Bookshop at Esker

Angie Keefer: Second Thoughts (2019)

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Copy-edited by Eugenia Bell. Designed and typeset by Scott Ponik. Printed and bound by Sheridan MI. Published in an edition of 1000 by Kunstverein Publishing, Amsterdam and Plug In Editions, Winnipeg.

At nearly 550-pages, Second Thoughts is long in scope but precisely constructed. Angie Keefer leads readers down vividly articulated paths, documenting her thought processes in an exacting manner that reveals writing itself as a process of formulating the world. Accumulated knowledge is reconfigured through the pacing and cadence of each sentence.

Keefer worked closely with designer Scott Ponik to present this selection of writing as a unified whole while framing each individual text with its own synopsis and postscript. Though all of the pieces have been published previously, many were significantly updated, amended, and rewritten for this edition. Second Thoughts includes an introduction by Maxine Kopsa and a short text co-written with Lucy Skaer. The title is pulled in part from Keefer’s 2017 solo exhibition FIRST CLASS, SECOND THOUGHTS, INTERMINABLE SWELLat Plug In ICA.

Angie Keefer is an artist, writer, teacher, and publisher, though the distinctions among these categories are much less definitive in Keefer’s work than comma-separated terms would indicate. Taking an interest in the incidental aspects of art-making and its dissemination — from critical & commercial positioning through language, to surrounding labour, and shifting market forces — Keefer often pulls at the stitching that holds the enterprise together. She has exhibited extensively at institutions in the USA and Europe, including Witte de With, Rotterdam (2018); Plug In ICA (2017); Greater New York, PS1, New York (2015-16); Kunstverein, Munich (2015); Whitney Biennial, New York (2014); Objectif Exhibitions, Antwerp (2013-14); and Yale Union, Portland (2013).

ISBN: 978-94-90629-20-5
Softback
544 pages
5.4 x 8.2 inches

$25.00

tunnel: A tender proposition to the din (2018)

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Project by tunnel
(Jen Reimer and Magnus Tiesenhausen)
Mastering by James Plotkin

A tone is a wave, and a wave is just a circle in the format of a line: a circle in eternity, an undulating line in sequence. If a tone is alive, what is the substance of its body, and do our bodies have that substance also? Can a tone be a limb? What would it reach for?

A tender proposition to the din is a moment extracted from a cycle of water storage, distillation, distribution, consumption, transformation. This cycle takes place on a scale and scope far beyond that of our bodies and the human lifetime; it encompasses states of atmospheric haze, glacial movement, the wayward paths of astral bodies. A tender proposition to the din captures an industrialized, infrastructural instance within the cycle.

There is music in this infrastructure, emergent tones in the din. Human voices crudely, but harmonically, mimic the tones of machines—the work of starlings in the dark. Mimicry is a type of communication, a type of tenderness; our song reaches out to the song of the machines and through them, to the cycle. In distilling the tones heard in the din, in speaking to and singing with the din, tones are isolated and purified in us also. Distill and be distilled.

The industrial civic processes recorded here are the vibrations of water treatment and circulation taken from within Calgary’s Glenmore reservoir and Bonnybrook Wastewater Treatment Plant. These recordings were facilitated by the City of Calgary WATERSHED+ Dynamic Environment Lab and by many gracious and patient Water Services workers.

This edition was produced with the support of the Esker Foundation Commission Fund for the exhibition A tender proposition to the din.

Edition of 200 custom-pressed records in paper jacket.

$15.00

Jasmina Cibic: Spielraum (2018)

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Edited by Jasmina Cibic and Una Popović.
Contributors: Anna Gritz, Róna Kopeczky, Una Popović, Dubravka Sekulić, Jelena Vesić, Alessandro Vincentelli, What, How & for Whom (WHW), and Giovanna Zapperi.

Spielraum is a publication about Jasmina Cibic’s latest work, developed with the Ludwig Museum, Budapest; the International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade.

