With the close of the Overload exhibition at ATHICA at the beginning of November, I am back in possession of The Unread Book Project. I am pleased to say that the collection has grown significantly while it was on exhibition at ATHICA.
I am always looking for unread books to add to the collection - this is an ongoing project.
Now is the time to rummage through your bookshelves, piles of books next to your bed, in your closet, or in the recycling bin. All I need is one unread book from you to donate to the project. If you so choose, your donated unread book entitles you to an exchange with another unread book in the collection of your choosing.
If you have already participated in The Unread Book Project, then THANK YOU!
If you know anyone that would be interested in taking part in this project, please pass along this blog address and encourage them to be part of this art installation.
See below for details on how to participate:
Guidelines for participating in the Unread Book Project:
1. One donated (1) unread book per participant
"Unread" for these purposes is defined as never read, or started but never finished
2. Answers to the following two (2) questions about the unread book:
A) How did you come to acquire this book?
B) Why has this book remained unread?
Send me an e-mail letting me your interest in participating in this project at unreadbookproject@gmail.com. I'll contact you and figure out the easiest way for you to get your unread book and responses into the project.
Thank you again for taking a peek into this project and thank you to all of you who have participated over the last few years!
Arthur
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Video and Photographs of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA
For photographs of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA as part of the Overload exhibition:
Click Here!!!
There are a handful of photographs by Travis Hunt of the Red and Black which are noted.
For video footage of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA:
Click Here!!!
For video footage of an overview of the Overload exhibition at ATHICA:
Click Here!!!
Click Here!!!
There are a handful of photographs by Travis Hunt of the Red and Black which are noted.
For video footage of The Unread Book Project at ATHICA:
Click Here!!!
For video footage of an overview of the Overload exhibition at ATHICA:
Click Here!!!
Friday, July 4, 2008
The Unread Book Project Collection
As of July 4, 2008, this is the current composition of the Unread Book Project:
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil (personal collection)
All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (exchanged)
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Art of the Story edited by Daniel Halpern
Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks
Beauty compiled by John Miller (personal collection)
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
Bel-ami by Guy de Maupassant
The Bhagavad-Gita translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (being read)
Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace (exchanged)
Cambodia by Nick Ray
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Daddies and Daughters by Carmen Renee Berry and Lynn Barrington
Dante edited by Mark Musa (personal collection)
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Drop City by T.C. Boyle (personal collection)
The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way by Ethan Coen
Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 1 by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt (personal collection)
The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks (personal collection)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (personal collection)
Fire From the Mountain by Omar Cabezas
Flet: A Novel by Joyelle McSweeney
Forget Foucault by Jean Baudrillard
Fragments for a History of the Human Body edited by Michel Feher, Ramona Naddaff, and Nadia Tazi
A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis by Sigmund Freud (personal collection)
Genome by Matt Ridley (personal collection)
George Bush, Dark Prince of Love by Lydia Millet
The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman
The Holy Bible placed by the Gideons
Holy Smoke by G. Cabrera Infante
Human Remains by Helen MacDonald
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
I Could Do Anything by Barbara Sher (exchanged)
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
Introducing American Politics by Patrick Brogan and Chris Garrett
Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas (personal collection)
Me So Far by Donald Jack
Meta-Capitalism by Grady Means and David Schneider
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
The Misunderstood Jew by Amy-Jill Levine
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Must-Win Battles by Peter Killing, Thomas Malnight, and Tracey Keys
Neuromancer by William Gibson (personal collection, exchanged)
The Nobility of Failure by Ivan Morris
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (personal collection)
Nude in Tub by G.K. Wuori
On the Road with Michael by Mark Bego
Outwitting Dogs by Terry Ryan and Kirsten Mortensen
To Paint Her Life by Mary Lowenthal Felstiner (personal collection)
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton (personal collection)
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Passionate Observer by Jean -Henri Fabre
A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin
A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown
The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux
Poker Nation by Andy Bellin
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck, M.D.
