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Published by David Zwirner Books/52 Walker
Distributed by Simon & Schuster
Table of Contents
About The Book
The inaugural volume in a new series of books, Kandis Williams documents the Los Angeles–based artist’s exhibition A Line. Interrogating issues of race, nationalism, authority, and eroticism, her topical work is made across collage, sculpture, and video.
Williams draws on her background in dramaturgy to envision a space that accommodates the biopolitical economies that inform how movement might be read. Looking at the interconnections between popular culture and myth, she relates in her work anatomy, regions of Black diaspora, and communication and obfuscation. Williams’s body of work shapes an alternative language that examines how Black moving bodies are regarded. Williams continues to make visible the inexpressible violence Black bodies have been subjected to in dance and beyond.
Featuring contributions by the curator of 52 Walker—a David Zwirner gallery space—Ebony L. Haynes and the artist and writer Hannah Black, and a stirring conversation between Williams and the choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili, the book serves as an extension of the exhibition. Included are high-quality illustrations of the artworks alongside rich archival materials.
About the Clarion Series
The series title Clarion is derived from the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop at the University of California, San Diego. Octavia Butler attended this workshop in the 1970s. Butler’s writing has been influential in the conceptual framework of the program and the Clarion series. The series captures 52 Walker’s gallery program ethos; a commercial, kunsthalle-like, gallery where shows run for several months, it focuses on showcasing conceptual and research-based artists from a range of backgrounds and at various stages in their careers. Envisioned by Haynes with the aim “to highlight and expand on the shows’ conceptual theses through newly commissioned critical texts, interviews, archival material, and artistic interventions,” Clarion will be a crucial touchpoint for those interested in engaging further with its artists’ practice.
Williams draws on her background in dramaturgy to envision a space that accommodates the biopolitical economies that inform how movement might be read. Looking at the interconnections between popular culture and myth, she relates in her work anatomy, regions of Black diaspora, and communication and obfuscation. Williams’s body of work shapes an alternative language that examines how Black moving bodies are regarded. Williams continues to make visible the inexpressible violence Black bodies have been subjected to in dance and beyond.
Featuring contributions by the curator of 52 Walker—a David Zwirner gallery space—Ebony L. Haynes and the artist and writer Hannah Black, and a stirring conversation between Williams and the choreographer Okwui Okpokwasili, the book serves as an extension of the exhibition. Included are high-quality illustrations of the artworks alongside rich archival materials.
About the Clarion Series
The series title Clarion is derived from the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop at the University of California, San Diego. Octavia Butler attended this workshop in the 1970s. Butler’s writing has been influential in the conceptual framework of the program and the Clarion series. The series captures 52 Walker’s gallery program ethos; a commercial, kunsthalle-like, gallery where shows run for several months, it focuses on showcasing conceptual and research-based artists from a range of backgrounds and at various stages in their careers. Envisioned by Haynes with the aim “to highlight and expand on the shows’ conceptual theses through newly commissioned critical texts, interviews, archival material, and artistic interventions,” Clarion will be a crucial touchpoint for those interested in engaging further with its artists’ practice.
Product Details
- Publisher: David Zwirner Books/52 Walker (September 13, 2022)
- Length: 96 pages
- ISBN13: 9781644230688
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Raves and Reviews
“Dance is both the central theme and a lens to inspect contemporary culture in A Line...The exhibition keynotes an experimental, even exacting, program that the curator Ebony L. Haynes has set for 52 Walker, a kunsthalle-like venue where shows will run for several months.”
– Siddhartha Mitter and Siobhan Burke, The New York Times
“The works consider race and gender issues relevant to Black dancers in mainstream culture, exploring the legacy of past Black dancers and dance history through a variety of media, including video installations, assemblage, collages and sculptures.”
– The Art Newspaper
“Lining the gallery walls is a series of Williams’s diagrammatic collages, combining ink and photocopied, cutout images of dancers; the results suggest a novel, conceptual method of movement notation.”
– The New Yorker
"Beyond its contribution to what 52 Walker is and will become, Williams’ exhibition is elegant and conceptually rich."
– Artnet News
"The polymath’s transhistorical narratives are rich, sharp, and choreographic...Fortunately for us, Williams foregrounds these injustices, quietly but powerfully, while marking out parameters for another kind of vanguard."
– Artforum
“breathes life into Tribeca,” “serves as a record of breath and movement,” “rethink possibilities for how performance can look in the gallery—and therefore history”
– The Brooklyn Rail
“Few curators have shifted the paradigm in the mega dealer stratosphere; fewer still can be said to have made the art world slow down. And yet, that’s precisely what Ebony L. Haynes has done”
– Cultured Magazine
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High Resolution Images
- Book Cover Image (jpg): Kandis Williams: A Line Hardcover 9781644230688
