Used Books

Used Books, Solo Show, Good Work Gallery, Brooklyn, 2014

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Curated by Joshua Caleb Weibley. Works included were Doubles, Doublespace, Interaction of Interaction of Color, It’s the Ghost, Let’s Be Frank and Typo. There was an interview around the show via Electric Literature.

 

Taking nods from Conceptualism, and with a fondness for free culture and secondary markets, Ben Sisto’s work cuts —sometimes literally— through years of canonical figures from art history up to the present. The punningly descriptive title Used Books explains both the collected works’ methodology and sources: all materials on display have been purchased second-hand via online retailers (Albris, Abe Books, etc) and local shops (The Strand, Book Thug Nation, Spoonbill & Sugartown, etc).

While he is pleased to consider monetary offers for the works on display in this exhibition, Sisto insists they be viewed primarily as versions of affordable art anyone can collect and create.

Among the works in this exhibition, two address a Cagean non-static conception of repetition:

In the ongoing work Interaction of Interaction of Color Sisto seeks out all 28 print-runs of the 1979 revised edition of Joseph Albers’ seminal Interaction of Color (Yale). Presenting the copies collected thus far calls attention to minor discrepancies in the back-cover’s layout (a collage designed by Eva Hesse) which, along with the different copies’ yellowing and wear, constitute the piece’s titular “interaction.”

With Pair, Sisto playfully applies the same treatment to two copies of a Roni Horn exhibition catalog. When offset slightly (vertically), Horn’s original apparently near-identical sculptures intended for exhibition in separate rooms now appear in the same expanded space.

The public is invited to view these works and others at a reception for the artist March 7th from 7-10pm.

Joshua Caleb Weibley
Brooklyn, NY 2014


Color

 
 

In early 2000s Boston, Joseph Colbourne and I worked on an indie dance party together for a bit called Dynasty. Towards the end, he was digging more into Italo, disco, funk, soul and boogie and wanted to have a more explicitly queer/friendly space, so we transitioned into a new project called COLOR. Short-lived but super fun, at The Milky Way in Jamaica Plain.

 
 

A piece on Joseph from The Weekly Dig

Some of Joseph’s promo mixes for COLOR:

 
 

N.E.S.T.

 
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N.E.S.T. (The North East Sticks Together)
By TD Sidell, EXiMiOUS Productions, Bodies of Water Arts & Crafts, Honeypump

We booked a “non-festival” of sorts, a week across a few venues to highlight all the different stuff going on in Boston. Some shows were at DIY venues, some at proper clubs. The idea was simply that if we put a whole lot of shows together under one name, we could get some of these artists more coverage and attention.

The N.E.S.T. logo was drawn by Ron Regé, Jr.

 

2005 Lineup:

Abhorred, About, Age Rings, Alek K Redfern, Alex Onslaught, Anderson Comedy, Animental, Aquanet, B.E.A.R.D., Bad Jaime, Badman, Bakula, Beauty Pill, Bent!, Big Digits, Black Forrest Black Sea, Black Helicopter, Blanks, Boston League of Women Wrestlers, Brenden Wesley, Bury the Needle, Certainly Sir, Cheer Accident, Christians and Lions, Clawjob, Colin of USAISAMONSTER, Conquistador, Conversions, Crystal Understanding, Cul de Sac, Dania Shapes, David Day, Diamonds in the Back, Dilly Dilly, Dirty on Purpose, DJ Casey, DJ David Dancer, DJ D'hana, DJ Frank White, DJ Joseph Colbourne, DJ Juan Maclean, DJ Ken, DJ Knife, DJ Morgan, DJ Paul Foley, DJ Sir Loins, DJ Tommee, DJ Yard, Donna Parker, Dust Galaxy, Eggplont, Eli Reed and the True Loves, Ernesto Gianola, Ettrick, Ex Models, Extinction Agenda, Faces on Film, Full Grown Spiders, Future Classics, Geoff Farina, Hallelujah the Hills, Harris, Harry and the Potters, Hats and Glasses, Headband, Heathen Shame, Hekersi, Helms, Hirudinea, Ho-Ag, Hot Lunch, In Black and White, Jana Hunter, Jason Forrest, Judah Johnson, Keith Fullerton Whitman, Kids on T.V., Kites, Lazy Magnet, Legends of Style, Lip Service, Lorna Doom, Mahi Mahi, Major Stars, Make a Rising, Mark E. Moon, Mark Robinson, Matters and Dunaway, Meanings, Mike Joy, Mittens, MMM's Live Archive, Mo Juice Mike Costa, Musk, Neptune, Nicky Click, Noosebomb, Oliver North, Our Lady of Bells, Pants Yell!, Polaris Mine, Ponies in the Surf, Punk Rock Flea Market, Rahim, Reports, Reverand Glasseye and His Wooden Leg, Revocation, Rose Melberg, San Serac, Sheperdess, Shrinking Islands, Snakes Say Hiss, Square Productions, Squids, Steve Brodsky, Sweet Theives, Thalia Zedek, The Abraham Lincoln Brigade, The Beat Awfuls, The Body, The Chinese Stars, The Desert Sea, The Elephants, The Hidden, The In Out, The Konks, The Pill, The Student Council, Tiny Hawks, Tony Gong, Traniwreck, Tristan da Cunha, Truth Serum, U.V. Protection, USAISAMONSTER, Varietae, Victory at Sea, Villains, VJ Matt Boch, Volatile , Watchmaker, Well I Never and the I (Do) Declares, Why Twist the Hair, Yoni Gordon