S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic
The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger
Slowness by Milan Kundera (personal collection)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (personal collection, exchanged)
Tao Te Ching translated by Victor H. Mair (personal collection)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (personal collection)
The Tibetan Book of the Dead translated by Robert A.F. Thurman (personal collection)
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
Ulysses by James Joyce
Understanding China by John Bryan Starr (personal collection)
Unequal Treatment by Institute of Medicine
The Vintage Book of Amnesia edited by Jonathan Lethem (personal collection)
The Voyage of the Narwhat by Andrea Barrett
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Way of a Pilgrim translated by R.M. French (personal collection)
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
The Way of Zen by Alan Watts (personal collection)
We've Got Spirit by James T. McElroy
What Did I Just Say !?! by Denis Donovan, M.D., M.Ed. and Deborah McIntyre, M.A., R.N.
What is a Jew? by Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer
Wooden Fish Songs by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Notes:
-personal collection denotes books from my continually growing collection of unread books
-exchanged denotes books that have left the collection through a trade
The Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil (personal collection)
All Too Human by George Stephanopoulos
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon (exchanged)
Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt
The Art of the Story edited by Daniel Halpern
Ask and It Is Given by Esther and Jerry Hicks
Beauty compiled by John Miller (personal collection)
The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf
Bel-ami by Guy de Maupassant
The Bhagavad-Gita translated by Barbara Stoler Miller (being read)
Biomimicry by Janine M. Benyus
Brick Lane by Monica Ali
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace (exchanged)
Cambodia by Nick Ray
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Daddies and Daughters by Carmen Renee Berry and Lynn Barrington
Dante edited by Mark Musa (personal collection)
The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson
Drop City by T.C. Boyle (personal collection)
The Drunken Driver Has the Right of Way by Ethan Coen
Eleanor Roosevelt: Volume 1 by Blanche Wiesen Cook
The Essential Kabbalah by Daniel C. Matt (personal collection)
The Essential Rumi translated by Coleman Barks (personal collection)
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins (personal collection)
Fire From the Mountain by Omar Cabezas
Flet: A Novel by Joyelle McSweeney
Forget Foucault by Jean Baudrillard
Fragments for a History of the Human Body edited by Michel Feher, Ramona Naddaff, and Nadia Tazi
A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis by Sigmund Freud (personal collection)
Genome by Matt Ridley (personal collection)
George Bush, Dark Prince of Love by Lydia Millet
The Great Unraveling by Paul Krugman
The Holy Bible placed by the Gideons
Holy Smoke by G. Cabrera Infante
Human Remains by Helen MacDonald
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan
I Could Do Anything by Barbara Sher (exchanged)
An Instance of the Fingerpost by Iain Pears
Introducing American Politics by Patrick Brogan and Chris Garrett
Lives of a Cell by Lewis Thomas (personal collection)
Me So Far by Donald Jack
Meta-Capitalism by Grady Means and David Schneider
A Million Little Pieces by James Frey
The Misunderstood Jew by Amy-Jill Levine
Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem
Must-Win Battles by Peter Killing, Thomas Malnight, and Tracey Keys
Neuromancer by William Gibson (personal collection, exchanged)
The Nobility of Failure by Ivan Morris
Notes from the Underground by Fyodor Dostoevsky (personal collection)
Nude in Tub by G.K. Wuori
On the Road with Michael by Mark Bego
Outwitting Dogs by Terry Ryan and Kirsten Mortensen
To Paint Her Life by Mary Lowenthal Felstiner (personal collection)
Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by John Milton (personal collection)
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
The Passionate Observer by Jean -Henri Fabre
A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin
A Piece of Cake by Cupcake Brown
The Pillars of Hercules by Paul Theroux
Poker Nation by Andy Bellin
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce
The Road Less Travelled by M. Scott Peck, M.D.
S: A Novel About the Balkans by Slavenka Drakulic
The Shape of a Pocket by John Berger
Slowness by Milan Kundera (personal collection)
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein (personal collection, exchanged)
Tao Te Ching translated by Victor H. Mair (personal collection)
Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche (personal collection)
The Tibetan Book of the Dead translated by Robert A.F. Thurman (personal collection)
Time's Arrow by Martin Amis
Ulysses by James Joyce
Understanding China by John Bryan Starr (personal collection)
Unequal Treatment by Institute of Medicine
The Vintage Book of Amnesia edited by Jonathan Lethem (personal collection)
The Voyage of the Narwhat by Andrea Barrett
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
The Way of a Pilgrim translated by R.M. French (personal collection)
Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman
The Way of Zen by Alan Watts (personal collection)
We've Got Spirit by James T. McElroy
What Did I Just Say !?! by Denis Donovan, M.D., M.Ed. and Deborah McIntyre, M.A., R.N.
