"Strange Attractors: Signs of Chaos" 1989 Exhibition Catalog New Museum of Contemporary Art

8 x 9.25 inches. Silkscreened covers. 69 pages; spiral-bound; 28 black and white, 20 color illustrations  With fold-outs and differing sized pages, inserts and paper stocks. Hand assembled.

Published on occasion of the exhibition “Strange Attractors: Signs of Chaos.” Traces the history of chaos theory, notes artistic and philosophical milestones and identifies the crucial scientific issues embraced by contemporary art. Preface by Marcia Tucker. Gary Indiana, Martin Meisel and exhibition curator Laura Trippi contribute essays and an interview with James Welling....Of particular note in “Strange Attractors: Signs of Chaos” were two site-specific installations. Ann Hamilton and Kathryn Clark’s “palimpsest,” an installation in two parts, was a thoughtful meditation on the seemingly random way in which memories are processed and eventually lost. Inspired by the story of an elderly man who, to combat his failing memory, put note card reminders on the walls of his home, the artist pinned hundreds of small sheets of yellowed paper to the walls of a room within the exhibition. These unidentified fragments of memories, thoughts and bits of conversation fluttered in the breeze generated by an antique fan. A large glass vitrine, containing two heads of cabbage being systematically devoured by countless snails, made poignant reference to the physical deterioration of the brain’s capacity. The artists also transformed the Window on Broadway into an understated extension of their work in the gallery.

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