MORE WORDSHIP

The Richard Kostelanetz Bookstore

A survey show in the form of a functioning bookstore, presenting the work of one of the main figures of the New York avantguarde since the mid 1960s. Kunstverein (Milano) is proud to host for the first time in Italy MORE WORDSHIP, The Richard Kostelanetz Bookstore.

29.11.2013 - 18.01.2014

@Spazio O’ | via Pastrengo, 12 | Milano

MORE WORDSHIP also hosts a number of public events and encounters running in parallel to the exhibition:
• 27 novembre 2013, H 18.30 Guided Tour con l’artista

• 18 dicembre 2013. Presentazione del volume The Nervous System (edito da Kunstverein Publishing & JRP Ringier & tranzit, 2013) con gli autori Jiri Kovanda e Zbynek Baladran.

• Gennaio 2014. Presentazione dei libri di Ivan Moudov (Stones, edito da Kunstverien Publishing & Vulcano edizioni) e Italo Zuffi (Also a little Performative; Actions and performances 1996-2012, edito da Kunstverien Publishing & Fortino Editions).


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MORE WORDSHIP continues and amplifies the previous chapter of the project in Europe, Openings and Closings, The Richard Kostelanetz Bookstore, hosted by our sister organisation, Kunstverein Amsterdam in 2011. The title of the project changes with the new set-up and refers to the artist’s studio and archive. MORE WORDSHIP will host and sell all of RK’s publications (about 100 titles) as well as rare artifacts, audiovisual works, editions and smaller artworks, including the now very rare complete set of Assembling 1 through 13 produced between 1970 and 1982.

“Richard Kostelanetz (born 1940, New York) is an American artist, writer, critic and editor of the avant- garde. He is infamous for his prolific and often biting prose. In his short fictions (some only 2 words long) and visual poetry, RK employs a radically formalist approach consisting of arrangements of words on a page using such devices as linking language and sequence, punning, alliteration, parallelism, constructivism and minimalism. His literary work challenges the reader in unconventional ways and is often printed in limited editions at small presses.”, from Britannica.com.

His nonfiction work The End of Intelligent Writing: Literary Politics in America (1974) challenged the New York literary scene and promoted the publication of works by innovative younger authors. RK’s complex, inclusive and fascinating work in publications, video and audio works, prints and editions will be presented as a bookstore in Milan. For reasons closely connected to Kostelanetz practice of avant-garde auto-production, Kunstverein feels the format of a bookstore dedicated to the artist is a consistent alternative to a retrospective exhibition.

MORE WORDSHIP is a special guest project at SPRINT, independent publishers and artists’ books fair, Milano 29/30.11 - 01.12.2013 at Spazio O’. www.sprintmilano.org

Kunstverein would like to express special thanks to:
Richard Kostelanetz, Alexis Bhagat, Maxine Kopsa, Nathan Smithe, Fabio Carbone, Sara Serighelli, Luca Poncellini, Margherita Pellino, Rosella Zanelli, Daniele Drius, Riet Wijnen, Hyo Kwon, Goda Budvytyte, SPRINT, O', Fare, Vulcano, Simon di Brazzan