From February 7 – March 2, 2013, P! transforms into a custom-made reading room, created by Rich Brilliant Willing. Investigating copying, translation, counterfeiting, and other gestures, the space hosts a public program of twice-weekly reading groups. These events juxtapose literary, journalistic, academic, and scientific readings from multiple cultural positions as a discursive groundwork for the subsequent exhibitions. Discussion group leaders include Sarah Greenberger Rafferty (Artist), Ruba Katrib (Curator, SculptureCenter), Sarah Schulman (Writer), Ben Smith (Editor-in-chief, BuzzFeed), editorial consultancy Superscript, Herb Tam (Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Museum of Chinese in America), Nader Vossoughian (Architectural historian & theoretician, NYIT), and Xin Wang (Research assistant, Metropolitan Museum of Art). The texts discussed are available at P! for purchase or perusal, and will be collected into a bootleg catalogue/reader. The reading room is open to the public Thu – Sun, 12–6pm, and offers free wifi.
Schedule of events:
Wednesday, February 13, 6:30–8:30pm
Sara Greenberger Rafferty (Artist) leads a discussion on “The Deposition of Richard Prince in the Case of Cariou V. Prince et al” (excerpt)
Saturday, February 16, 3–5pm
Nader Vossoughian (Architectural historian & theoretician, NYIT) leads a discussion on Walter Benjamin’s “The Arcades Project” (excerpt)
Wednesday, February 20, 6:30–8:30pm
Editorial consultancy Superscript (Molly Heintz, Aileen Kwun, Avinash Rajagopal, Vera Sacchetti) leads a discussion on Orhan Pamuk’s “The Black Book” (excerpt)
Saturday, February 23, 3–5pm
“Copied in China”: Herb Tam (Curator and Director of Exhibitions, Museum of Chinese in America) and Xin Wang (Research assistant, Metropolitan Museum of Art) lead a discussion on a range of texts examining copying in historical and contemporary Chinese culture (excerpts)
Wednesday, February 27, 6:30–8:30pm
Ruba Katrib (Curator, SculptureCenter) leads a discussion on Michel Houellebecq’s “The Possibility of an Island” (excerpt)
Friday, March 1, 6:30–8:30pm
Ben Smith (Editor-in-chief, BuzzFeed) leads a discussion on Richard Dawkins’ “The Selfish Gene” (excerpt)
Saturday, March 2, 3–5pm
Exhibition closing event with writer Sarah Schulman (excerpt)
For more information, download a full press release and program of events here.
