Judith Barry: For when all that was read was… so as not to be unknown

Two offset printed lithographs with folded origami sculpture
23 ½ × 31 ½ in. (posters), 5 × 5 × 5 in. (folded polyhedron)
Produced with Project Projects on the occasion of dOCUMENTA (13)
Edition of 200

Originally conceived for the exhibition dOCUMENTA(13) in Kassel, Germany, artist Judith Barry’s project For when all that was read was… so as not to be unknown functions as an exploded guidebook that radically reconfigures objects and ideas from the show into a carefully-constructed three-dimensional work. Due to constraints from a handful of artists’ estates, certain works from the exhibition were barred from reproduction in Barry’s piece. This paradoxical situation—an artist’s guidebook without permission to display its featured artworks—led to the reinterpretation of the entire body of images by graphic means. The resulting work thus exists in two versions: on the one hand, there is the official, exhibited piece. Adjacent to it, the absent precursor: a shadow work that eludes commerce and distribution, yet is itself the genesis of the project.

Download detailed prospectus
Read Claire Barliant’s writing on the piece