Dada is not art; art is dada. Before I talk about the book 4 Dada Suicides, I want to plug an art show I saw yesterday, by the artists' group Fiber Dimensions. As you might guess from the name, these people do weird stuff with textiles. This show is going on through, uhm, tomorrow, so maybe instead of talking about the show, I should just provide a link to their web page so you can look them over, send them mail, and ask to get on their mailing list to get word of future exhibits. My favorite was probably a couple of colorful baskets assembled from zip-ties and other materials by Emily Dvorin. Anyhow, the book. Yes, that's why you're here, right?
This book has mini-biographies of 4 dada suicides. It's not clear that they were all suicides. Some folks think that Arthur Cravan faked his death to escape surveillance. Anyhow. This book doesn't talk about the squalid suicide details, but has mini-biographies of 4 dadaists, excerpts from their writings, and reminiscences by friends.
Art is dada, but not all art fans enjoy dada; if you don't think you'd like this book, you're probably right.
I would like to point out one bit of brilliance from the Euphorisms of Julien Torma:
To write erotic novels, to be read in the dark, in Braillette.
In French, apparently, this is a pun. But in any language, the idea of publishing p0rn in Braille is awesome marketing.
A friend-of-a-friend of mine edited a couple of anthologies of erotica. Big deal, you're thinking, Everyone's done that. But the thing that was brilliant about these was that they were printed on waterproof paper so that people could read them in the tub. Apparently, a lot of people like to sit in the tub and... uhm... anyhow.
Although I haven't conducted any surveys, I'm guessing that a book of erotica marketed at people to read in the dark could do even better than that book marketed at people in the tub.
Yes, yes you can read Braille one-handed, thank you for asking. Maybe I just think that this is a brilliant idea because I've been in so many puzzle-hunts.
Labels: book