Cibic is known for her investigation of how art and architecture are utilised as soft power strategies in the enterprise of nation building. Her works often gather and restage found materials that are in some way infused by the spectre of political ideology but that have, over time, changed in their performative function as enforcers of state identity.

The title of the project is drawn from an essay by Karl Kraus, in which he vehemently opposes the use of decoration in both language and architecture. In this multidisciplinary work, Cibic takes Kraus’s concept of ‘Spielraum’ as a lens through which to examine strategies of nation building by political figures and establishments via the use of linguistic and visual decoration, with particular focus on the first summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Belgrade, in 1961.

The book is published in partnership with the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art and Museum of Contemporary Art, Belgrade; with the support of Museum of Yugoslavia; Esker Foundation; Collection Mihael Šutalo; and Waddington Studios, London.

ISBN 978-3-95476-254-5
296 pages, hardcover
250 illustrations
28 x 23 cm

$50.00

Peter von Tiesenhausen: Songs for Pythagoras (2018)

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Writing by Natasha Chaykowski, Ellie Epp, Lucy Lippard, and David McGregor.
Published by Art Gallery of Alberta with support from Esker Foundation.

The craftsmanship that has gone into the fabrication of this limited-edition career monograph underscores the very nature of Peter von Tiesenhausen’s artistic practice. For von Tiesenhausen, the landscape of Alberta has been a primary source of inspiration, with sustainability being a constant thread that has woven its way through his work over the course of his long career. Most often working with natural materials such as wood, ice, and the land itself, von Tiesenhausen has also incorporated discarded industrial materials such as wire cabling, glass, and metal sheeting into his work. Addressing ideas of time, life, nature, and re-generation, he engages audiences with issues related to extraction, production, and our impact on the environment. As well as providing a thorough overview of von Tiesenhausen’s career, this hand-finished publication showcases a work made especially for the exhibition, inviting visitors and readers on a journey from dark to light, from weight and sombreness to radiance and reflection. The images, objects, and sounds encountered reveal the stories of their own past, yet in their re-formation and re-presentation, they ask us to consider how we are creating our own future.

Peter von Tiensenhausen: Songs for Pythagoras is a hard cover, cloth-bound book, with a debossed tipped-in image on the front cover. Each book is individually marked inside by the artist, and includes a inserted artwork and a limited edition press flexi disk of a 7 minute outtake of audio from the sound and video installation Reservoir, produced in collaboration with Jen Reimer and Magnus Tiesenhausen.

Peter von Tiesenhausen is an Alberta-based multidisciplinary artist whose practice has grown from landscape painting to installation, sculpture, performance and from simple media to complex combinations of media and multifaceted collaborations. He has had over fifty solo exhibitions and has participated in over sixty group exhibitions. Von Tiesenhausen was the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artists Award.

Natasha Chaykowski writes for Carbon Paper, esse: arts + opinions, Canadian Art, and the Journal of Curatorial Studies. Lucy Lippard is the author of David Wojnarowicz: Brush Fires in the Social Landscape: Twentieth Anniversary Edition (Aperture, 2015) and Undermining: A Wild Ride Through Land Use, Politics, and Art in the Changing West (The New Press, 2014). David McGregor is a Winnipeg-based cinematographer. Ellie Epp is a Vancouver-based artist and filmmaker.

ISBN 978-1-77179-027-7
96 pages, hardcover, original drawing insert, and audio disk
40 colour illustrations
24.4 x 30.5 cm

$84.00

Limited Edition Artist Tote: GuyGuyGuy (2019)

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This limited edition tote bag designed by artist and designer GuyGuyGuy (Guy Anderson) was commissioned to commemorate the launch of Esker Foundation’s Bookshop. This royal blue canvas bag features hot pink silkscreen printing on both sides: the front shows the artist’s design and the back shows the name Bookshop at Esker Foundation, along with the Bookshop’s logo.

Dimensions (W x H): 37 x 40 cm
Handles: 26 cm long
100% cotton
Edition of 100

$10.00

Rita McKeough: Works (2018)

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Edited by Diana Sherlock
Contributors: Anthea Black, Eli D. Campanaro, Elizabeth Diggon, Johanna Householder, Areum Kim, Cheryl L’Hirondelle, Deidre Logue, Jude Major, Rita McKeough, Jeanne Randolph, Mary Scott
Published by EMMEDIA Gallery & Production Society, M:ST Performative Art Festival, and TRUCK Contemporary Art in Calgary

This critical monograph documents Rita McKeough’s collaborative artistic process and pedagogy from the late 1970s on; her interactions with visual and media arts communities in Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, particularly alternative music and performance scenes; and the audio, installation and performance work that is her ongoing contribution to the contemporary Canadian art community.

Includes a vinyl record with five audio works from installations and performances: Shiver (1995), Opponent and My Heart Beats too Fast from In bocca al lupo/In the Mouth of the Wolf (1991), Lament from Dancing on a Plate (1991), Veins (2016) and one new composition, Ashes (2017).

This project has been generously funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, Calgary Arts Development and the City of Calgary, EMMEDIA, M:ST, and TRUCK; institutional sponsor, the Alberta College of Art + Design; and community contributors, Owens Art Gallery, Sackville University and NSCAD University.

ISBN 9780986736926
Slipcase, hardcover publication, 12″ vinyl
40 x 40 cm

$75.00

Bookshop Pin

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Designed by GuyGuyGuy on the occasion of Esker Foundation’s Bookshop launch.
These pins feature two cute cut-out hands holding a book. Show the world how much you love reading.
Two posts on the back for perfect, sturdy positioning.

Materials: silver and magenta hard enamel
Dimensions: 1.25″ long
Edition of 250

$5.00

Kapwani Kiwanga: Structural Adjustments (2018)

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Edited by Yesomi Umolu and Gaëtane Verna
Foreward by Bill Michel and Gaëtane Verna; writing by Samia Henni and Yesomi Umolu; interview with Kapwani Kiwanga and Carolin Köchling

Kapwani Kiwanga is a Canadian-born, Paris-based artist who creates installations, performances, and video art that bring together her training in anthropology and comparative religion, while also drawing on her interest in history, memory, and mythology. Kiwanga deliberately mixes truth and fiction in her work, confusing the two in order to create fantastical narratives that are nonetheless rooted in rigorous research. This book presents works by Kiwanga investigating disciplinary architectures that were presented at the Logan Center Gallery at the University of Chicago and the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto. Opening with a compelling array of installation images, research documents, and film stills from a newly commissioned video, the book also includes a curatorial essay surveying Kiwanga’s work to date, an essay that offers an unfinished cartography of the genealogy of disciplinary spaces, and an interview with Kiwanga that covers her research interests and methodology.

ISBN 978-0-692-96318-0
80 pages, soft cover
70 color plates, 30 halftones
15 x 20 cm

$32.00

Earthlings (2017)

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Roger Aksadjuak, Shuvinai Ashoona, Pierre Aupilardjuk, Shary Boyle, Jessie Kenalogak, John Kurok and Leo Napayok
With texts by Shary Boyle, Heather Igloliorte, Naomi Potter and Shauna Thompson

Published by Esker Foundation in collaboration with Doris McCarthy Gallery,
Galerie de l’UQAM and Nanaimo Art Gallery.

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Earthlings, curated by Shary Boyle in collaboration with Shauna Thompson,
and presented at Esker Foundation, Calgary, January 21 – May 7, 2017.

Earthlings touring dates:

Doris McCarthy Gallery, Toronto: November 1, 2017 – January 27, 2018.
Galerie de l’UQAM, Montreal: March 11 – April 14, 2018.
Nanaimo Art Gallery: August 2 – October 6, 2018.

ISBN: 978-0-9811951-9-3
Publication in Inuktitut, French and English
Texts by Shary Boyle, Heather Igloliorte, Naomi Potter, and Shauna Thompson
Design by Mark Timmings
144 pages, soft cover
Over eighty colour illustrations
28 x 28 centimeters

$45.00

False Lashes Pin Set

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Designed by GuyGuyGuy.
These pins are perfect for people who want to put eyelashes on things.
Always comes in pairs of two, with two posts on the back for perfect positioning.

