Emergency Readings was a talk at the ICP Museum and exhibition in the ICP Library. It would be wrong to say we're reading because of the current state of emergency. The underrepresented and underserved know this less as a state then it just is and always has been. We read to check one's state. To point out flaws. To exaggerate them publicly. We care not if they listen because we read to claim space. Real and otherwise — heterotopias. Our books are in flux, algorithmic, out-of-print, on loan, PDF only, spiral bound, damaged by the printer, and printed poorly. We barely exist. But exist we do, together with books pulled from the ICP Library because a book, a read collaborates with or rallies against.

Credits: curator, Christopher Clary and Emily Dunne; graphics, Christopher Clary; moderator, Christopher Clary; artists, Allison Parrish, American Artist, Christopher Clary, Morehshin Allahyari, Nora Khan, Paul Soulellis, Porpentine Charity Hearstscape, Shiv Kotecha, Vanessa Place, and William E. Jones; support, ICP Museum & Library; photography, Claudine Boeglin.

reading list