Louis Zoellar Bickett: Inventory of the Studio and Archive Production

Bickett, for 37 years turned his home, called ‘The Archive,’ into a living art work. Books, furniture, Christmas cards, pictures, in fact, everything in the home was labelled with a laminated tag, listing the date it was obtained and conferring it a title, which was then recorded in a running chronological inventory that now includes thousands of entries.

By labelling, indexing, and collecting these quotidian objects, Bickett gave them new meaning. They became, together, the amalgamation and record of a life, time, and geography. A few themes and patterns rise to the surface and become apparent when flipping through the pages of ‘The Inventory’ especially fixations on permanence, death, and sexuality.

Institute 193 had a longstanding relationship with Bickett before his death in 2017. Our original gallery space was located in the building that housed the original archive, and we featured Bickett in our inaugural exhibition. Recently, the gallery took part in a citywide retrospective of his work. After the publication of the book, entitled Inventory of the Studio and Archive Production, it will be tagged and indexed, an ode to the digestive, all consuming, and ongoing nature of the project.

Louis Zoellar Bickett: Inventory of the Studio and Archive Production
Softcover, 8.5 x 11 in. / 580 pages / black and white.
Pub Date: March 3, 2017
Publisher: Institute 193
ISBN: 978-0-615-99918-0
50 USD