Questions & Appearances, was an opportunity to conduct an unusual interview, posing poetic questions to the peripatetic American artist and photographer Curran Hatleberg, who "answered" the 14 questions with his photographs.

White Fungus
Zettai Tokyo

A book of 9 short stories about fictional museums, The Museum Took a Few Minutes to Collect Itself was published by Art Metropole and Fogo Island Arts in 2018. Drawn from residencies on Fogo and Toronto Islands, and inspired by travels to Lisbon, Mexico City, Tel Aviv, San Francisco, Paris, etc. The stories in this collection are part fable, part thought experiment, and incorporate dozens of references to artworks and experimental institutions.

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All for the Want of a Whisper was commissioned for an exhibition at Scrap Metal in Toronto. 7 stacks of take-away posters, printed in 7 different variations of grey, referencing the colors of the fog on Fogo Island, Newfoundland, Canada. The text was a re-write of the proverb "for want of a nail" from the 17th century, that coincided (in history) with the typographic references used by Canadian typographer Carl Dair. The poster uses a modified version of one of his typefaces. The work was subsequently presented at The Canadian Consulate in Washington DC, and Galeria 3+1, Lisbon in 2022.

Timed Exposure is an essay about photography NFTs, the August Sander Archive, and “The World Today,” a large-scale commission inviting 138 photographers from 91 countries to each capture one hundred images over the course of six weeks. Billed as “a visual time stamp of the 21st century,” it will feature 13,800 images altogether, the largest photography commission to date.

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"I wasn’t sure we were onto something until I learned that in 1992 artist Cady Noland, well known for her complex portrayals of a violent and divided America, once attached a contract to the sale of two artworks that set specific terms—if the work was resold, 15 percent of the profits would be sent to Partnership for the Homeless. What little is known about this contract suggests it was attached to two silk-screen prints. Fortunately Partnership is still running decades later, so if those artworks were resold today they would generate an unexpected donation to a deserving nonprofit. And as an incentive for going to the trouble, the (re)seller would be eligible for a tax deduction."

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The publishing imprint Frank commissioned del Pesco to contribute a short essay "Encounters" for Piotr Szyhalski’s (sold-out) book COVID-19: Labor Camp Report. "The book embodies Szyhalski’s ceaseless and diligent practice, one that continues to provoke, confront, comfort, and inspire." Szyhalski’s epic endeavor of 225 drawings, made once a day starting March of 2020, offers a space to confront the complexity, uncertainty, absurdity of the pandemic, with equal parts compassion and criticality. The essay was reprinted in Bmore Art coinciding with the first public display of the entire series in summer 2021.

About the book

Published on SFMOMA's online platform Open Space, this essay An elegy for geometric relations is an intersection of ideas and influences.

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Bay Area Art and the (Counter) Culture of Silicon Valley, a research essay with Christian Nagler for the Six Lines of Flight exhibition catalog, published by SFMOMA

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London-Based Collective Creates David Simon’s Baltimore in the South of France: An Interview by Joseph del Pesco

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"Each nation lasts about as long as an average exhibition, eight to twelve weeks. On the evening that the current nation closes, its flag, sewn only weeks ago, is slowly lowered and the anthem sung for the last time. No need for a coup d’état. Those with positions in the administration, who’ve barely slept in their short run of the nation, are happy to return to their homes. A new president is elected by the following weekend, and a new constitution ratified before the full moon. Only those present in the museum during the transition of power may vote and be called citizens. Passports are issued, and customs officials replace box­-office attendants, gallery guards are transformed into the national guard."

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A short essay on the video The Pixelated Revolution, by Rabih Mroué, was del Pesco's contribution to the book: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 360: Views on the Collection

About the book

Published by Artport, Tel Aviv in 2016