Materials: Black and gold plated hard enamel
Dimensions: 1.5″ long each

$15.00

Hole Patch

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Designed by GuyGuyGuy.
I can’t say for sure but this is probably one of the few patches that can be used to fix a hole and make a hole. Think about it.

Instructions: Iron on (but sewing is best!)
Dimensions: 3 x 2″

$7.00

Cat Pin Set

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Designed by GuyGuyGuy.
Funny pin set for cat lovers. Give one to your bestie or keep both halves for yourself.

Materials: silver and an off-white enamel
Dimensions: Each pin is about 1.5″ long

$15.00

Face Hole Patch

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Yellow and black iron-on patch designed by GuyGuyGuy.

Instructions: Iron on (but sewing is best!)
Dimensions: 2 x 1.25″

$7.00

Sock and Foot Pin Set

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Designed by GuyGuyGuy.
Quirky enamel and chrome pin set. Give one to your bestie or keep both for yourself.
Always comes in pairs of two, with two posts on the back for perfect positioning.

Materials: silver and white enamel
Dimensions: Each pin is about 1.5″ long

$15.00

HEREIN LIE THE SLEEP SICK (2017)

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Text by Pranav Behari
Photography by Jason de Haan, Miruna Dragan, Clint Roenisch, Peter Cox, and Toni Hafkenscheid

Featuring poetry by Pranav Behari, HEREIN LIE THE SLEEP SICK is Jason de Haan’s artist book designed to accompany his ambitious mid-career retrospective at Esker Foundation, Oh for eyes! At night we dream of eyes!

ISBN 978-0-9811951-8-6
64 pages, soft cover
colour and black and white
27.5 x 19.5 cm
Edition of 500

$20.00

Etienne Zack: The Sun Torn from the Sky (2016)

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Edited by Naomi Potter
Forward by Naomi Potter; essays by Travis Diehl, Carole Anne Klonarides, and Keith Wallace; interview with Naomi Potter and Etienne Zack

Published on the occasion of the exhibition Etienne Zack: Those Lacking Imagination Take Refuge In Reality, presented at the Esker Foundation from 28 May to 28 August 2016, this colour-illustrated catalogue presents an overview of recent painting and collage works by Etienne Zack.

ISBN 978-0-9811951-7-9
64 pages, soft cover
Colour images
21.5 x 27.8 cm

$40.00

Wafaa Bilal: 168:01 (2016)

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Edited by Srimoyee Mitra
Foreward by Catherine Mastin, PhD; essays by Srimoyee Mitra, Ian Alden Russell, Gregory Sholette

Jointly published by the Art Gallery of Windsor and Esker Foundation, this colour-illustrated catalogue presents an overview of the practice of Wafaa Bilal as well as his new project, 168:01.

ISBN 978-0-919837-90-4
52 pages, soft cover
Colour images
25.5 x 21 cm

$15.00

Jack Bush: In Studio (2016)

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Edited by Naomi Potter
Foreward by Naomi Potter, essay and catalogue entries by Sarah Stanners, Ph.D.

Published on the occasion of Esker Foundation’s exhibition, Jack Bush: In Studio, this colour-illustrated catalogue presents a tightly curated preview of Sarah Stanners’ forthcoming publication, Jack Bush: A Catalogue Raisonné. Featuring the history and trajectory of 20 Jack Bush masterworks, Jack Bush: In Studio offers new and unique insight into the life, work, and career of this celebrated Canadian colour field painter.

