The New World 1: The Application by Josef Strau

The first of two books published alongside Strau’s Renaissance Society exhibition, The New World, Application for Turtle Island, this imagines itself as a more personal petition for immigrant status in lieu of formal legal paperwork. Text has often played a role in Strau’s previous sculptural and installation-based work; however, here his writings for the first time take the form of an independent book (described by him as “a kind of treasure island adventure novel”) that serves a structuring function, determining the production and selection of objects on view in the exhibition. Published by the Renaissance Society, 2014, softcover, 108 pages, 8.25 x 5.75 inches.