Hotel Zero

re:ma(r)king books

In 1996, Heather McHugh turned me on to Tom Phillips' A Humument [+ book version].

For a long time I thought this was the most fascinating reuse of a text. But maybe I wasn't paying attention? Or it's become incredibly cool—just lately?

...Because:

Last year Eric Lorberer of Rain Taxi turned me on to the work of Rosamond Purcell, specifically: Bookworm.

Then Kottke linked to the work of Thomas Allen early last year [ + more] [ + Chip Kidd's uses].

And yesterday I was blown away by the Boing Boing link to Brian Dettmer's Book Autopsies [+ gallery show].

Finally, lest I forget: there were Douglas Coupland's fantastic (arc)hives, made from chewed up copies of his own work.

Marlboro Marine

You may remember this iconic photo of a Marine catching a butt during the November 2004 Battle of Fallujah—but its aftermath is another story altogether. L.A. Times photographer Luis Sinco stayed in touch with James Blake Miller after the war. His story of their relationship—and his attempts to reach out to a Marine suffering suicidally severe PTSD—is chronicled in a moving series of print and multimedia essays in the L.A. Times. I think this is the most powerful thing I've seen—in any medium—about the war in Iraq.

Three Gorges Exhibit @ MCP

PEI XUE HONG Both Disappear and Lost Are Not Important, No.6, 12., 2004

Mailing came from Minnesota Center for Photography today for their upcoming Three Gorges exhibit, running 17 November to 10 February. Artists from the U.S., Canada, Japan and China will have their work in this show. I'm kind of jammed, but there are a couple related events that might make for a good dinner + show: 17 November Opening Reception; 20 November screening (at The Heights) of Zhang Yang's Getting Home; 8 January lecture by Steven Benson, "The Cost of Power in China: The Three Gorges Dam & Yangtze River Valley."