First published in 1988, this book attempts to tackle the problem of how to write about art, culture, and the issues of postmodernism in a style appropriate to what is being claimed. The letters are written on art’s behalf to a range of institutions and individuals, and have as their recurring concern the relation between art, culture and representation — both art as representation and how art is represented to, and for, the surrounding culture. They explore the context and viability of art through a range of themes, including writing, the aestheticisation of everyday life, style, design pleasure, fragmentation, hyphenation, technology, and the museum — drawing on materials from the visual arts, music, literature, post-structuralism, contemporary criticism, philosophy, and sociology.
Watin; thuh lettaz; To the Post-man Telex to Noah To Paolo Uccello, c/o
S.S. Sprit of Florence To Dr. Kopf, The Director, The Multi-National Museum
of the Art of the Now To Martin Heidegger, c/o Up There To Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, c/o Sublime Cottage, The Beyond To The Chairman, National Board of
Garden Guardians, Memo: re Your Annual Glory of the Garden Art Competition
To Roland Barthes, c/o Les Champs Elysées To Dr. Stufa, the Stufa
Azurotherapy Clinic To Ma, (M/S Enid Ameurunculus), 763 Whortleberry Avenue,
Northern District, Subsuburborough To Jack Derippa, c/o Abroad; Appendix:
Arts Body, A Largely Sedentary Masque for Three Personae; wayout
