Let the Artists Die
A Performance-Lecture by Triple Candie

Triple Candie will present a performance-lecture that focuses on its art-less exhibitions. The performance will explore a range of topics, from artist obituaries and artistic agency, to the “Death of the Artist” and the “Author Function” late ‘60s French theory, as well as the ethics of posthumous artistic creation. A brief history of Triple Candie’s programs are interwoven throughout -- David Hammons: The Unauthorized Retrospective, Cady Noland Approximately, James Lee Byars: I Cancel My Works at Death, Maurizio Cattelan is Dead: Life and Work, If Michael Asher, etc. The title “Let the Artists Die” is borrowed from a 1985 play by the Polish artist-playwright Tadeusz Kantor about art under authoritarian regimes.


ABOUT TRIPLE CANDIE
Triple Candie is a phantom-like institution run by internationally noted art historians Shelly Bancroft and Peter Nesbett. Founded in Harlem in 2001, Triple Candie produces exhibitions about art but largely devoid of it. Its primary purpose since late 2005 has been to explore the possibilities of exhibition-making as a truly alternative, critical practice. The New York Times once characterized Triple Candie as “Manhattan’s only truly alternative alternative space,” and Domus described it as “one of the most mysterious and creative institutions on the contemporary scene.” When Triple Candie left Harlem in 2011, it began guest-producing exhibitions for museums in the United States and Europe. Its most recent project, If Michael Asher, is currently on view at the Grazer Kunstverein in Austria. Triple Candie works out of a townhouse in Washington, D.C.


ABOUT WORKING LIBRARY
The Working Library set out to construct, populate, and activate a library in conversation with the community as the 2017-2018 c3: Project Incubator. Selected from a rigorous pool of applicants to independently occupy the c3 incubator space on the corner of North Chicago Ave and Lombard St, the project was home to a community amassed library, studio-run printing press, and bindery. In spring 2018 c3:initiative acquired the Working Library. c3 is inspired to continue this project under the guidelines set forth by its founders through residencies, partnerships, and programs.