Cover, image source: Photo taken by Allan Kosmajac

Notes

Marisa Jahn is an artist, writer, and community organizer embedded in various economic justice groups since 2008. Her work has been presented in many international institutions. In 2009, she co-founded REV-, an organization dedicated to socially-engaged art, design, and pedagogy. She is currently the Deputy Director at People’s Production House, a journalism training and production institute.

Byproduct presents texts from a variety of artists, activists, curators, and interdisciplinary thinkers that interrogate projects by cultural practitioners ’embedded’ in industries, the government, and other non-art sectors. Working with the physical systems and symbolic languages of these institutions, these cultural agents develop projects – or ‘byproducts’ – that produce meaning contingent on their hosts. Whether the works are explicitly polemical or instrumentalized by their hosts is up for debate…



CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

Byproducts and Parasites: On the Excess of Embedded Art Practices
Marisa Jahn and L.M. Bogad

Parasite (excerpt)
Michel Serres / Response by Ian Clarke / Response by Matthew Soules

What is an Institution?
John R. Searle / Response by Joshua Moufawad-Paul

2. PRODUCING & ITS BYPRODUCTS (ART & COMMERCE)

Preface
Marisa Jahn

ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP

Context is Half the Work
Peter Eleey

Countdown to Zero, Count Up to Now – An Interview with Artist Placement Goup
Pauline van Mourik Broekman and Josephine Berry Slater

Manifesto, 1980
Artist Placement Group

APG: Legacies and Aftermaths – A Conversation with Claire Bishop and Stephen Wright
Editorialized by Marisa Jahn

N.E. THING CO. LTD.

N.E. Thing Co. Ltd.: From Soft Sell to Soft Skills
Adam Lauder

Things United and Non-Categorical: N. E. Thing Co. Ltd. – An Interview with Ingrid Baxter
Grant Arnold

On the Philosophy of “Gross National Good”
IAIN BAXTER&

E.A.T.

The Artist and Industry, E.A.T. Proceedings, No. 4
A talk presented at the Museum of Modern Art, December 16, 1968
Billy Kluver

Beginning 9 Evenings
Michelle Kuo

Manifesto, 1967
E.A.T.

Accounting for Byproducts
Editorial introduction by Marisa Jahn

The Incidental Persons of the Information Revolution
Felicity Taylor

DEMOCRATIC INNOVATION

Col-labor-ate? – A Conversation with Kent Hansen
Marisa Jahn

PAUL ARDENNE

Of Economic Concerns
Paul Ardenne, translated from the French by Emmanuelle Day and Lisa Larson-Walker / Response by Amish Morrell

Le souci de l’economie
Paul Ardenne

A CONSTRUCTED WORLD

All the Bankers at Altamount – An Interview with A Constructed World
Joseph del Pesco

MAUREEN CONNOR

Personnel: A Conversation with Maureen Connor
Marisa Jahn / Special Contributions by Kadambari Baxi

AU TRAVAIL/AT WORK

There are Shitty Jobs Everywhere; That’s My Freedom – An Interview with Bob the Builder of Au Travail/At Work
Gina Badger and Adam Bobbette / Response by Allan Antliff

Manifesto, 2010
Au Travail/At Work

Manifeste, 2010
Au Travail/At Work

TOMAS JONSSON

The Magpie: Economic Redundancy as Civic Participation – An Interview with Tomas Jonsson
Marisa Jahn

3. PERFORMING POLITICS

KRISTIN LUCAS

“Refresh”: Versionhood and the Multiplicity of the Self – An Interview with Kristen Lucas
Marisa Jahn / Court transcript / Response by Kate Henderson

JANEZ JANSA

Subversion and Similitude in the Janez Jansa Project
Marisa Jahn

The Name as a Readymade – An Interview with Janez Jana, Janez Jana and Janez Jana
Lev Kreft

STEVE MANN

Prior Art: Art of Record for Personal Safety
Kathleen Pirrie-Adams / Response by Michael Page

Incidentalism and Existential Contraband: On Steve Mann
Marisa Jahn and Connor Dickie

MAMMALIAN DIVING REFLEX

Social Acupuncture and The Dog That Saved The Duck – An Interview with Darren O’Donnell and Natalie de Vito
Marisa Jahn

Social Acupuncture: A Guide to Suicide, Performance and Utopia (excerpt)
Darren O’Donnell

JOHN SEELY BROWN

On Performance Fabrics (excerpt)
John Seely Brown / Response by Etienne Turpin and DT Cochrane

THE YES MEN

The Baked Apple: On theNew York Post “Special Edition” – An Interview with Andy Bichlbaum (The Yes Men), L.M. Bogad, and Andrew Boyd
Marisa Jahn and Merve Unsal

REVEREND BILLY

Billy Versus Bloomie: Electoral Guerrilla Theatre in New York City
L.M. Bogad

Letters from the Congregation to Reverend Billy and The Church of Life After Shoppig

MR. PEANUT

Mr. Peanut for Vancouver Mayor 1974 – An Interview with Vincent Strasov
Luis Jacob

TEJPAL S. AJJI

Isotopes and a Radioactive Modernity
Tejpal S. Ajji

MISS CANADIANA

And the Winner Is…
Michelle Jacques

ANTANAS MOCKUS

Living Fossils, Cultural Amphibians, and the Future’s Midwife – An Interview with Antanas Mockus
Pedro Reyes / Editorial introduction by Joseph del Pesco

Contributors’ Biographies

Notes

Publisher Note

Marisa Jahn is an artist, writer, and community organizer embedded in various economic justice groups since 2008. Her work has been presented in many international institutions. In 2009, she co-founded REV-, an organization dedicated to socially-engaged art, design, and pedagogy. She is currently the Deputy Director at People’s Production House, a journalism training and production institute.

