Temporary Services has been busy scanning our old publications and putting new PDFs on our Booklets page for free download. Here is a fresh, more readable new scan of:

Why the Exhibit Was Canceled, by [Artist], booklet #38, October 2001.

This booklet presents actual ‘behind the scenes’ correspondence between an artist and a curator (both made anonymous) as they attempt to negotiate the details of the artist’s upcoming exhibition. The institution raises late concerns about the artist’s work a month before the show is to open. The artist is asked to change his work and make unusual concessions so that the institution can cover its ass and this leads to the artist canceling the show. This booklet salvages a difficult experience and makes public the kind of internal dialog between artists and institutions that is extremely hard to access. A booklet that has been much loved, debated and discussed by teachers, students and arts administrators.

You can see which booklets we still have available for sale on our page at Half Letter Press.