The Collected Writings of Michael Snow

Michael Snow, Louise Dompierre

• Publisher: Wilfrid Laurier University Press
• Year: 2006
• eBook ISBN: 9780889206045
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Art General

Writing, for Michael Snow, is as much a form of "art-making" as the broad range of visual art activities for which he is renowned, including the "Walking Woman" series and the film Wavelength. Conversely, many of the texts included in this anthology are as significant visually as they are at the level of content — they are meant to be looked at as well as read. Situated somewhere between a repository of contemporary thought by one of our leading Canadian artists and a history book as it brings to light some important moments in the cultural life of Canada since the 1950s, these texts tell their own story, marking the passage of time, ideas and attitudes.

The works included here, ranging from essays and interviews and record album cover notes to filmscripts and speeches (which, in Snow's hands, often fall into the category of performance art), are not only "built for browsing," they offer insights into both the professional and the private Snow. Together, they expand the context of Snow's work and show the evolution of a great Canadian artist, beginning with his early attempts at defining art, to his emergence and recognition on the international art scene.

This book is one of four books that are part of the Michael Snow Project. Initiated by the Art Gallery of Ontario and The Power Plant Gallery, the project also includes four exhibitions of his visual art and music.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Foreword by Louise Dompierre
• The Real "New Jazz," 1950
• Poem, 1957
• Something You Might Try, 1958
• Title or Heading, 1961
• A Lot of Near Mrs., 1962–63
• Around about New York Eye and Ear Control, 1966
• Statements/18 Canadian Artists, 1967
• First to Last, 1967
• Crafts, 1967
• On Wavelength, 1968
• Abitibi, 1969
• Tap, 1969
• Ten Questions to Michael Snow, 1969
• La Région Centrale, 1969
• Converging on La Région Centrale: Michael Snow in Conversation with Charlotte Townsend, 1971
• Michael Snow: A Filmography by Max Knowles, 1971
• Passage (Dairy), 1971
• The Life & Times of Michael Snow, 1971
• De La, 1972
• Information or Illusion: An Interview with Michael Snow, 1972
• The Camera and the Spectator: Michael Snow in Discussion with John Du Cane, 1973
• Boucherville, Montréal, Toronto, London, 1973
• Notes for Rameau 's Nephew by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen, 1974
• Some Scripts for Rameau 's Nephew by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen, 1974
• Tom Gibson's Photographs, 1974
• Michael Snow Musics for Piano, Whistling, Microphone and Tape Recorder, 1975
• The Artists' Jazz Band Live at the Edge, 1976
• A Letter to Alvin Balkind, 1976
• Crushed Cookies Make Crumbs Liberates Swing. Cuts Its Pulse, 1978
• Larry Dubin's Music, 1978
• Pierre Theberge: Conversation with Michael Snow, 1978
• Cerisy-la-Salle, 1979
• Edinburgh, 1979
• Statement for 10 Canadian Artists in the 1970s, 1980
• So Is This, 1982
• Michael Snow and Bruce Elder in Conversation, 1982
• On Murray Favro, 1982
• (Hand-written) To Write, 1982
• On Hollis Frampton, 1984
• Music and Me, 1986
• An Entrance to Redifice, 1987
• The Audience, 1987
• Laocoön of the People, 1987
• The Last LP, 1987
• Trying to Figure It Out, 1987
• Statement for an Exhibition, Tokyo, 1988
• Playing the Radio: A Personal History, 1989
• Admission (or, Marcel Duchamp), 1989
• Sign Paintings by Robert Hedrick, 1990
• Statement for the 8th Biennial of Sydney, Australia, 1990
• Statement for an Exhibition, Paris, 1992