Llano Community Bookstore is a two-part temporary bookstore, hosted for one day (Thursday, April 5, 1-6pm) at the CalArts Library, and for fifteen days (Friday, April 6 to Friday, April 20) at IKO IKO in Los Angeles.

CalArts graduate students have selected titles from the Textfield Distribution Catalog, to be included in both parts, and will install/deinstall and work as Shopkeepers during PART I of the temporary bookstore, located in the CalArts Library Microfilm Room. PART II of the temporary bookstore will be hosted by IKO IKO in Los Angeles, and includes furniture, used for both parts, designed by WAKA WAKA.

The (fictional) bookstore is based upon, and takes its name from, Llano Del Rio, which was organized under the Llano Del Rio Company and was a corporate-run socialist Utopian society initiated by Job Harriman, following his narrow defeat in a runoff election for the mayorship of Los Angeles. Harriman believed that the success of socialism depended not only on politics, but also on the realization of socialist principles. Harriman did not attempt to reform all of society, but rather, he believed that by creating a functioning socialist community within the larger society of capitalism, the larger society would gradually convert to socialism.

Book Affair will function as both a fair and a temporary library and will take place within the current installation, ‘Murals and Print’ by Fiona Connor.

While books will be offered for sale, the event will also be an opportunity for local publishers and artists to share titles and editions that are not always available to the Los Angeles community.

Along these lines, each participant will bring five books for either selling and/or sharing. A comprehensive bibliography with all participants and their titles will also be compiled and distributed. There will also be a xerox machine located on the premises for visitors to use.

Textfield, Inc. will display 5 books less than 10 inches, on a shelf provided by the organizers, and an Eduardo Sarabia vase/sculpture, placed on the seat of a chair/pedestal.

Book Affair will also display furniture made specifically for the event by Tahi Moore, Joshua Nathanson, Michael Ned Holte, and Fiona Connor among others.

Participants include: 2nd Cannons, A-Z video, Chinatown: the sequel, Dexter Sinister, Harsh Patel, Henry Glover, Kaleidoscope, Ooga Booga, Prism of Reality, Semiotexte, Textfield, Inc., Works Sited, and WorldFood Books.

Creatures of Comfort New York is pleased to present No More Reality, a temporary bookshop and exhibition organized by Textfield, Inc. The bookshop and exhibition will take place in Creatures of Comfort’s adjacent project space at 205 Mulberry St.

In conjunction with the bookshop, which will feature current and archived titles from Textfield Distribution, there will be an exhibition of work by artists that Jonathan Maghen has collaborated with through Textfield to realize various publishing projects. The exhibition will feature the works of Phil Chang, Arthur Ou, Eduardo Sarabia, and Anna Sew Hoy.

The bookshop and exhibition title have been appropriated from the Philippe Parreno work, No More Reality (the demonstration), 1991, which is a four-minute video of children demonstrating, and chanting the slogan and title (“No More Reality”).

New York Times Tmagazine.

Ooga Booga
943 N Broadway #203
Los Angeles CA 90012
14 January — 7 February 2010