Before I go into all the books I got at The NY Art Book Fair this weekend, I have to post about this book that just came out. This is the book version of Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher’s Learning to Love You More website. If you haven’t checked this site out, it’s a must see. The site is based on assignments posted by artists Miranda July and Harrell Fletcher. There is an assignment posted with a list of directions and then readers are asked to post their finished ones. “Participants accept an assignment, complete it by following the simple but specific instructions, send in the required report (photograph, text, video, etc), and see their work posted on-line. Like a recipe, meditation practice, or familiar song, the prescriptive nature of these assignments is intended to guide people towards their own experience.” These are not normal assignments- some examples include- 16. Make a paper replica of your bed., 30. Take a picture of strangers holding hands, 37. Write down a recent argument, 53. Give advice to yourself in the past, 63. Make an encouraging banner, 58. Record the sound that keeps you awake, 47. Re-enact a scene from a movie that made someone else cry. These assignment seem insane but people took them seriously and did them. You can see, watch, and listen to all their assignments on the site. I can’t tell you how many hours I’ve spent browsing that site. It’s really amazing. So the book is sort of a best-of all the finished assignments in no particular order. Some of it is really touching- like Laura Larks’s Assignment 14- Write your life story in less than a day. She tells of her childhood growing up with a drunk father who kept losing his job, dealing with bi-polar disease, being hospitalized etc. Some of it is really funny- like Assignment 21- Sculpt a bust of Steve (see photos of finished assignments below). Other parts give little snippets into people’s lives, like Suzanne’s Assigment 37- Write down a recent argument- where her and Robert argue about why she didn’t buy a burger. In some ways I feel like this book could be buried in a time capsule and opened 200 years later and be a really great indicator of what life was like in our century. It covers it all- people’s relationships, feelings, wishes, arguments, pop-culture, and style (My favorite assignment- Assignment 55. Photograph a significant outfit). You can pre order a copy of this book here or you can run over to Rare Device like I did where they have a few in stock. (Also if you like Miranda July you might be interested in subscribing to this.)

© Julia Rothman 2007