An illustrated reader featuring a collection of essays from trailblazing curator and writer Helen Molesworth – the first book of her collected writings
Over the past three decades, Helen Molesworth’s singular voice and lively curatorial vision has established her as one of the most dynamic and influential voices in the art world. This generously illustrated reader – the first ever collection of her writings – presents 24 essays from the past 30 years, gathered from exhibition catalogs and art publications such as Artforum, Documents, frieze, and October. The volume opens with a new essay that lays out Molesworth’s belief in art’s unique capacity for merging knowledge and feeling. It also includes new critical and reflective commentary on her past writing, an innovative approach that will position Open Questions as an indispensable volume for viewing and thinking about contemporary art for generations to come.
Helen Molesworth is a writer, curator, and podcaster based in Los Angeles. Her major monographic exhibitions include Ruth Asawa, Moyra Davey, Noah Davis, Steve Locke, Kerry James Marshall, Josiah McElheny, Catherine Opie, Amy Sillman, and Luc Tuymans. Molesworth, a prolific and award-winning author, is the recipient a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Clark Art Writing Prize, and the Bard Center for Curatorial Studies Award for Curatorial Excellence. Her podcast Death of an Artist made numerous “Best of 2022” lists. The first ever collection of her writings, Open Questions: Thirty Years of Writing about Art, is available now from Phaidon.
Gregg Bordowitz is an award-winning artist, writer, and activist. His work was the subject of a traveling retrospective spanning thirty years of activity. The exhibition is titled Gregg Bordowitz: I Wanna Be Well. (Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery, Reed College (2018):, Art Institute of Chicago (2019); MoMA PS1 (2021). His films – including Fast Trip, Long Drop (1993); A Cloud in Trousers (1995); The Suicide (1996); Habit (2001); Gimme Danger (2018) and Only Idiots Smile (2018) – have shown internationally in screenings and exhibitions at museums including, The New Museum, NY; Artist Space, NY; The Whitney Museum, NY; MoMA, NY; the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, TATE Modern, UK; as well as many festivals and broadcasts internationally. Bordowitz is the author of books, including: The AIDS Crisis Is Ridiculous and Other Writings, 1986– 2003, (MIT 2006); Glenn Ligon: Untitled (I Am a Man) (Afterall 2018); General Idea Imagevirus (Afterall 2010); Volition (Printed Matter 2013); Tenement (MoMA PS1 2016); Some Styles of Masculinity (Triple Canopy, 2021). In addition, Bordowitz publishes numerous catalog and journal essays on art, literature, AIDS, and their intersections. He is also the Director of the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.RSVP Below
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