Announcing the
Specific Object 2006 Publication of the Year Award
Given to Vito Acconci & Bernadette Mayer
for the publication 0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition
Re-Published by Ugly Duckling Presse / Lost Literature Series
Specific Object is pleased to announce that it has named
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition, edited by Vito Acconci and Bernadette Mayer, the
Specific Object 2006 Publication of the Year.
Compiled by James Hoff and Ryan Haley,
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition
was published by Ugly Duckling Presse, as part of their Lost Literature Series. The publication is a lovingly produced reproduction of Acconci and Mayer's short-lived 'zine
O TO 9. From 1967 to 1969, Acconci and Mayer collected the works of the some of the most exciting artists and writers of the time for their mimeographed magazine. An amalgam of artists, poets and writers
O TO 9 contained early works -- and in some cases the first published writings -- by Acconci, Robert Barry, Ted Berrigan, Scott Burton, Rosemarie Castro, Clark Coolidge, Larry Fagin, Madeline Gins, John Giorno, Dan Graham, Michael Heizer, Dick Higgins, Douglas Huebler, Jasper Johns, Kenneth Koch, Sol LeWitt, Lee Lozano, Jackson Mac Low, Harry Mathews, Mayer, John Perreault, Adrian Piper, Bern Porter, Yvonne Rainer, Jerome Rothenberg, Aram Saroyan, Robert Smithson, Alan Sondheim, Hannah Weiner, Lawrence Weiner, Emmett Williams and many others.
Published in an edition of 100 copies,
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition comes housed in a painted wood box, containing the complete magazine consisting of seven staple bound volumes -- replicating the six original publications, plus the supplemental volume titled
Streetworks, and includes a numbered certificate signed by Acconci and Mayer.
In making this award Specific Object acknowledges that in an era of ever higher "production values" it is refreshing to reexamine a publication that has an immediate, unselfconscious, physicality. Originally produced on a hand-cranked, monochrome, mimeograph machine, and bound with heavy-duty staples the simple production values were a straight forward solution to publishing which directly allowed the contents, the
words, of the publication to carry the weight of the journal without the artifice of high graphic design or even photographic reproduction except in the
Streetworks volume. Additionally, the distinguishing characteristic of each issue’s cover was a found element -- a sheet of transfer paper, a mimeographed map of the United States, a crumpled sheet of paper, the cover of a found book, each bolstering the handmade qualities of the magazine.
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition is one of three remarkable publications by Vito Acconci in 2006 that also include
Language to Cover a Page: The Early Writings of Vito Acconci, edited by Craig Dworkin, published by MIT Press; and
Vito Acconci: Diary of a Body 1969-1973, by Acconci, with an introduction by Gregory Volk, published by Charta.
The retail price of
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition is $500 and may be ordered directly from Specific Object at:
www.specificobject.com/complete_magazine
In addition to
0 TO 9 : Limited Facsimile Edition, Specific Object also wishes to acknowledge three additional outstanding publications:
The Rodney Graham Songbook, edited by Christoph Keller and Kathy Slade, published by JRP Ringier and the Charles H. Scott Gallery / Emily Carr Institute Press.
All the World's Fighter Planes 2006, by Fiona Banner, published by The Vanity Press.
Urban Recordings, by Ingo Giezendanner, published by Passenger Books.
About the Specific Object Publication of the Year Award
From 2004 forward Specific Object will select a
Specific Object Publication of the Year. The winner of the 2004
Specific Object Publication of the Year Award was Jonathan Monk for his book
Cover Version, published by Book Works U.K.; the winner for 2005 was Philippe Parreno's
Fade to Black, published by mfc-Michèle Didier. Winners of the award receive a cash prize and the title of
Publication of the Year.. Rules for consideration for the
Specific Object 2006 Publication of the Year award can be found at:
http://www.specificobject.com/projects/Publication_Call
About Specific Object
Specific Object, is a personal venture by David Platzker, which aims to aggregate interesting objects in any artistic medium and present them in temporary locations on an ongoing basis, as well as to present these objects - and additional objects of interest - online at www.specificobject.com.
Specifically, Specific Object is an attempt to isolate distinct works of value - historically, monetarily and / or personally valuable - and show them in an isolated context without the artifice of visual confusion or clutter in hopes of allowing these works, or objects, their own place, space and time. The material to be shown will range from artists’ publications, ephemera, prints, multiples and other editions to literature, music / audio works and unique artworks of the contemporary world.
From 1998 through 2004 Platzker was the Executive Director of the non-profit institution Printed Matter, Inc. He is also the co-author, and co-curator - with Elizabeth Wyckoff - of “Hard Pressed: 600 Years of Prints and Process” (International Print Center New York & Hudson Hills Press, 2000); and - with Richard H. Asxom - the book and exhibition entitled “Printed Stuff: Prints, Posters, and Ephemera by Claes Oldenburg: A Catalogue Raisonné 1958-1996” (Madison Art Center & Hudson Hills Press, 1997), which was awarded the George Wittenborn Award for Best Art Publication of 1997 by the Art Libraries Society of North America. Platzker has also curated exhibitions of the works of John Baldessari, Marcel Duchamp, Donald Judd, Oldenburg, Dieter Roth, and Edward Ruscha in addition to commissioning or curating exhibitions at Printed Matter of Angelblood, Larry Clark, Erin Cosgrove, Meg Cranston, General Idea, Jenny Holzer, Reverend Jen, Allan Kaprow, Yoko Ono, Ryan McGinness, Sonic Youth, Tom Sachs, David Tremlett, Richard Tuttle and the Guerrilla Girls.
In November 2004 Specific Object acquired the inventory of Bound & Unbound from Barbara Moore.
Specific Object is located at 601 West 26th Street / Floor 2M / Room M285, New York, NY 10001. Telephone (212) 242-6253.
For more information regarding Specific Object please visit its website:
www.specificobject.com or email
david@specificobject.com