What is a Jew? by Rabbi Morris N. Kertzer
Wooden Fish Songs by Ruthanne Lum McCunn
Notes:
-personal collection denotes books from my continually growing collection of unread books
-exchanged denotes books that have left the collection through a trade
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Installation Photos from Mercury 20 Gallery
So I'm finally getting around to posting photos from a very successful first installation of the Unread Book Project at Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland. I want to thank everyone who has taken part in the project so far and continue to invite people to participate in this project. I have been sending out proposals to show this project at additional venues and hope to find another local Bay Area venue in the coming months.
In the meantime, here are some pictures...
Installation View of the Unread Book Project
The unread books
Detail photograph of the unread books
Stories of how the books were acquired and why they were not read
One of the stories
In the meantime, here are some pictures...
Installation View of the Unread Book Project
The unread books
Detail photograph of the unread books
Stories of how the books were acquired and why they were not read
One of the storiesThursday, July 5, 2007
What is the Unread Book Project?
The Unread Book Project is conceptual installation/performance piece which was conceived as a result of my almost uncontrollable desire to buy books.
The Unread Book Project is a response to my unrelenting habit of walking into the bookstore, almost always buying a book or books, bringing them home, and ultimately watching them accumulate throughout my apartment – UNREAD. The reasons that I bought all these books were varied. Sometimes I bought a book because I was having a bad day. Other times, I bought a book because I thought it would make me more intelligent. Maybe I bought a book because I liked the feel of the pages. The act of buying books has always been a hopeful one. There is possibility in a new book.
The flipside of this is accumulating unread books. Unread books represent failure for me. There is the failure to read the books, the failure to spend my money wisely, the failure of laziness (making the choice to channel surf instead of opening one of these books), and ultimately the failure of understanding my interests and desires. I wanted to understand what drove myself and other people to collect a library of unread books and thus began the Unread Book Project.
This project debuted at the Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, CA on August 3, 2007 as part of an exhibition entitled "Reading, Not Reading, Coffee, and Theories" with Mary V. Marsh.
The piece consisted of several different parts which included a modest library of unread books on display that I have received from friends and acquaintances to seed this project.
In addition, I had the stories from each of the unread books on display in the gallery. These stories were volunteered by the participants and they answered two questions:
1. How was the book obtained?
2. Why has it remained unread?
During the course of the exhibition, I checked in unread books that might be brought into the gallery space. Gallery visitors who brought an unread book also perused the library collection and could exchange their unread book for a book in the library.
The Unread Book Project is a response to my unrelenting habit of walking into the bookstore, almost always buying a book or books, bringing them home, and ultimately watching them accumulate throughout my apartment – UNREAD. The reasons that I bought all these books were varied. Sometimes I bought a book because I was having a bad day. Other times, I bought a book because I thought it would make me more intelligent. Maybe I bought a book because I liked the feel of the pages. The act of buying books has always been a hopeful one. There is possibility in a new book.
The flipside of this is accumulating unread books. Unread books represent failure for me. There is the failure to read the books, the failure to spend my money wisely, the failure of laziness (making the choice to channel surf instead of opening one of these books), and ultimately the failure of understanding my interests and desires. I wanted to understand what drove myself and other people to collect a library of unread books and thus began the Unread Book Project.
This project debuted at the Mercury 20 Gallery in Oakland, CA on August 3, 2007 as part of an exhibition entitled "Reading, Not Reading, Coffee, and Theories" with Mary V. Marsh.
The piece consisted of several different parts which included a modest library of unread books on display that I have received from friends and acquaintances to seed this project.
In addition, I had the stories from each of the unread books on display in the gallery. These stories were volunteered by the participants and they answered two questions:
1. How was the book obtained?
2. Why has it remained unread?
During the course of the exhibition, I checked in unread books that might be brought into the gallery space. Gallery visitors who brought an unread book also perused the library collection and could exchange their unread book for a book in the library.
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