Out now:
Sasha Dees – Entangled Species. Conversations on Contemporary Art in the Caribbean.
Art Agent Orange/Trendbeheer
17 x 24 cm, FC, 278 pages
30 euro inc BTW/VAT, ex shipping costs
Local pickup: in Amsterdam at Sasha Dees or Het Wilde Weten, Robertfruinstraat 25, Rotterdam
If you want to order more copies: please contact me or mail Sasha Dees, shipping costs have to be changed.
Entangled Species wil also be available as ePub soon:
Presale link ePub click here.
Entangled Species. Conversations on Contemporary Art in the Caribbean.
This publication is the result of a fifteen-month research project, mapping out the available infrastructure for Contemporary Art in the Caribbean by Sasha Dees. Over the period from November 2017 to May 2019, she visited Anguilla, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Curacao, Cuba, Haiti, the Cayman Islands, the US Virgin Islands, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Sint Maarten, Saint Martin, Trinidad & Tobago, and Suriname. During this period, she interviewed over 800 artists and art professionals, resulting in 3000 hours of recordings. For this publication, she selected quotes from the transcripts of the interviews that reflected issues relevant to her, with the goal of encouraging a continuous discourse.
The publication begins with a chapter that gives the reader a general idea of the region today and continues with chapters that reflect the infrastructure of the arts and the art marketplace: Education, The economy of art, Galleries, Museums, Biennales, Funding, and Project Spaces and Residencies. While Dees refrains from writing about art practices, the book includes a 50-page selection of artwork made by artists working within the conversations of Contemporary Art in the Caribbean.
A sort of Lonely Planet for Contemporary Art in the Caribbean, the publication mixes a travel book and toolkit. As she travels and engages with artists, Dees reflects on her own path to a career in the arts—what she did, what she wondered about, and who she met—giving the reader a sense of who she is and why she is a reliable voice on the subject. The many anecdotes and conversations with artists and art professionals included in the book are engaging and draw us into her journey.
“I traveled to Curacao for the first time with a friend visiting her family three decades ago. It quickly disabused my naive idea that I would naturally blend into its culture. Understanding the language, dancing to the music from Curacao, and eating the island’s traditional dish funchi (similar to polenta) with Caribbean friends in the Netherlands were not enough preparation. The deep memory of my experience of culture shock is still part of me, even now.”
Dees’ perspective is uniquely hers. She purposely leaves the reader enough space for their own interpretation, hoping to start a dialogue that can open us to greater insight over time, rather than offering conclusions set in stone. She generously shares information, failures and successes, tips, and “do’s and don’ts,” useful not only for people in the Caribbean but for those working in Contemporary Art, in general. Each chapter includes a contact list for the artists and institutions she visited, as well as a list of relevant publications, recommended to her throughout her career, that have given her insight into the Caribbean and Contemporary Art. There is also a glossary of (art) terms used in the book.
This easy to read engaging resource book sets the publication apart from available academic publications, making this book a must-read for both art professionals and general readers interested in being introduced to Contemporary Art or the Caribbean.