ISBN 978-0-9811951-6-2
96 pages, hard cover
Colour images
29.5 x 25 cm

$40.00

Wonder and Resonance: Fiction/Non-fiction (2015)

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Edited by Naomi Potter and Shauna Thompson
Featuring work by Raymond Boisjoly, Wally Dion, Brenda Draney, Dean Drever, Jeff Funnell, Jeffrey Gibson, Alex Janvier, Jonathan Jones, Glenn Ligon, Duane Linklater, Kent Monkman, Jude Norris, Krista Belle Stewart

Published on reflection of the exhibition Fiction/Non-fiction (2013), this full-colour catalogue features texts by Brenda Draney and Andrea Williamson, along with transcriptions of a public conversation between Raymond Boisjoly and Duane Linklater; a panel discussion featuring Brenda Draney, Jeff Funnell, Jude Norris, and Krista Belle Stewart; and an interview with Wayne Baerwaldt, Quyen Hoang, and Glenn Ligon.

ISBN 978-0-9811951-5-5
98 pages, soft cover
Colour images
34 x 21.5 cm

$40.00

Terms of Engagement: Averns, feldman-kiss, Stimson (2014)

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Cynthia Girard: Unicorns and Dictators / Beth Stuart: Doubting Thomas (2014)

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Edited by Naomi Potter and Shauna Thompson
Writing by Jon Davies, Cynthia Girard, Dominic Hardy, Naomi Potter, Beth Stuart, and Shauna Thompson

A double catalogue published on the occasion of Cynthia Girard’s Unicorns and Dictators and Beth Stuart’s Doubting Thomas exhibitions. Each book in this boxed set includes a curatorial essay, an essay by a guest writer, and a text written by the artist. These catalogues delve into the political, mystical, somatic, fantastical histories, influences, and underpinnings of each exhibition and feature an array of beautiful photographs.

ISBN 978-0-9811951-4-8
Boxed set of 2 books, 118 pages, soft cover
Colour and black & white photographs
19.5 x 26 cm

$40.00

Janet Werner: Another perfect day (2013)

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Edited by Meeka Walsh
Writing by Anne Carson, John Kissick, David Balzer, interview with Janet Werner by Robert Enright

Co-published by Esker Foundation, Doris McCarthy Gallery, and Kenderdine Art Gallery | College Art Galleries, Janet Werner: Another perfect day is a gorgeously illustrated look into Werner’s uncanny fictional portraits of women, whose painterly aesthetics and bodily distortions deftly articulate the pressures and artifice of the constructed feminine image and the awkwardness and anxieties of self-presentation.

Text in English and French.

ISBN 978-0-88880-587-4
96 pages, hard cover
2 B&W, 50 colour images
22.5 x 28.5 cm

$30.00

Splendid Isolation (2013)

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Images by Olga Chagaoutdinova, Miruna Dragan, Orest Semchishen and George Webber

A compendium publication to the photo-based exhibition Splendid Isolation. Resisting any introductions or other didactic material, this book contains 145 photographs from Olga Chagaoutdinova, Miruna Dragan, Orest Semchishen and George Webber. This wild mix of images intuitively mixes time, place, culture, language, artist, and image – an excellent addition to anyone’s image library.

ISBN 978-0-9811951-3-1
148 pages, soft cover
Colour and black & white photographs
20 x 20 cm

$25.00

Landon Mackenzie: Nervous Centre (2012)

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Essay by Glen Lowry, interview with Landon Mackenzie by Naomi Potter

This fully illustrated monograph surveys Mackenzie’s paintings from 1993 to the present, including images of her rarely seen works on paper. An insightful essay by Glen Lowry provides an impressive historical look at the artist’s career and practice, and an interview with the artist makes this publication one of the most comprehensive overviews of her work to date.

ISBN 978-0-9811951-2-4
87 pages, hard cover
6 B&W, 40 colour images
31 x 23 cm

$60.00

The New Alberta Contemporaries (2012)

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Essay by Caterina Pizanias, PhD

The New Alberta Contemporaries exhibition presented a snapshot of a cultural moment in the province of Alberta, showcasing recent graduates from all its institutions. The works in this exhibition offer explorations of landscape, gender, sexuality, the body, memory, and ecology – themes discussed at length in an essay by Dr. Caterina Pizanias. The catalogue also includes biographical details and an index of all 44 participating artists.

ISBN 978-0-9880263-0-8
71 pages, soft cover
25 colour images
26.5 x 26.5 cm

$20.00