The Propeller Group—an artist team made up of Phunam, Matt Lucero, and Tuan Andrew Nguyen, and based in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam—blurs the boundaries between fine art and media production, in much the same way that this publication blurs the boundaries between a traditional exhibition catalogue and an artist book. The catalogue features expository essays by curators Naomi Beckwith and Cesar Garcia, as well as contributions by each of the members of The Propeller Group: Tuan pens an obituary for the group that pays homage to Vietnamese funereal celebrations, Phunam shares an astrological reading that similarly honors the cultural legacy of Vietnam, and Lucero creates a travelogue that records the group’s recent exploration of the natural beauty of Papua New Guinea.

This is the first scholarly treatment on The Propeller Group, published on the occasion of the group’s exhibition at the MCA. The exhibition presents a number of multipart projects, comprised of videos and related objects, from the past five years for the first time since the group was formed in 2006.

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John Bock’s latest artist’s book combines over 150 video stills from his film “Skipholt” shot 2005 in Iceland, each with a corresponding drawing. Structured like a logbook of an expedition, it traces the path of the protagonist played by the artist himself, who embarks on a journey across the sea, volcanic plains and glaciers. The drawings read like notations of a journey, sometimes picture, sometimes diagram, peppered with word creations or theoretical explanations that reflect John Bock’s thought bubble and reveal the conjured para zone to the reader. The book is at the same time an art object, packed in a corduroy bag, filled with ‘KleinodtodSods’ – useful everyday objects such as Q-tips, thread and safety pin – and equipped with the practical belt pouch, so that nothing stands in the way of one’s own expedition.

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Locomotion is a one-off travel zine with contributions from art-related actors, engaging with modes and troubles of travel. Featuring contributions by Samar al Summary, Fully Funded Residencies, Burak Taşdizen, Azar Pajuhandeh, Ipek Burçak, Ada Karayel and Eren Ileri. It is a wandering around (im)mobilities of non-humans, artist residencies as a way of survival, road and driving memories, heatwaves and meltings, and commercial space travel.

Locomotion is designed by Ada Karayel, and co-faciliated by Eren Ileri. Illustrations are made by Goodnewsforbadguys.

The magazine comes with a sticker set; a fly and the Locomotion logo.

From Editor’s and Publisher’s Note:

“…When things started to resemble sci-fi dystopia, the absurdity of writing applications for artist residencies at that time has triggered us to have a look at the issue of traveling more deeply and we found ourselves digging up different holes that leave threads for you to connect…”

“…Before we came to the idea of making a magazine, we were speculating on various issues entangled with travel: the materiality of roads, and their related social meanings, debates that can be categorized as anti-travel or travel skepticism and slowing down, inactivity or motionlessness, and also the luxury of not-to-travel by choice…”

“…Since this publication took its start with the pandemic, attentiveness towards some of the matter that are partly in our bodies, and to others that are not, brought us to the word locomotion, which means not just the motion of the human and the living but also of the non-living and the non-human, of which you will find pieces scattered all over the magazine.”

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Morceaux choisis is the first seminal overview of Saâdane Afif’s artistic practices. The publication features 48 exhibitions or performances organized in 28 separate sections, covering a period of 14 years.

Starting with Melancholic Beat at Museum Folkwang, Essen in 2004 and leading up to the recent exhibition Musiques pour tuyauterie, at mor charpentier, Paris in 2018, the monograph considers the format of the exhibition as Saâdane Afif’s medium, through which his work takes form and can be read.

Each one of the figuring exhibitions form an individual booklet: the pages with full color reproductions of the individual works and installation views are inserted within four additional pages providing the exhibition’s title, description, details and captions.

These 28 booklets form the body of the publication. The exhibition texts have been written by Lily Matras and Yasmine d’O. They are accompanied by an interview of Saâdane Afif by Lili Reynaud-Dewar, two critical texts by Zoë Gray and Jörn Schafaff, an index of the exhibited works and an index of Afif ’s released books and records.

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Gaëlle Choisne
Book Launch and reading
•
Thursday, November 18, from 6:30pm
At Motto Berlin
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With:
Lotte Arndt

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In a city where advertising plays the leading role, how long can a style resonate? Dentsu2060 is an intricate work, a true to life representation of the city in its drifting vanity. By weaving seamlessly field recordings and melodic light points, Tasho composes an unexpected reflection to the upcoming 2020 Tokyo Olympic ceremony or the illuminated soundtrack of a trendy drama. His 9 compositions channel the voice of his city, offering a new, spectacular world view – overexposed under the artificial lights.

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The book includes the first publication of Gidal’s text from 1978, with a new introduction. Gidal in this dense theoretical essay deals with the limits of language and representation in the practice of experimental filmmaking and writing. Considered as one of the most influential experimental filmmakers, Gidal’s lost text “The Author as Producer of Nothing”, will give a new insight into the theoretical and political context to the artistic film practices. Afterword by Sezgin Boynik. Design by Ott Kagovere.

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