http://www.clouds.co.nz Clouds is a new publishing imprint involved in the publication of art books in Aotearoa New Zealand. We are primarily interested in increasing the supply of interesting (beyond PR) artists' books, documents and essays. Art Books Aotearoa New Zealand Contemporary Art http://www.clouds.co.nz/rss/clouds.gif http://www.clouds.co.nz http://www.clouds.co.nz/party-without-party/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/party-without-party/ Text by Emma Budgen and Bruce Barber. Published with rm103. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:17:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/sweet-punch-recent-nordic-video/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/sweet-punch-recent-nordic-video/ Edited by Emma Bugden. Texts by Jaakko Rustanius and Emma Budgen. Published with Te Tuhi and The Physics Room. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:19:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/tessa-laird-shards-of-the-jealous-potter/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/tessa-laird-shards-of-the-jealous-potter/ Text by Tessa Laird. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:21:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/judy-darragh-arts-society/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/judy-darragh-arts-society/ Edited by Emma Bugden. Texts by Paula Booker, Vern Avery. Published with Te Tuhi. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:23:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/whos-afraid-of-the-big-bad-wolf/ Edited by Emma Bugden. Texts by Emma Bugden & Pita Turei. Published with Te Tuhi. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:25:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/ava-seymour-the-white-house-years/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/ava-seymour-the-white-house-years/ Text by Jon Bywater. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:26:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/speculation http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/speculation Which New Zealand artist now or in the future could be sent to the Venice Biennale and exhibit in the New Zealand pavilion? Speculation is a powerful thing. Ernest Rutherford, fellow New Zealander and the father of the nuclear age, speculated on the existence of the neutron in 1920. This book is based on the speculation of eight New Zealand-based curators. They each nominated a list of artists, and these are the results, the artists in turn presenting us with pages of work. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:27:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/david-bennewith-suggestions-poster/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/david-bennewith-suggestions-poster/ 'Suggestions' is an A0 size silkscreen poster produced by David Bennewith as part of his ongoing research on New Zealand type designer Joseph Churchward. The poster illustrates two inter-connected aspects of Churchward's work: 'suggestions' and variations. It is accompanied by a short compiled text reproduced as a sticker. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:27:30 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/meg-cranston-hot-pants-in-a-cold-cold-world/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/meg-cranston-hot-pants-in-a-cold-cold-world/ Californian artist Meg Cranston's twenty-year career (1987-2007) is the subject of 'Hot Pants in a Cold Cold World'. Her work encompasses object making, writing, performance, theatre and mixed media installation and is for the first time lavishly surveyed in text and images. This substantial 200-page full colour monograph includes installation images and texts by Nico Israel, Carole Ann Klonarides, Tirdad Zolghadr and previously published and unpublished writing by the artist. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:28:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/teststrip-a-history-of-an-artist-run-space/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/teststrip-a-history-of-an-artist-run-space/ This book presents a history of this killer artist-run space in the form of an archive of ephemera and photographs. If you were there, you won't remember... Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:29:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/paul-winstanley-threshold/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/paul-winstanley-threshold/ Threshold is the first extensive survey of British artist Paul Winstanley's career to date, with over a 100 colour images and texts by Andrew Renton, Director of Curating at Goldsmiths, University of London and Christel Fricke, Professor of Philosophy, University of Oslo. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:32:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/dan-arps-sun-seeker/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/dan-arps-sun-seeker/ Published on the occasion of Arps' recent project at The Physics Room in Christchurch, 'Gestapo Pussy Ranch', this is effectively a catalogue documenting the strange space that was established, but parsed through a found nudist journal. It features writing by Dan Arps and Gwynneth Porter that spins somewhat out of control in its attempt to deal with cosmic rays. