Quodlibetica originated from the desire to write about art and visual culture in ways not confined by academic conventions or journalistic hype. Part journal, part blog, Quodlibetica fosters critical conversations about visual arts in a forum that is accessible, engaging, and committed to quality writing. Based on the Latin quodlibet, which has entered the English language as (1) a statement proposed for disputation, (2) the actual discussion, and (3) the whimsical combination of familiar elements, Quodlibetica is a space to argue eloquently and whimsically about art, find out what’s happening in the Twin Cities art scene, and engage with writers, artists, and critics, who like to think. Contact us if you want to get involved.
Book Ends
The book. The page. The image. The text. In this constellation of Quodlibetica, we contributors and editors take you beyond the line, behind the surface, and through the looking glass. We explore the changing cultural role of the book and the lingering appeal of book arts. From book makers to book matters, from translators to typesetters, lovers and critics of the book unfold themselves in these ephemeral sheets. For our editorial, click here.
By Lacey Prpic Hedtke
Over the past few months, I’ve cataloged over 1,600 zines (pronounced “zeens”) to open as Zine Apothecary, a circulating zine library in my garage. While going crazy from what librarians call original cataloging—that is, paging through each and every publication to decipher what, who, when and about what, I’ve had some time [...]
Published 6.1.2011
By Christina Schmid
A few days ago, the news became official: electronic book sales have topped those of paper books. Does this mean that the era of the book as a material object is over? No longer economically profitable, no longer needed for the proliferation of ideas, questionable in light of the environmental terms of its [...]
Published 6.1.2011
By Rachel Perlmeter
Lights rise and reveal a reader, brow furrowed, her attention riveted on a battered hardbound text. Offstage we can hear laughter, jazz. Perhaps cool drinks are being served in the next room, for the evening is humid, sultry even. The girl seems entirely unaware of her surroundings. Moments [...]
Published 6.1.2011
By Collier White
In keeping with Quodlibetica’s flexible interpretation of visual art, co-editor Collier White will use this space to discuss film and video as visual art. Or, to be more precise, in this space we will, whenever it suits us, approach questions of linearity, narrative, and other comparative modes made [...]
Published 6.1.2011
Quodlibetica asked, “Why do artist books and book arts still matter?” Members of the Twin Cities’ arts community responded.
Georgia A. Greeley
I can’t remember not being interested in books from the time I first started reading voraciously; but I was college age before I started thinking seriously about my work being about [...]
Published 6.1.2011
By Thomas O. Haakenson
The storefront of Robert’s Shoes at the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Lake Street would seem an unusual place for art displays, let alone for design work. Yet the Shoebox Gallery’s current show, Erik Brandt’s Typografika / Detailien: Process and Installation, on view through June 30th, rewrites the [...]
Published 6.1.2011
Debating the Distinction Between Design and Art
with Bryan Clendenen and Lea D. Sorrentino
Bryan Clendenen – Design is about Problem Solving
“Revolution by design and invention is the only revolution tolerable to all men, all societies, and all political systems anywhere.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Painting, sculpture, drawing–these age-old practices typically come to mind [...]
Published 6.1.2011