2011
10 copies
Signed and numbered by the artists
10 copies
Signed and numbered by the artists
73,5×155 cm
28.9×61 in.
28.9×61 in.
Digital printing
Canvas
Bamboo
Canvas
Bamboo
Photos: Lucas Allen
“Men and Women Commonly Dress Alike”, Three Star Books’ first scroll work, a collaboration between Alison Knowles (b. 1933) and Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. 1961). Based on a poem structure conceived by Knowles and then generated further by computer, the scroll distills the subsequent computer version, according to a project by Tiravanija.
Three categories in the initial poem were subsequently randomized (cross-matched) into all possible permutations. Asked to design Knowles’ text, Tiravanija suggested both his characteristic typeface and that Knowles’ poem be scrambled once again, this time according to the numbers of the Fibonacci system (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and so forth). The oddly short result has been presented in a tribute to the Eastern book, in the form of a digitally printed scroll with two bamboo rods, devised using canvas selected by Knowles.
The method and concept of Knowles’ initial work relates to her seminal computer-generated House of Dust, published by Verlag Gebr. König, Cologne, in 1969. It is a trail-blazing example of a literary score generated by machine. In turn, the collaborative project is an example of the fractal-like logic of artistic collaboration and inspiration.
The paper back full version of this project is available at onestar press.
— Alison Knowles is a key figure in the history of the American postwar avant-garde. She is known both for her remarkable fusions of poetry, art, and musical practices as for a life rigorously dedicated to seeking a poetry of the everyday.
— Rirkrit Tiravanija came to the ceremonial side of artistic practice via an early interest in Fluxus, and an awareness that the social side of art was as important as its formal aspect. His work emerged at a time when the interest in artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Dieter Roth, and Joseph Beuys had led to a re-evaluation of the power of a dried sausage, few bottles of Seltzer, or some everyday goods, once isolated in a vitrine.
Three categories in the initial poem were subsequently randomized (cross-matched) into all possible permutations. Asked to design Knowles’ text, Tiravanija suggested both his characteristic typeface and that Knowles’ poem be scrambled once again, this time according to the numbers of the Fibonacci system (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, and so forth). The oddly short result has been presented in a tribute to the Eastern book, in the form of a digitally printed scroll with two bamboo rods, devised using canvas selected by Knowles.
The method and concept of Knowles’ initial work relates to her seminal computer-generated House of Dust, published by Verlag Gebr. König, Cologne, in 1969. It is a trail-blazing example of a literary score generated by machine. In turn, the collaborative project is an example of the fractal-like logic of artistic collaboration and inspiration.
The paper back full version of this project is available at onestar press.
— Alison Knowles is a key figure in the history of the American postwar avant-garde. She is known both for her remarkable fusions of poetry, art, and musical practices as for a life rigorously dedicated to seeking a poetry of the everyday.
— Rirkrit Tiravanija came to the ceremonial side of artistic practice via an early interest in Fluxus, and an awareness that the social side of art was as important as its formal aspect. His work emerged at a time when the interest in artists such as Rosemarie Trockel, Dieter Roth, and Joseph Beuys had led to a re-evaluation of the power of a dried sausage, few bottles of Seltzer, or some everyday goods, once isolated in a vitrine.