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:33:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/the-aotearoa-digital-arts-reader/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/the-aotearoa-digital-arts-reader/ A comprehensive anthology, 'The Aotearoa Digital Arts Reader' provides a snapshot of digital art practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Editors Stella Brennan and Su Ballard present essays, artists' pageworks and personal accounts that explore the production and reception of digital art. Ranging from research into the preservation of digital artworks to the environmental impact of electronic culture, from discussions of lo-tech aesthetics to home gaming, and from sophisticated data mapping to pre-histories of new media, this book presents a screen grab of digital art in Aotearoa New Zealand. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:34:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/mushroom-poster/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/mushroom-poster/ "Call it subsistence publishing if you like. We want to cover: Communes and Communities; The Ohu Scheme; Homesteading; Rural Technology; Alternative Schooling; Natural Foods; Organic gardening and farming; Crafts; Survival in Cities; Personal Awareness..." These were the editorial ambitions stated in the first issue of 'Mushroom' - "an alternative living magazine" published in Waitati, New Zealand from 1974-85. Printing articles, news, letters, notices and opinion, 'Mushroom' was a self-published, non-profit, non-professional activity of like-minded people; a major distribution network for - and surviving now as a document of - the counterculture and alternative movements in New Zealand in this period. Working together on a poster collaged from many issues of Mushroom, Menzies and Olds celebrate the energies and efforts of the magazine and the community it reflected. Including instructions on mulching, advertisements for dowsing rods and bio-rhythm calendars, the details of ideas and graphics articulate the closeness and the distance of the optimism of the recent past. Wed, 20 Aug 2008 00:30:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/volume-1/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/volume-1/ Volume 1 is the first of the Volume series published by Artspace, Auckland, and Clouds. This publication considers retrospectively, and documents the first six months of programming during Brian Butler's term as director (late 2005 to early 2006). The artists included in Volume 1 are: Daniel Malone, Francis Alys, Mark Adams, Eve Armstrong, Fiona Banner and Ann Veronica Janssens. Volume 1 also presents photo essays by Mark Adams and Daniel Malone, and a reprint of Eve Armstrong's artist's book How to Hold a Trading Table. The essays produced for Volume 1 are all by New Zealand-based writers. Matt Crookes addressed Alys' survey show in the context of Mexico City, and Natalie Robertson wrote about Alys' work in terms of Maui and the trickster; Allan Smith constructed a major essay that examines the figure of the pile in art production as a backdrop to Armstrong's accumulations; Brian Butler wrote on Banner's All the World's Fighter Planes project; and Stella Brennan wrote at length about Janssens' recent production. Fri, 19 Sep 2008 00:30:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/joseph-churchward/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/joseph-churchward/ A new publication presenting an overview of the work of Samoan-born New Zealand-based alphabet and advertising designer Joseph Churchward [1932]. The publication compiles archive material, correspondence, realised and un-realised designwork, alphabet designs and in-dispersed with essays surrounding aspects of Churchward's practice by New Zealand and overseas writers and designers. It attempts to tell a story in process of New Zealand's most prolific designer of letters to date. Thu, 12 Feb 2009 00:30:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/sean-kerr-pop/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/sean-kerr-pop/ Sean Kerr: Pop is an artist's book of concept drawings replete with a gorgeous die-cut tunnel and a new essay by Natasha Conland. The drawings collated for this volume float above projects executed by Kerr from the very late nineties until the present day. As such it operates as a spectral-partial survey catalogue for an exhibition that only exists as a sketch sandwiched between the white hardcovers of this new book. Sat, 16 May 2009 03:15:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/daniel-knorr-pukapuka-tohunga-mahi-toi/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/daniel-knorr-pukapuka-tohunga-mahi-toi/ Daniel Knorr's new artist's book Pukapuka Tohunga Mahi Toi is the fifth in his series of limited edition artist's books titled Carte de Artist. The process involves a mapping of the city in which Knorr collects pieces of rubbish on the street. This material is then interleaved into the blank pages of the books and pressed by a 200-ton press, embossing the objects into the paper itself. Each book sets out to respond to local concerns and histories and, for this reason, the text for the New Zealand version is entirely in Maori. This simple appropriation could also be seen to remind us that the printed word and the book are introduced, colonising forms. The cover uses the typeface Churchward Maori, designed by New Zealand type designer Joseph Churchward. The book includes a video which documents the process of making the work. Published on the occasion of Knorr's Artspace Auckland project, Block. Fri, 27 Nov 2009 03:15:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/left-handed-blows/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/left-handed-blows/ Left-handed blows is the first published collation of the theoretical writing of this outstanding sound artist. Bruce Russell (b. 1960, New Zealand) works in sound under his own name and as a member of The Dead C. (1987-present). A past member of A Handful of Dust, Russell is also known for curating the internationally noted record labels XPRESSWAY and Corpus Hermeticum. This book consists of essays written over the last 16 years, reflecting on sound and its role in culture. It compiles online essays, liner notes, catalogue contributions and most of the previously published contents of Logopandocy: the journal of vain erudition. This publication was funded by Creative New Zealand and was supported by the Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology. Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:15:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/ruth-buchanan-lying-freely/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/ruth-buchanan-lying-freely/ Lying Freely is the 4th and final part of the itinerant project by artist Ruth Buchanan. Here the 3 previous stages of the project meet within and are also confronted by the space of the book. The book was made in close collaboration with designer David Bennewith and developed accumulatively as each stage of the project was 'completed'. Over the course of 2 years Buchanan investigated questions surrounding the tension between private need and public appearance, individual agency and collectively received legacy, producing a series of works that each dealt with particular constellations of figure, location and format. The 3 stages consisted of a guided tour, theatre piece and installation. The book behaves on the one hands as a schematic or script for the body of work, drawing boundaries - and on the other hand it proposes a method, an approach, that suggests constant repetition and following, constant reconfiguration. The book becomes an experiment in sharing material, sharing space; absorbing and reflecting its own conditions and the conditions under which it becomes public. Sat, 17 Apr 2010 22:39:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/sriwhana-spong-nijinsky/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/sriwhana-spong-nijinsky/ Nijinsky relates to a series of Sriwhana Spong films that are a re-imagining of a George Balanchine ballet, The Song of the Nightingale, originally choreographed in 1925 for the itinerant Ballet Russes. Based on the only fragments remaining of the original (the Stravinsky score and documentation of the Matisse designs for set and costumes, and some of the costumes themselves) Spong’s films and the book’s contents exhort the Balanchine maxim, "Before is over. Performance is now". Nijinsky channels the presence of the famous chimeric dancer for whom the book is named, and involves stills from the films along with collage works that overlay geometric forms onto ballet photographs cut from picture books. It also features writing by Sarah Hopkinson, Gwynneth Porter, ballet photographer and author Keith Money, and the artist herself. This book project has been supported by Creative New Zealand, and was co-published with the Auckland gallery Michael Lett on the occasion of the screening of Spong’s Lethe-wards at Art Basel in June 2010. Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:39:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/peter-robinson-ack-and-other-abdications/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/peter-robinson-ack-and-other-abdications/ Ack and Other Abdications documents and considers the life of one sculpture, Ack - at once vast ice-flow and intestine that appeared first at Artspace in Auckland in 2006, was reworked for the Auckland Art Gallery in 2008, a showing that won the artist the Walters Prize. The bulk of this 164-page book is devoted to full-colour documentation of the sculpture in its various iterations and the body of the unexhibited paintings. The remainder features writing by Dan Arps, Matthew Crookes, Fiona Gilmore and John Ward-Knox, Gwynneth Porter and Laura Preston. The writing considers the sculpture at a temporal