Byproduct presents texts from a variety of artists, activists, curators, and interdisciplinary thinkers that interrogate projects by cultural practitioners ’embedded’ in industries, the government, and other non-art sectors. Working with the physical systems and symbolic languages of these institutions, these cultural agents develop projects – or ‘byproducts’ – that produce meaning contingent on their hosts. Whether the works are explicitly polemical or instrumentalized by their hosts is up for debate…

CONTENT

1. INTRODUCTION

Byproducts and Parasites: On the Excess of Embedded Art Practices
Marisa Jahn and L.M. Bogad

Parasite (excerpt)
Michel Serres / Response by Ian Clarke / Response by Matthew Soules

What is an Institution?
John R. Searle / Response by Joshua Moufawad-Paul

2. PRODUCING & ITS BYPRODUCTS (ART & COMMERCE)

Preface
Marisa Jahn

ARTIST PLACEMENT GROUP

Context is Half the Work
Peter Eleey

Countdown to Zero, Count Up to Now – An Interview with Artist Placement Goup
Pauline van Mourik Broekman and Josephine Berry Slater

Manifesto, 1980
Artist Placement Group

APG: Legacies and Aftermaths – A Conversation with Claire Bishop and Stephen Wright
Editorialized by Marisa Jahn

N.E. THING CO. LTD.

N.E. Thing Co. Ltd.: From Soft Sell to Soft Skills
Adam Lauder

Things United and Non-Categorical: N. E. Thing Co. Ltd. – An Interview with Ingrid Baxter
Grant Arnold

On the Philosophy of “Gross National Good”
IAIN BAXTER&

E.A.T.

The Artist and Industry, E.A.T. Proceedings, No. 4
A talk presented at the Museum of Modern Art, December 16, 1968
Billy Kluver

Beginning 9 Evenings
Michelle Kuo

Manifesto, 1967
E.A.T.

Accounting for Byproducts
Editorial introduction by Marisa Jahn

The Incidental Persons of the Information Revolution
Felicity Taylor

DEMOCRATIC INNOVATION

Col-labor-ate? – A Conversation with Kent Hansen
Marisa Jahn

PAUL ARDENNE

Of Economic Concerns
Paul Ardenne, translated from the French by Emmanuelle Day and Lisa Larson-Walker / Response by Amish Morrell

Le souci de l’economie
Paul Ardenne

A CONSTRUCTED WORLD

All the Bankers at Altamount – An Interview with A Constructed World
Joseph del Pesco

MAUREEN CONNOR

Personnel: A Conversation with Maureen Connor
Marisa Jahn / Special Contributions by Kadambari Baxi

AU TRAVAIL/AT WORK

There are Shitty Jobs Everywhere; That’s My Freedom – An Interview with Bob the Builder of Au Travail/At Work
Gina Badger and Adam Bobbette / Response by Allan Antliff

Manifesto, 2010
Au Travail/At Work

Manifeste, 2010
Au Travail/At Work

TOMAS JONSSON

The Magpie: Economic Redundancy as Civic Participation – An Interview with Tomas Jonsson
Marisa Jahn

3. PERFORMING POLITICS

KRISTIN LUCAS

“Refresh”: Versionhood and the Multiplicity of the Self – An Interview with Kristen Lucas
Marisa Jahn / Court transcript / Response by Kate Henderson

JANEZ JANSA

Subversion and Similitude in the Janez Jansa Project
Marisa Jahn

The Name as a Readymade – An Interview with Janez Jana, Janez Jana and Janez Jana
Lev Kreft

STEVE MANN

Prior Art: Art of Record for Personal Safety
Kathleen Pirrie-Adams / Response by Michael Page

Incidentalism and Existential Contraband: On Steve Mann
Marisa Jahn and Connor Dickie

MAMMALIAN DIVING REFLEX

Social Acupuncture and The Dog That Saved The Duck – An Interview with Darren O’Donnell and Natalie de Vito
Marisa Jahn

Social Acupuncture: A Guide to Suicide, Performance and Utopia (excerpt)
Darren O’Donnell

JOHN SEELY BROWN

On Performance Fabrics (excerpt)
John Seely Brown / Response by Etienne Turpin and DT Cochrane

THE YES MEN

The Baked Apple: On theNew York Post “Special Edition” – An Interview with Andy Bichlbaum (The Yes Men), L.M. Bogad, and Andrew Boyd
Marisa Jahn and Merve Unsal

REVEREND BILLY

Billy Versus Bloomie: Electoral Guerrilla Theatre in New York City
L.M. Bogad

Letters from the Congregation to Reverend Billy and The Church of Life After Shoppig

MR. PEANUT

Mr. Peanut for Vancouver Mayor 1974 – An Interview with Vincent Strasov
Luis Jacob

TEJPAL S. AJJI

Isotopes and a Radioactive Modernity
Tejpal S. Ajji

MISS CANADIANA

And the Winner Is…
Michelle Jacques

ANTANAS MOCKUS

Living Fossils, Cultural Amphibians, and the Future’s Midwife – An Interview with Antanas Mockus
Pedro Reyes / Editorial introduction by Joseph del Pesco

Contributors’ Biographies

Notes