In conjunction with the exhibition Text/Messages, the Walker and mnartists.org hosted Multiples Mall, an artist book fair for the Twin Cities (hopefully to become an annual event). We thought it was a good occasion to actually collaborate with each other and so after batting around a number of ideas, we settled on something resembling a labor of love: four pamphlets dedicated to four people who for…

Given the Walker’s dive into new media (this blog being a case in point) it may surprise some readers that the venerable Walker library is only searchable though an old-fashioned card catalog system. In a hallway between the library and the archives live three or four hulking pieces of furniture, which hold thousands of cards, records for each book. These somewhat esoteric index cards, punched with…

This catalogue documents the Walker Art Center’s exhibition The Last Picture Show, which surveys artists’ alternative uses of photography from the 1960s to the early 1980s. During this time artists were redefining their relationship to the camera and to the media through explorations that were often published in art magazines and self-published journals of the time. Taking its cue from these types…

Here is a small sampling of brochures from the Regis Dialogues and Film Retrospectives, curated by the Film/Video department at the Walker since 1990. The brochures had a variety of formats before 1995, when P. Scott Makela and Santiago Piedrafita created the current template.  We have several of these loose templates for recurring projects (like this) — specifying a size, a few folding variations, or…

Before leaving Los Angeles, I went to one of my favorite used bookstores on Sunset Blvd called Aldine Books. They have a few carts outside that have books and magazines marked down to $1 that I usually peruse before entering the actual store. That day, I stumbled upon this issue of Tulane Drama Review (Volume 10, Number 2 Winter, 1965). I was immediately drawn to the cover which features a photo by…

I was first seduced by the cover, then the images. “During these last days of the administration, what is the point of protest, satire or any other sort of rabble-rousing? In assembling this collection of pictures I’ve made over the last eight years, I’m not really trying to accomplish much at all. But as President Bush once said, ‘One of the great things about books is, sometimes there are some…

Local architects CITYDESKSTUDIO placed an interesting ad up on Craigslist yesterday: they’re selling a (used) 1978 skyway. (Wait hold up…has anyone tried to sell a bridge on Craigslist yet?). The skyway, which used to connect the JC Penny’s with the Power department stores over S. 5th street, was retired to make way for Minneapolis’ light rail project. Through the years millions of people have passed…

We’re going to be posting selections from the Walker design archives in the coming months, starting here with one of my favorites: the exhibition catalogue for Zero to Infinity: Arte Povera 1962–1972. This book is from way back in 2001 and was designed by Linda Byrne. Below is a description of the project, followed by images of the book and related marketing materials. This catalogue documents an…

Text/Messages: Books by Artists, organized by Walker curator Siri Engberg and Walker librarian Rosemary Furtak, is a very exciting exhibition opening tomorrow, December 18, 2008, and will be up until April 19, 2009. It will feature artist books from the Walker’s extensive library and collection that rarely get displayed for public viewing, so its an absolute treat for this show to be happening. As a…