Art theorist, philosopher and Emeritus Professor at Flinders University Donald Brook advocates 'detached contemplation' as the most desirable, appropriate and potentially rewarding response to art.
Theme Park: Brook Andrew AAMU, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2008. 124pp, RRP $39.95 Between Indigenous Australia and Europe: John Mawurndjul Claus Volkenandt and Christian Kaufmann (eds) Dieter Reimer Verlag GmbH, Berlin, 2009. 350pp, RRP 45 Judy Watson: blood language by Judy Watson & Louise Martin-Chew, The Miegunyah Press, Melbourne, 2009. 240pp, RRP $39.95 New Beginnings: Classic Paintings from the Corrigan Collection of 21st Century Art McCulloch and McCulloch, Fitzroy, Victoria, 2008. 159pp, RRP $79.95 Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal paintings from Papunya Edited by Roger Benjamin with Andrew C. Weislogel, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, 2009. 192pp, RRP $49.95
Campbelltown Arts Centre Director Lisa Havilah writes about the crucial importance of catalogues to artists. Famous Chinese artist Ai Weiwei had his first international survey exhibition at Campbelltown in partnership with Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation. The incentive for Ai Weiwei was that a 2,000 print run book on his art would be published.
Adelaide-based Zinemeister Dr Ianto Ware discusses how prophecies of digital dominance are colosally wrong with regard to zine publishing a genre which remains exclusively hardcopy. He finds zines to be quintessential examples of Editor of Wired Magazine Chris Anderson's Long Tail in which tiny niches multiply and thrive.
The University of Sydney Librarian John Shipp describes the changing world of university libraries and the way they handle information in a digital age. He has nightmares about the Google settlement and his mantra is that 'creators should retain their rights.'
Bill Morrow, artist and legal expert in copyright law, sets out the current state of play. He says that some form of copyright is here to stay but it is in flux with regard to digital rights and the upcoming introduction of laws providing greater privacy protection.
Associate Professor of Fine Art at the College of Fine Arts, Uni of NSW, Joanna Mendelssohn analyses a slice of the current state of art publishing in Australia from reviews in newspapers to the DAAO (Dictionary of Australian Artists Online - now rechristened Design and Art of Australasia Online).
Emeritus Director of the Art Gallery of South Australia and highly respected investigative curator and writer Daniel Thomas pulls out the stops in a far-ranging appraisal of art book publishing in Australia. He writes: "Once the artist is well dead, even if the book is 'only' a monograph, disregard the family and friends; we need to know everything."