Episodes
-
Better Read #039: Sturtevant at Tate Modern, 2007
I looked at the episode numbers and thought it must be a mistake, but no, there hasn’t been a Better Read since 2021. But I’ve used a Sturtevant text before, in a way; in 2016, I had a computer read several pages of Spinoza’s Ethica, a text Sturtevant included in Vertical Nomad, which she showed…
more -
Better Read #037 – McRib NFT
A screenshot of the artwork to which ten McRib NFTs point, and to which no owner of the NFTs have any right, claim, or permission to engage with in any way. image via rarible.com Eight years ago, I was inspired by Ian Bogost’s article on the McRib to create a video work, untitled (where we all…
more -
Better Read #030: Robert Rauschenberg’s Autobiography
detail, Robert Rauschenberg, Autobiography, 1968, 5×4′, offset lithographic print, ed. 2000 The middle of three 5 x 4-ft offset lithograph panels in Robert Rauschenberg’s Autobiography contains a dizzying spiral of text featuring key moments of the artist’s life, as well as an extensive list of...
-
Better Read #029: Felix Gonzalez-Torres Artist Statement, 1989
Felix Gonzalez-Torres, “Untitled”, 1989, Installation view, 2019, by and via Public Art Fund For the 30th anniversary of its original installation and the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, Public Art Fund reinstalled Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ first billboard work, “Untitled” (1989) at its...
-
Better Read, No. 027: Jenny Holzer’s Arno, As Grammed By Helmut Lang
Jenny Holzer projection for the Biennale di Firenze, 1996, photo: Attilio Maranzano via jennyholzer.com Jenny Holzer made her first xenon projection in 1996 as part of a collaboration with Helmut Lang for the Biennale di Firenze. As Lang would describe it, the text, Arno, was projected from a…
more -
Better Read #023: Applied Ballardianism
Applied Ballardianism, by Simon Sellars, published June 2018 by Urbanomic This, the 23rd installment of Better Read, texts that are better read aloud by a computer, was inspired by a @ballardian tweet. It is the table of contents of Simon Sellars’ new sort-of-a-novel-sort-of-a-memoir, Applied...
-
Better Read #021 – Federal Painted Portrait Ban
Artist Joy Thomas and the John Brysons posing with his official Commerce Secretary portrait, Sept. 2012. image: joythomasart.com As Artnet reported last week, in the wake of the unprecedented popularity of the National Portrait Gallery’s new portraits of the Obamas, Donald Trump signed a law...
-
Better Read #019: Gretchen Bender’s Dumping Core At The Hirshhorn Museum
Gretchen Bender, Dumping Core, 1984, installed at Hirshhorn Museum, 2018, collection: MoMA The Hirshhorn Museum offers non-hearing or non-sighted visitors transcripts of audio or video artworks they exhibit. In some cases those transcripts come from the artist or their dealers. For the video art...
-
Better Read #018: Ellsworth Kelly, Notes of 1969
In writing yesterday’s post, I realized I’ve come back to Ellsworth Kelly’s “Notes of 1969” before. What strikes me now, besides the quote I used for yesterday’s title, was this: Everywhere I looked, everything I saw became something to be made, and it had to be exactly as it was, with nothing...
-
Better Read #017: Embroidery Trouble Shooting Guide
SEW SEW SEW SEW SEW SEW This installment of Better Read is the text of the found net artwork, Embroidery Trouble Shooting Page, which was repeated as untitled (etsg) in 2015. When I first found the page, I marveled at its beautiful folly, and dreamed of printing it as a book. Then of using it as…
more -
Better Read #016: Roy Lichtenstein Word Lists
Laurie Lambrecht, Explosion, Slam, photo composition of Roy Lichtenstein’s Hand Written Word List and comic book clipping source material, made in the artist’s studio between 1990 and 1992. image via lensculture Why did Roy Lichtenstein make word lists is not really my question. How did Roy...
-
Better Read #015: A Pair Of Texts By Kara Walker
Kara Walker, Detail of U.S.A. Idioms, 2017, image via sikkema jenkins & co It feels unusual to feature a current text on Better Read, but then, these are unusual times. It strikes me that Kara Walker’s artist’s statement for her current show at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. has not been considered in an...
-
Better Read #014: Richard Hamilton, Five Tyres Remoulded (1972)
Richard Hamilton invitation with 1951 Technique et Architecture illustration used for Five Tyres – abandoned (1964) and Five Tyres remoulded (1972) Sometimes I hit a wall while writing, and retyping someone else’s text helps get me going again. So here is another installment of Better Read, a...
-
Better Read #013: Modern Art Shackled To Communism, by Congressman George Dondero
The Mellow Pad, 1945-51, by Stuart Davis, co-founder of the American Artists Congress in 1936, image: whitney.org This edition of Better Read features a speech delivered by Michigan Republican congressman George Donderos on the House floor on Tuesday August 16, 1949 titled, “Modern Art Shackled…
more -
Better Read #012: In The Domain Of The Great Bear, By Mel Bochner & Robert Smithson
Reading a Dan Graham interview transcript about magazine articles as artworks, and contemplating the [so far] failed campaign for Giant Meteor ’16, I thought of Mel Bochner’s and Robert Smithson’s In The Domain Of The Great Bear, published in the Fall 1966 issue of Art Voices. This edition of...
-
Better Read #11 – Forrest Bess: The Asteroids (1946)
Forrest Bess, The Asteroids #3, 1946, oil on canvas board, via Phillips Collection In 2014 the Phillips Collection received eight works by Forrest Bess from Miriam Shapiro Grosof, including a set of four paintings titled, The Asteroids (1946). They depict a dream Bess had, and the ceramist Arlene...
-
Better Read #10 – Questlove: Trayvon Martin and I Ain’t Shit
Has Questlove read this aloud himself? I don’t think so. I wish he would, because if I cry this much when the robot reads it… Download: Better_Read_010_Questlove_Im_Still_Human_20160920.mp3 [11:27, 16.5mb mp3 via dropbox greg.org] Read: Questlove: Trayvon Martin and I Ain’t Shit [nymag via...
-
Better Read #009: Single Man Looking To The Right (1979), By Richard Prince
Exhibition announcement card for Richard Prince’s window installation, “Single man looking to the right”, 1979, at the original location of Three Lives & Company bookstore, New York, via the catalogue for Edward Cella’s exhibition, “Richard Prince: The Douglas Blair Turnbaugh Collection, 1977-88”...
-
Better Read #008: Death By Gun
“Untitled” (Death By Gun), 1990, endless. collection: moma.org We’ve come to reading the names of the dead, to intone them, as a form of memorial. I’ve never felt Felix Gonzalez-Torres’ “Untitled” (Death By Gun) was a memorial per se, more a statement. Remembering for different ends. But…
more -
Better Read #007: Spinoza’s Ethica From Sturtevant’s Vertical Monad
Sturtevant’s Vertical Monad, 2008, installed at Anthony Reynolds Gallery, London In case the last Better Read was too mainstream podcasty for you, here are the first few pages of Spinoza’s Ethica Ordine Geometrico Demonstrata, in Latin, which Sturtevant included in her 2008 installation Vertical...
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Better Read have?
Better Read currently has 20 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Better Read about?
the making of, by greg allen
How often does Better Read release new episodes?
Better Read has 20 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Better Read?
You can listen to Better Read on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Better Read?
Better Read is created and hosted by Better Read.
URL copied to clipboard!