The Failure of the Past as a "Document"
In searching for an "appropriate" text to include
in this space to cogently sum up the aims and procedures of the publication
project known as "PhotoStatic Magazine," we quickly arrived at
an impasse. PhotoStatic's output has been largely visual and, even when
there was a large amount of page-real-estate devoted to text, few of these,
if any, can honestly be said to be representative. The fact remains, however,
that those who come to this page with no foreknowledge of PhotoStatic and
its ancillary projects will almost certainly be dissatisfied with this.
Until we solve this conundrum, the following sales pitch will have to do.
Sales Pitch
PhotoStatic Magazine showcased graphic works specifically
designed for the xerographic process. Indeed, the xerox machine was both
its means and its main subject matter. In the 6-1/2 years from 1983 to
1990, PhotoStatic came out on a rigorous bimonthly schedule, yet each issue
had an immediate, temporary quality that some felt was what the small arts
press and networking were all about.
Now these issues comprise a rich archive of material
that do not exist in any other form. The entire PhotoStatic output, from
the first through #40, is some 1500 pages, 7-by-8-1/2 inches, densely packed
with black and white images and typeset text. Each issue builds on the
ones that came before in matters of design, content, and the sophistication
with which these two elements are brought together on the page.
Whatever tendency evolved or espoused on the pages
of PhotoStatic Magazine will be rolled over into the new title The Photostatic Retrofuturist.
| 10 |
2/85 |
Experimental Texts |
3.00 |
| 11 |
5/85 |
The Hum of Modern Civilization in Action |
3.00 |
| 12 |
7/85 |
Psychoanalysis Issue |
3.00 |
| 13 |
9/85 |
Déjà vu |
3.00 |
| 14 |
10/85 |
The Persistence of Vision |
3.00 |
| 15 |
12/85 |
The Persistence of Memory |
3.00 |
| 16 |
1/86 |
The Persistence of the Persistence of Vision |
3.00 |
| 17 |
3/86 |
Enlarged to Show Texture |
3.00 |
| 18 |
5/86 |
Compartmentalized |
3.00 |
| 19 |
7/86 |
The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction |
6.00 |
| 19-1/2 |
1913 |
| 20 |
10/86 |
Experimental Texts |
3.00 |
| 21 |
12/86 |
The Dan Rather Issue |
3.00 |
| 22 |
2/87 |
DisEase Disease |
3.00 |
| 23 |
4/87 |
Disinformation |
3.00 |
| 24 |
6/87 |
UrBanality |
3.00 |
| 25/26 |
9/87 |
The Networking Double Issue |
6.00 |
| 27 |
11/87 |
Compensation Portraits |
3.00 |
| PhotoStatic issues no. 2838 list as
Retrofuturism issues no. 111 on the Retrofuturism
page |
| 39 |
12/89 |
All-visual pre-Art Strike Issue |
3.00 |
| 40 |
12/89 |
All-text pre-Art Strike Issue |
3.00 |
| 41 |
1/93 |
Back from the Art Strike (1990-1993) |
3.00 |
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