remove and considers its gross materiality and its abdications in the context of his wider practice. Mon, 06 Dec 2010 22:39:00 GMT http://clouds.co.nz/purakau-myths-and-legends-mitos-y-leyendas/ http://clouds.co.nz/purakau-myths-and-legends-mitos-y-leyendas/ Pūrākau / Myths and Legends / Mitos y Leyendas is a publication accompanying the international poster project Pūrākau. Curated by expatriate Mexican artist Xavier Meade together with Cuban curator Flor de Lis López Hernández, the project exchanges the shape of poet-colonial resistance in the form of indigenous myths and legends. Taking its cue from Cuban revolutionary design, the collected posters use bold graphic imagery to convey pūrākau, or ‘lessons for life’. This touring exhibition brought together twelve leading artists from Cuba, Mexico and Aotearoa New Zealand to exchange indigenous myths and legends through poster design: Denis O'Connor, Natalie Robertson, Michael Reed, Claudio Sotolongo Menéndez, Giselle Monzón Calero, Michele Miyares Hollands, Eric Silva, Mario & Yesca, Arturo Meade and Carlos Pez. The publication is presented in three languages – English, Mūori and Spanish – and features writing by Jon Bywater, Danny Butt, Yani Monzón Calero, Ernesto Pérez Castillo, Claudio Sotolongo, Carlos Meade, Luis Delaç, Los Appo Stoles Irreverentes, the curators and many of the artists. Pūrākau is supported by Creative New Zealand and the Waikato Institute of Technology, Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts, Auckland, and Creative New Zealand Toi Aotearoa. Thu, 10 Mar 2011 22:39:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/connect/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/distribution/connect/ 'A reconstruction of a printed sheet of Ken Garland and Robert Chapman's game Connect, designed by Ken Garland and Associates for the James Galt Toy Company in 1969. Including an interview with Ken Garland conducted in 2006.' This publication combines a reconstruction of a printed sheet of the popular board game Connect with an interview conducted at Ken Garland's home studio in September 2006. During the interview Garland referred to an interesting detail regarding the design of the game: "Now, I want to tell you something that a lot of people don’t know. The clue to this game is the template from which all these tiles are cut. When the game came out a lot of companies started to make copies, there was an Italian company, somebody in the United States, Japan - they never seemed to get it quite right. [...] If they'd sat down long enough with the original and assembled it - worked out how it would have been layed up to be printed and cut - it wouldn't have needed too much ingenuity to figure this out." The response to this detail inspired the reconstruction of a printed sheet of Connect - and the beginnings of this publication - as an action that would illustrate an important part of the designing process; one that is linked to a knowing use and attitude towards materials available to the designer. The interview touches on social and philosophical aspects that Connect (and games in general) might promote and is intended to work in conversation with the reconstruction. Supporting images, scanned from original pieces of the game, are included to clarify certain key points made in the interview. This publication hopes to build on a continued interest in a notion of 'designing as writing', that is defined as using form and technical processes (connected to the designing and printing processes) as implicit to the understanding of the publication; form and production join content as equal voices within the presentation of the outcome. Wed, 16 Mar 2011 22:39:00 GMT http://www.clouds.co.nz/sean-kerr-bruce-is-in-the-garden-so-someone-is-in-the-garden/ http://www.clouds.co.nz/sean-kerr-bruce-is-in-the-garden-so-someone-is-in-the-garden/ The book Bruce is in the garden; so someone is in the garden is a survey of the work of Sean Kerr since the early 90s. Known for his employment of technology to make astute-fraught-bitten-comic situations, object-entities and good-natured affronts, he has also made a large and influential body of work in sound, installation, video and 2D formats. This major publication has been lead and interrupted by the artist, making the resulting book a strange monograph–artist's book hybrid. It includes writing by Jan Bryant, Zita Joyce + Adam Willetts, Tessa Laird, Emma Bugden, Andrew Clifford, Jon Bywater and an interview by Tobias Berger, it also features an extensive pictorial chronology of his gregariously varied practice. Bruce is in the garden; so someone is in the garden was produced as a parallel project to the 2010 exhibition of Kerr's work, Sean Kerr: Bruce danced if Victoria sang, and Victoria sang: so Bruce danced, curated by Emma Bugden and Andrew Clifford at Artspace, Auckland and the Gus Fisher Gallery at the University of Auckland. Both publication and exhibition projects have received major funding from the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts Research Fund. Wed, 30 Mar 2011 22:39:00 GMT