Check out this interesting 32-page, offset printed, newsprint booklet published this year by James Voorhies and the Bureau for Open Culture. With help from Timothy Nazzaro, Nate Padavick, Rachel Sherk, and Cassandra Troyan 

From the introduction:

“Why is it we are so moved by decaying environments? What propels the creative and cultural, the spontaneous and unpredictable in reponse to the dilapidation, vacancy and hardship of crumbling capital?”

In this great little booklet, James Voorhies and co. start by contemplating the industrial ruins utilized by artists like Gordon Matta-Clark and move to the case of MASS MoCA and the artistic labor now performed in these “playgrounds of the factory city.” 

“On Symptoms of Cultural Industry investigates the role of artistic and cultural production in relation to the economic and social life of North Adams, Massachusetts. Through original research interviews with employees of Sprague Electric–the manufacturer that originally occupied the massive industrial complex that is today MASS MoCA–and in response to living in this city, the work comprehensively manifests as performance, video, installation and a book. It forms an intimate portrait of a city that has transformed from an economy of manufacturing goods and materials to increasingly manufacturing culture and information.”