. Pictures and pages—momentarily out of order—are brought together to shape yet another whole. The concept for each new volume develops gradually, starting from the content of the original book and the associations that unfold in the process of making.

This publication fully catalogues the first 50 books in the series, and contains over 1600 photographic illustrations, 20 color inserted sheets, and a contextualizing essay by writer Brian Dillon.

#2022 #badischerkunstverein #briandillon #danielgustavcramer #harisepaminonda #newdocuments
The Halifax Conference
Published by New Documents, Los Angeles, 2019, 184 pages (b/w ill.), 12 × 19 cm, English
Price: €18

The Halifax Conference presents a transcript of a conference held at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design on October 5–6, 1970, transcribed and adapted by artist Craig Leonard.

Organized by Seth Siegelaub, the Conference was conceived as a means of bringing about a “meeting of artists…[from] diverse art making experiences and art positions…in as general a situation as possible.” Infamously, the conference was held in the college’s boardroom, while students and other interested parties watched the proceedings on a video monitor in a separate space. The result was a conversation that devolved—technologically and ideologically—into a quasi-tragicomic farce, punctuated by remarkable moments of rupture initiated by activist resistance to the Conference from the outside and dissenting voices from within.

Attendees at the conference included Carl Andre, Joseph Beuys, Ronald Bladen, Daniel Buren, Gene Davis, Jan Dibbets, Al Held, Mario Merz, Robert Morris, Robert Murray, N.E.Thing Co. (Iain and Ingrid Baxter), Richard Serra, Richard Smith, Robert Smithson, Michael Snow, and Lawrence Weiner.

#2019 #alheld #carlandre #danielburen #jandibbets #josephbeuys #mariomerz #michaelsnow #newdocuments #novascotiacollegeofartanddesign #richardserra #robertmorris #robertsmithson #sethsiegelaub