LEFT BEHIND
LEFT BEHIND Scribbles, stickers, stamps, stains, fades, found objects and ephemera spotted on and within books from the ICI Library.
The not-so secret Lives of books As a rule, found items in the ICI Library books are always left in situ and marks and stains are intentionally left untouched. These items serve as enhancements rather than negations to the quality of the books. They are both independent entities and items that are intrinsically bound to their sources. Items left behind in and on books tell us just as much as the contents of the books themselves. These remnants tell the untold story or history of these objects – stains and fades relay past spills and sun-exposure, long gone; scribbles and marginalia show us the thoughts and ideas of past readers; while book plates, inscriptions, and hidden bits of ephemera forgotten between the pages give us a glimpse into the lives of others. The following selections provide a glimpse into the hidden troves of items that lie hidden in plain sight, waiting to provide potential inspiration to all those who happen upon them in their reading.
LEFT BEHIND: Scribbles, stickers, stamps, stains, fades, found objects and ephemera spotted on and in books from the ICI Library. CONTENT: all images courtesy of the Institute of Cultura Inquiry Library BOOKLET DESIGN & CONTENT CURATION: Sue-Na Gay
The Institute of Cultural Inquiry (ICI) is a non-profit educational and cultural organization focused on ‘visual technologies’ and how they are used to document, imagine, remember and conceal the convergence of human activities and capabilities we call ‘culture.’ The Institute sponsors research, displays, symposia, workshops, performances and tactical interventions. In addition, it is committed to maintaining a number of long-term, ongoing projects that stretch across disciplines such as The AIDS Chronicles, The Manual of Lost Ideas, and Traumbagger (dream-dredger). Headquartered in Los Angeles with satellite laboratories in London, Köln, and Venice, Italy, the ICI offers residency, curatorial, publishing, fieldwork and event horizon opportunities for visual researchers and/or fabricators and for curious spectators of visual culture. The ICI’s active publishing program, ICI press, is formed by diverse communities of artists and scholars, who work collaboratively to publish books, zines and handmade artist editions that celebrate, expose, and actualize the visual paradigms we live by. Covering varying topics on visual culture, each major title is accompanied by a special edition, featuring artist-made supplements. To stay informed about upcoming ICI projects including a timely notice of each Call for Contributions or Participation please sign up for our mailing list at www.culturalinquiry.org/contact. For inquiries please contact info@culturalinquiry.org, subject line: ICI Press.
PUBLISHED BY The ICI Press 1512 S. Robertson Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90035 www.culturalinquiry.org SBN: 978-1-889917-51-1 AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING AT: http://issuu.com/instituteofculturalinquiry/ © 2019 Institute of Cultural Inquiry and ICI Press Any part of this book may be produced in any form without prior written permission of the publishers for educational and non-commercial use. The author and publisher, however, would like to be notified of such use. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA