Between the Covers: Two Performance Anthologies

BETWEEN THE COVERS with Ken Friedman CATALOGUE (78pp., $2.50) Public Arts International/Free Speech 361 Canal Street New York, N.Y. 10013 CATALOGUE is a document in book form which attempts to record the performance festival sponsored on May 15-19, 1979, by Public Arts International/Free Speech. Edited by the organizers of the festival, Carol Parkinson , Joseph Nechvatal and Cid Collins, it is packaged in an attractive black cover with white type. Unfortunately, that is the only part of this book which is genuinely attractive . (Permit a brief clarification: I did not see the festival. I am not reviewing the festival, I am reviewing a book.) It was prepared after the festival and seems to be intended as a document to stand on its own. It does stand on its own. It simply doesn't stand well. Even if it is not a performance, a book does perform for the eye and mind. In a sense, therefore, the designed book which communicates about performance does have a function to "perform" and can offer something of its own if executed properly. The book is reproduced by what appears to be The rapid-offset process, sometimes known by the brand name of the company which pioneered it, ITEK. The illustrations were prepared through screening via xerox. (It may be that the book is xeroxed; it seems open to question.) My''argument with the book is that it doesn't need to look bad. Economy of means needn't mean poverty of expression. As proof, one need only recall the elegant and stunning performance scores and posters printed by the late George Maciunas using both ITEK rapid offset and xerography , or the masterful graphic works of Joseph Beuys done in a variety of cheap media during the '60's. Both are well-known in New York. Those who wish to dig a bit more deeply into fine printing done cheaply are commended to the less-known but equally worthy projects of Czechoslovakia's Milan Knizak, J.H. Kocman and Jiri Valoch; Switzerland's John Armleder and the Ecart Performance Group; England's David Mayor; Mexico's Felipe Ehrenberg; Holland's Ulises Carrion, Aart van Barnveld and Mick Gibbs; or France's Ben Vautier. All are visual artists who have been involved with performance. Their documents and catalogs have found form in beautiful books and pamphlets done 30 by the least expensive means while communicating well through strong visual presentation and useful, readable format. As one reads through this "book" one comes across single spreads and presentations that have real potential. It might be a far more interesting book if it were presented well. The poor presentation unfortunately makes a bad blend of promising contents. The contents themselves are rather intriguing . Despite being continually rendered ineffective by poor presentation, quite a few pages have a lot to offer. (How true the lessons Dick Higgins taught at Something Else Press: good design does make a difference !) Theodora Skiptares offers a story of the historic Theodora, a Byzantine Empress, which is charming in its simplicity and instructive for the sociological data it presents. (Note that I said sociological and not social. It is sociological because it studies and describes social situations and information. One of the minor triumphs of the recent visit of Joseph Beuys to America was the neat distinction he drew between those two terms. An American artist asked him about his "sociological art." Beuys noted, before answering, that his art was "social, not sociological.") A photograph of a piece by Cid Collins and Joseph Nechvatal on pages 35 and 36 is forceful. The words-in a neat block, wellbalanced visually-indicate that the piece had something to do with Tibetan Buddhism. A shame not to know more. (The layout of the pages suggests that if everyone in this catalog had worked at it, perhaps the book would have worked in this format. Unfortunately , Collins and Nechvatal must be inexperienced enough as editors not to have known that one of the tasks of an editor is to plan on the fact that very few artists are good documentarians of their own work.) Sally Cummings' poetry has lovely moments. It portrays travel, and...