Output details
34 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
Teesside University
Do or DIY
Morris’s exhibition and related publication (edition of 3500) were about the concealed history of self-publishing by authors now enshrined in the Western literary canon, from Marcel Proust to Kathy Acker. The Installation included text and rare first editions of self-published books and letters referring to their hidden histories. The exhibition was the culmination of Morris’s one-year residency at the Whitechapel as writer-in-residence. The project’s purpose was to expose how many iconic works existed because their authors stood behind them, intellectually and financially. It aimed to inspire a new generation of authors to ‘do it themselves’, taking advantage of the publishing potential offered by the digital age. The exhibition was commissioned by the curator Nicola Sim and, for the Laurence Sterne Trust, by the Patrick Wildgust, and funded by the Whitechapel and Arts Council England (£10,000). The publication’s text was taken from a commissioned essay and was the foreword to the London Art Book Fair catalogue.
At both venues the exhibition had its run extended due to popular demand: Residency events at Whitechapel were reviewed at length in Art Monthly and The Blue Notebook. Residency/exhibition were awarded special mention by Whitechapel Director Iwona Blazwick, with nomination for special book collection at Documenta 13. The exhibition was reviewed by Christina Patterson for the Independent in a two page article entitled, ‘How the Greats published themselves’ (see p.5), in the ‘Radar section: The Indispensable Guide to Arts and Culture’, Saturday, 18.08.2012, pp.22-23. In Germany, Léonce Lupette examined the work in ‘Edition. Distribution. Programm: Appropriation und Verlage’. In the USA, Professor Kyle Schlessinger reviewed the book at length. It is currently being translated into Spanish, French, German and Italian. The exhibition was reviewed and Morris interviewed by Jonathan Cowap on BBC York Radio, Sunday 19th August 2012.
'Do or DIY' published by 'Information as Material', ISBN 978-1-907468-12-4
