Formats
Anthologies
92
Audio
309
Catalogues
436
Clothing
23
Editions
38
Ephemera
74
Literary
42
Monographs
182
Posters
297
Video
40
Zines
136

Shop > Artists' Books

#11459

Memoirs of the Twentieth Century

Price
$17.00
Date
2014
Format
Artists' Books
Description

Written in 1733, Memoirs of the Twentieth Century is widely regarded to contain the earliest known conception of time-travel and, in particular, the first cognitive leap that would allow for a historicized image of the present as seen from the point of view of a distant future. Intriguingly, it is the text itself which is claimed to have traveled back in time and Madden has used this conceit to satirize his own period – tracing out its bureaucratic absurdities into a strange yet pointed vision of the late 20th century: a world politically fraught, overwhelmed with corruption and struggling to reconcile religious faith with scientific discovery.

The mysterious publishing history of the book imparts a certain weight to its claims. Printed anonymously in an edition of 1000, all but 10 copies were immediately destroyed for unknown reasons. It would only be printed once more in 1972 and until now Memoirs… has been extremely scarce – resulting in disappointingly little scholarship. This new edition includes Liam Gillick’s Prevision. Should the Future Help the Past first published in 1999, the very year when Memoirs… leaves off. Gillick explores the socio-political implications inherent in strategic attitudes towards the future with a critical eye to the ‘scenario planning’ of late capitalism. It provides a prescient framework for reconsidering Madden’s text now, just over ten years on since its fictive origination and apocalyptic conclusion.

  1. Memoirs of the Twentieth Century
 

Related Items

  1. David Robbins: Concrete Comedy: An Alternative History of Twentieth-Century Comedy
  2. Tony Oursler: The Influence Machine
  3. Ulrike Grosswarth: Ulrike Grossarth: Fabrics from Lublin
  4. Mark von Schlegell: Ickles, Etc.
  5. Ian Hamilton Finlay, Douglas Gordon, and Ross Sinclair: Northern Grammar
  6. Subject Matter of the Artist: Writings by Robert Goodnough, 1950-1965
  7. Joan Jonas: In the Shadow a Shadow
  8. Art or Sound
  9. Joachim Koester: Message from Andrée
  10. Anne Callahan: Notes from the History of Ed-
  11. Gustave Morin: Clean Sails
  12. Out
  13. Autogestion, or Henri Lefebvre in New Belgrade
  14. LIBERTIES OF THE SAVOY by Ruth Ewan
  15. Ari Marcopoulos: The Pope’s Secrets
  16. Sami Benhadj, Tarik Hayward, and Guy Meldem: Made of Concrete
  17. Waldemar Cordeiro and Franz Mon: Waldemar Cordeiro & Franz Mon
  18. Henrik Schrat: Wild Things are Going to Happen

Dialogues with Dan Graham on Art, Architecture, & Shopping Malls
  19. Anri Sala: Ravel Unravel
  20. Samuel Nyholm: Von Oben
  21. Peter MacCallum: Documentary Projects 2005 - 2015
  22. Provence Issue O
  23. Danielle LaFrance: Friendly + Fire
  24. Jon Beacham: The Brother in Elysium - Artwork and Publications 2008-2013
  25. Robert Smithson in Texas
  26. Tim Lee: ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY TWO PEOPLE
  27. The Fannie Azul Horologe
  28. Chris Dorley-Brown: The Longest Way Round
  29. Emma Waltraud Howes: Ankyloglossia (n. Tongue-tie)
  30. Jessica Vaughn: Depreciating Assets
  31. IKREK - ponto e vírgula (semi-colon)
  32. Lars Ahlstrom and Hans Anders Molin: Airspace
  33. David Askevold and Christina Ritchie: Activating the Archive 4: Double Agent