This is one of those books that I did in fact judge by its cover. But once I opened it, I was very intrigued. Temporary Services, a really solid indie publisher here in Chicago, has put together a great collection of photographs of public spaces which have been informally modified by residents and called it… well… Public Phenomena. To elaborate, the book contains photos which document handmade “no parking” signs (pictured on homepage), cruddy makeshift basketball nets, piles of bikes (pictured below), plant protectors, parking place savers (pictured below), blocks of ice, and – my favorite – ghost houses (pictured below).

Here are a couple other titles I recommend from this fine establishment. The explanations are pulled right from the Temporary Services site.

Prisoners’ Inventions – This project was a collaboration with Angelo, an incarcerated artist. He illustrated many incredible inventions made by prisoners to fill needs that the restrictive environment of the prison tries to supress.

Group Works : A Compilation of Quotes About Collaboration from a Variety of Sources and Practices – This publication provides a multitude of perspectives on the theme of Group Work by practitioners of artistic group practice from 1960s to the present.

© Julia Rothman 2007