Posts tagged “Essay”

The Past Lives of Books

Rachel Whiteread. “Untitled (Stair),” 2001.
Judith Brotman. “Natural Selections,” 2005. Leaf, thread, trim
Ox scapula with a divination inscription from the Shang Dynasty, dating to the reign of King Wu Ding. (Wikipedia).
Euclid’s Elements: Book I, Proposition 1: wherein an equilateral triangle is made using the radii of two equal circles.
Excerpt from Dan Graham’s“Homes for America 1966,” published in Arts Magazine, December 1966-January 1967.
House of an unknown Chinese author in an abandoned cottage in Chongqing, China. Image courtesy of Croatian Times, 2010.
Gordon Matta-Clark. “Bingo,” 1974.
Rachel Whiteread. “Untitled (Paperbacks),” 1997. Plaster and steel. 15 x 16 x 20′ as installed at MoMA
Jonathan Saffron Foer. “The Tree of Codes,” 2010. Inside view.

The following essay was originally published by Art21 in November, 2012. Walter Benjamin allegedly had an opportunity to leave Germany when Axis borders were still somewhat porous. Had he chosen to flee then, it’s likely he would have survived the war. To do so,… +