A.R.T. announces Julie Ault as its 2024 Artist Honoree.
A.R.T. is celebrating Julie Ault by distributing 25,000 free art books to 650 public libraries, schools, and prisons in her name.
A.R.T. is celebrating Julie Ault by distributing 25,000 free art books to 650 public libraries, schools, and prisons in her name.
Rirkrit Tiravanija's practice insists that an artwork's meaning arises in its collective production and use. This teaching guide explores Tiravanija's tools for asking "What forms community?" and "How can a community undo those forms?"
The A.R.T. Library Program has distributed 566,782 free art books to a growing network of 9,078 public schools, libraries, prisons, and reading centers nationwide.
Rirkrit Tiravanija's practice insists that an artwork's meaning arises in its collective production and use.
"A primary function of a book is the possibility for continuation. Books distribute with a wider ranging reach and have an enduring material life."
"A.R.T. offers books that I myself wouldn't have considered purchasing because I hadn't heard of the artist until discovering it on its catalog. They are also books that many of the libraries in my state do not own, so I am providing materials to the entire state of Minnesota that the public did not previously have access to."
"The classroom, like Tiravanija’s work, can create the conditions for individuals to join a collective, observe the social tensions within the collective, and then reflect critically on that experience."
"We get letters all the time about how the art books we send out are so very valued and help humanize such a crushingly brutal institutional existence... the A.R.T. Library Program is a godsend..."
"The books offered by A.R.T. expand the spectrum in which literacy might be defined, allowing individuals from our community to immerse themselves in a range of information, from purely visual to entirely literary. A.R.T.’s catalog reflects the diverse relationships our artists have with literacy in its various forms."
"Literacy from the vantage of art prioritizes writing over reading, and artistic production as a process of creating forms over the appreciation of artworks. If we are good at fostering literacy from this point of view, we will prompt readers to shift from being consumers to authors. Books, like works of art, should be meeting places where power is not displayed but redistributed."
Rirkrit Tiravanija's practice insists that an artwork's meaning arises in its collective production and use. This teaching guide explores Tiravanija's tools for asking "What forms community?" and "How can a community undo those forms?"
A.R.T. Library Program Questionnaire gathers insights from librarians and publishers within the Program's distribution network to reconsider and reflect on what it means to make art books public today.
A.R.T. is celebrating Julie Ault by distributing 25,000 free art books to 650 public libraries, schools, and prisons in her name.
Since the beginning of the year, we have placed over 27,238 books in 578 public libraries, schools, prisons, and community reading centers across the country in the name of our 2023 honoree Rirkrit Tiravanija. We hope that you will again grant us your support and help us connect readers across barriers of difference and imagine better ways of being together.