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Robert Fitterman and Vansessa Place

Theory | $12 ($10 direct from UDP)
Perfect-bound. 80 pp, 4.5 x 6 in.
ISBN 978-1-933254-46-3
Publication Date: 2009
Distribution: SPD
Series: Dossier

What is conceptual writing, how does it differ from Conceptual Art, what are some of the dominant forms of conceptualism,where does an impure or hybrid conceptualism fit in, what about the baroque, what about the prosody of procedure, what are the links between appropriation and conceptual writing, how does conceptual writing rely on a new way of reading, a “thinkership” that can shift the focus away from the text and onto the concept, what is the relationship between conceptual writing and technology or information culture, and why has this tendency taken hold in the poetry community now?

What follows, then, is a collection of notes, aphorisms, quotes and inquiries on conceptual writing. We have co-authored this text through correspondence, shared reading interests, and similar explorations. Notes on Conceptualisms is far from a definitive text, and much closer to a primer, a purposefully incomplete starting place, where readers, hopefully, can enter so as to participate in the shaping of these ideas.

NOTES ON CONCEPTUALISMS
$12 | ISBN: 978-1-933254-46-3 Essay/Criticism 80 pages | perfect-bound
Release Date: May 1, 2009

In their delightful and wise Notes on Conceptualisms, Vanessa Place and Robert Fitterman sketch out some exciting “conceptualist” alternatives, all of them having to do with creation—which is what art is all about. You won’t agree with all the aphorisms and formulations in this book, but it is guaranteed to keep you in your seat, turning its pages with real pleasure.—Marjorie Perloff

Both direct and oblique, Notes is itself a self-reflexive work of conceptual writing in the guise of theory; or is it a work of theory in the guise of conceptual writing? By smartly straddling the creative and critical, this book does twice the work toward our understanding of what it means to be contemporary.—Kenneth Goldsmith

In the process of deciphering Place and Flitterman’s heiroglyphic Notes, I learned more about the impact of conceptualism on artists and writers than I had from reading so-called canonical works on the subject.—Mary Kelly

Conceptual writing teaches us to write about the wrench, not the monkey. Take Notes and get the idea… —Christian Bök _________________________________________________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Vanessa Place is a writer and lawyer and cofounder of Les Figues Press. She is the author of Dies: A Sentence (Les Figues Press), a 50,000 word, one-sentence prose poem, and the post-conceptual epic La Medusa (Fiction Collective 2). Her nonfiction book, The Guilt Project: Rape and Morality, will be published by Other Press in 2010. Place is also a regular contributor to X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly, and is collaborating with Los Angeles conceptual artist Stephanie Taylor on the film Murderous Squaredance at the Spiral Jetty. The co-director of Les Figues Press has been described by critic Terry Castle as “an elegant vessel for experimental American writing of an extraordinarily assured and ingenious sort.”

Robert Fitterman was born in 1959 in Creve Coeur (broken heart), Missouri. He is the author of 10 books of poetry, including 3 installments of his ongoing poem Metropolis: Metropolis 1-15 (Sun & Moon Press, 2000), Metropolis 16-29 (Coach House Books, 2002), and Metropolis XXX: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (Edge Books, 2004) and, forthcoming, Sprawl: Metropolis 20A (Make Now Books). Also forthcoming is rob the plagiarist (Roof Books)—a collection of essays, conceptual writing, and other writings generated by plagiarism and appropriation. Several of his books are collaborations with visual artists, including war, the musical with Dirk Rowntree (Subpress Books) and The Sun Also Also Rises with Nayland Blake (No Press). He lives in NYC with poet Kim Rosenfield and their daughter Coco. He teaches writing and poetry at NYU and in the Bard College, Milton Avery School of Graduate Studies.

“The petite, wallet-sized book fits perfectly to that impulse that the tree, in fact, did fall in the forest.  And, you should go see where the hell it fell.” —COLDFRONT

“For those not familiar with conceptualist practices in poetry, I can recommend few better places to start than Notes on Conceptualisms.” —THOM DONOVAN for BOMBLOG   

“But it’s a book you’re going to want to carry around with you as you go about your daily business, being the most ambitious & serious account of the dynamics underlying emergent politics in the United States I’ve encountered in years.” —RON SILLIMAN