"The boundary of a contemporary art object or project is no longer something that exists only in physical space; it also exists in social, political, and ethical space. Art has opened up to transnational networks of producers and audiences, migrating into the sphere of social and distributive systems, whether in the form of “relational aesthetics” or other critical reinventions of practice. Art has thus become increasingly implicated in questions of ethics. In this volume, artist and writer Walead Beshty evaluates the relation of ethics to aesthetics, and demonstrates how this encounter has become central to the contested space of much recent art. He brings together theoretical foundations for an ethics of aesthetics; appraisals of art that engages with ethical issues; statements and examples of methodologies adopted by a diverse range of artists; and examinations of artworks that question the ethical conditions in which contemporary art is produced and experienced.

Caravaggio -- The Madonna of the Rosary -- Annibale Carracci -- Picasso -- A common complaint -- The Dutch savannah.

"12 contemporary photographers were commissioned to travel the United States and document its land and people. Selections from the bodies of work they created were presented at the Wattis Institute alongside a number of photographs from the Farm Security Administration, whose photographers had, some 80 years earlier, received similar instructions to travel the country and document the America they saw"--P. 11.

Words Without Pictures was originally conceived of by curator Charlotte Cotton as a means of creating spaces for thoughtful and urgent discourse around current issues in photography. Every month for a year, beginning in November 2007, an artist, educator, critic, art historian, or curator was invited to contribute a short, un-illustrated, and opinionated essay about an aspect of photography that, in his or her view, was either emerging or in the process of being rephrased. Each piece was available on the Words Without Pictures website for one month and was accompanied by a discussion forum focused on its specific topic. Over the course of its month-long life, each essay received both invited and unsolicited responses from a wide range of interested partiesstudents, photographers active in the commercial sector, bloggers, critics, historians, artists of all kinds, educators, publishers, and photography enthusiasts alikeall coming together to consider the issues at hand. All of these essays, responses, and other provocations are gathered together in a volume designed by David Reinfurt of Dexter Sinister. Previously issued as a print-on-demand title, Aperture is pleased to present Words Without Pictures to the trade for this first time as part of the Aperture Ideas series.

Assembled from the wisdom of 36 legendary art teachers – all of them artists or critics at the top of their field – Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life is an ideal curriculum for the aspiring artist. Each of the book’s "tutors" has provided a unique lesson that aims to provoke, inspire and stimulate the aspiring artist. These lessons cover some combination of the following: technical advice (e.g. don’t make a sculpture bigger than your studio door), assignments (some of which will take five minutes to complete, others five years), tips for avoiding creative ruts (including suggestions for mind‐expanding materials to read, watch or listen to), principles of careful looking (demonstrated with images of artworks, photographs, films or even billboard advertisements), advice on the daily practice of art (how to balance time alone in the studio with building an artistic community), career pointers (how to prepare for a studio visit from a curator or gallerist) and personal anecdotes (e.g. stories from the instructor’s own humble beginnings). Taken together, these lessons offer the reader a set of tools for thinking, seeing and living as an artist. Not only is Akademie X: Lessons in Art + Life the first illustrated text book of its kind for artists, but it will also appeal to anyone interested in contemporary art, providing first hand revelations into the philosophies and techniques of some of the world’s best artists and writers.

The artist and writer Walead Beshty (born 1976 in London, lives and works in Los Angeles) became known through his photographic works. His oeuvre spans numerous media, among them sculpture, painting, installation, and video. For Beshty, treating each medium and group of works as autonomous and subject to given circumstances is of the greatest importance. 'Procedurals' offers an overview of Beshty?s works from the last four years, including Copper Surrogates, sculptures made of polished copper; Office Works, office machines that have been taken apart and impaled on a rod; and new photograms.

Cyanotypes documents six distinct series of cyanotypes produced by visual artist, performer and composer Marclay in collaboration with Graphicstudio.Known as the inventor of 'turntablism', Marclay has explored the relationship between visual and sonic phenomena through his work in diverse media.In the cyanotypes, he reclaims the obsolete technology of the audio cassette as a tool for visual abstraction. First developed in the 1840s, the cyanotype is a camera-less photographic process performed by placing objects directly onto a photosensitive surface, resulting in a silhouetted image.Commonly known as 'blueprints', cyanotypes were famously used by nineteenth century botanist Anna Atkins and later by architects and engineers as a way of reproducing drawings.Marclay's cyanotypes capture the abstract tangles made by unspooled cassette tapes, inviting comparisons with the paintings of Jackson Pollock and other twentieth century artists.Designed by Swiss design firm NORM in collaboration with the artist, this volume includes a study of Marclay's experimentation and utilization of the cyanotype process and its broader contextualization with the history of the avant-garde by scholar Noam Elcott.

The image of a tortured genius working in near isolation has long dominated our conceptions of the artist’s studio. Examples abound: think Jackson Pollock dripping resin on a cicada carcass in his shed in the Hamptons. But times have changed; ever since Andy Warhol declared his art space a “factory,” artists have begun to envision themselves as the leaders of production teams, and their sense of what it means to be in the studio has altered just as dramatically as their practices. The Studio Reader pulls back the curtain from the art world to reveal the real activities behind artistic production. What does it mean to be in the studio? What is the space of the studio in the artist’s practice? How do studios help artists envision their agency and, beyond that, their own lives? This forward-thinking anthology features an all-star array of contributors, ranging from Svetlana Alpers, Bruce Nauman, and Robert Storr to Daniel Buren, Carolee Schneemann, and Buzz Spector, each of whom locates the studio both spatially and conceptually—at the center of an art world that careens across institutions, markets, and disciplines. A companion for anyone engaged with the spectacular sites of art at its making, The Studio Reader reconsiders this crucial space as an actual way of being that illuminates our understanding of both artists and the world they inhabit.