Event details
Friday, April 26, 2024
4 pm

Dia Chelsea
537 West 22nd Street
New York, New York

Free. Register for the event here. 

Throughout her career, artist Mary Heilmann has experimented with the book form. One of her earliest experiments is The Book of Night (1970), currently on view at Dia Beacon as part of the exhibition Mary Heilmann: Starry Night. A bound compendium of unstretched canvases referencing astronomical constellations, this large, children’s book–like work hems painting into a three-dimensional object, blurring the boundaries between media and providing a tactile interface for interacting with the cosmos. On the occasion of this exhibition and taking The Book of Night and its 2016 facsimile, published by 303inPrint and produced by Small Editions, as a point of departure, this conversation between James Hoff and Hannah B Higgins will consider the haptic and performative dimensions of artists’ books and what is lost and gained in the reproduction of such unique titles.

This program is presented as part of the NY Art Book Fair’s Classroom series, co-presented by Printed Matter and Dia Art Foundation. Learn more about the Classroom here. 

Hannah B Higgins is a professor at the School of Art and Art History at the University of Illinois Chicago and founder of the interdisciplinary BA in IDEAS (Interdisciplinary Education in the Arts). Her books include Fluxus Experience (2002) and The Grid Book (2009). With Douglas Kahn, she co-edited Mainframe Experimentalism: Early Computing and the Foundations of Digital Art (2012). She is currently completing The People’s Flag, which is expected to be published in 2025. Higgins is co-executor, with her twin sister, Jessica, of the estate of Fluxus artist and Something Else Press publisher, Dick Higgins. 

James Hoff is an artist living in New York. His work encompasses a variety of media, including painting, sound, and performance, as well as a publishing practice with the organization Primary Information, New York, which he co-founded. Recently, his work has focused on language and ambient media at the intersection of developing technologies and networked communication, and in relation to social, political, and sonic space. He has exhibited and performed at cultural organizations throughout North America and Europe.