Again

Dike Blair is part of a tradition of artists who also write. From an early point in his career Blair has worked on parallel paths, with his writing both reflecting and influencing his artistic production. His paintings and sculptures celebrate momentary conditions of light and the skewed formalism of retail displays. Yet in his writing, the restraint he deploys in his art explodes into a voracious appetite for the complex interrelations between creative work and commercial culture".Again" is a fascinating tour through the breadth of Blair's interests, with essays on a variety of contemporary artists, such as Richard Prince and John McCracken, as well as interviews with sci-fi authors, movie special effects teams, and industrial designers. Blair ventures far beyond the usual contours of the art world, introducing readers to retail anthropologist Paco Underhill, robotics scientist Hans Moravec, and furniture designer Xavier Lust as well as acquainting us with the Minneapolis Skyway and the Akari floor lamp. Accessible to experts and laypeople alike, Again is the product of an inquisitive thinker examining his interests and influences from a number of angles and making inspired connections between them.


Contents:

Design
1. Auto-Emotive Design: Interview with J Mays
2. Meanderings on The Age of BLUR and blah, blah, blah
3. Fast on His Feet: Interview with Gordon Thompson III
4. The Tree
5. Celebratory Spaces: the Rockwell Group's immersive architecture and an interview with David Rockwell
6. Interview with Xavier Lust
7. Bondi Blue: Interview with Jonathan Ive
8. Corporate Collage: The Minneapolis Skyway
9. Flip-Flopping Fictions and the Interface of Some Spaces: Interviews with retail anthropologist Paco Underhill; store owners Gina Alvarez and Stefan Boublil; and gallerist Gavin Brown

Art
1. James O'Barr-Shadows on the Wall
2. We've Got Twenty-Five Years
3. Steve DiBenedetto
4. Otherworldly: interview with John McCracken
5. Interview with Hudson of Feature Inc.
6. Grappling with the Context: interview with Artforum's new editor, Tim Griffin
7. Strange Haze: Drugs, Artists and Art: Interviews with Richard Prince, Fred Tomaselli, Motohiko Tokuta and Stephen Pesce, M. S. W.
8. The Cell's Mates
9. Akari floor lamp (Model UF3-S)
10. A Reflection or Two

Science
1. Retiring The Human Race: Robotics scientist Hans Moravec
2. It's Always the Same: Interview with Jack Womack
3. An Attractive Repulsion: Writer Carl Zimmer and Parasite Rex
4. The Whole Ball of Non-Zero-Sumness: Interview with Robert Wright