Media Sponsor: The Boston Phoenix

 

As part of NEST 2005, we produced a CD sampler of 20 local bands: Ringers, Toxic Narcotic, Night Rally, Mad Man Films, U.V. Protection, Ho-Ag, Tunnel of Love, Plunge Into Death, Mittens, Wildlife, Chinese Stars, Black Helicopter, Shanghai Valentine, Roh Delikat, Magic People, Devil Music, Certainly Sir, Purity’s Failure, Reports, and The Mules. I believe 1,000 or so were pressed by The Boston Phoenix and distributed around the city leading up to, and during the week’s events. You can listen to it right here.

 

2006 Lineup:

40 Watts, Achillies, Alek K Redfern and the Eyesoars, Animal Hospital, As Long as We're All Living We're All Dying, B.E.A.R.D., Badman, Big Bear, Black Helicopter, Blacktail, Bones Brigade, Bread and Roses, Brown Bird, Cassette, Certainly Sir, Cornucopia, Crank Sturgeon, Crystal Cocks Over Canada, Devil Music, Disappearer, DJ Caulder, Juan Maclean, DJ Ken, DJ P , DJ PTVN, Donna and Kate, Ed Gein, Electrosocial, Fat Worm of Error, Fatal Flying Guilloteens, Fiasco, Fruit Salad, Get Killed, Get Smart, Ghetto Fighters, Goat of Arms, Hats and Glasses, Hivemind, Ho-Ag, Isolee, Jacob Berendes, Jason Anderson, Karlheinz, Kayo Dot, Khanate, Landing, Luasa Raelon, Mad Man Films, Made in Mexico, Magic People, Mahi Mahi, Major Stars, Mark Robinson, Meli, Minamata, Mittens, Night Rally, No Idols, Nurse and Soldier, Octave Museum, Organelles, Pants Yell!, Parts and Labor, Piles, Plunge into Death, PosiXforce, Pragnus Grey, Presley, Protokoll, Punk Rock Flea Market, Purity's Failure, Rainbow Bright, Ramona Cordova, Raw Radar War, Regeneration Records, Reports, Ringers, Roh Delikat, Shanghai Valentine, Shore Leave, Sinaloa, Soul-le-lu-jah, The 9 Billion Names of God, The Butcherings, The Carslile Sound, The Chinese Stars, The Gossip, The Hound, The Invisibles, The LUVs, The Mules, Oxford Collapse, The Pill, The Reputation, The Sanguine, The Teeth, The Westward Trail, They and the Children, Throne of Blood, Tigersaw, Tiny Hawks, Titty Cakes, Toxic Narcotic, Travers, Tunnel of Love, U.V. Protection, Victory at Sea, We Are Wolves, Where Are You From? Are You in School?, Wilderness, Wildlife, x-04, Yoni Gordon

Media Sponsor: The Weekly Dig

 
This CD was put out by our sponsors, The Weekly Dig, in advance of the series.

This CD was put out by our sponsors, The Weekly Dig, in advance of the series.

 

Venues

  • Great Scott (2005, 2006)

  • O'Brien's Pub (2005, 2006)

  • P.A.'s Lounge (2006)

  • The Middle East (Corner)

  • T.T. The Bears (2006)

  • The Middlesex Lounge (2005, 2006)

  • The Cyclorama (2006)

  • ZuZu (2005) The Midway Cafe (2006)

  • The Milky Way Lounge (2006)

  • YWCA (Central Square) (2006)

  • Massachusetts Art (2005, 2006)

  • Northeastern University (2005)

  • Regeneration Records (2005)

  • Chez Vous (Skate Rink) (2006),

  • The Brattle Theatre (2006)

  • Jacque's Cabaret (2006)

Partners

  • Mass Art Eventworks (2005, 2006)

  • Alex Onslaught (2006)

  • Truth Serum (2006)

  • EXiMiOUS Productions (2005, 2006)

  • Bodies of Water Arts & Crafts (2005, 2006)

  • Hot Lunch (2006)

  • The Student Council (2006)

  • The Pill (2005, 2006)

  • The Plan (2005, 2006),

  • The Dear John Letter Lounge (2006)

  • Bent! (2006)

  • Ernesto Gianola (2006)

  • MUSK (2006)

  • Honeypump (2005)

  • Varietae (2006)

  • Corleone Records (2005, 2006),

  • Square Productions (2005, 2006)

  • Aquanet (Jamaica Plain) (2006)

  • Clawjob (2006)

 

Good Housekeeping

 

Good Housekeeping: 413 v1, 413 v2, 413 v3
tuned hotel radio, hotel pillow, New Orleans, June 2017

For Ace Hotel New Orleans' Artists in Residence program I tuned my room's radio to a static station and wrapped it inside a pillow to muffle reception. The instrument was placed in different locations in the room, producing different pops, clicks and tones. Recordings were made with a Zoom H1 Handy Recorder.

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New York Fashion Week

During my time w/ Ace Hotel (2013-2019) I did annual events around Fashion Week. We developed programs that highlighted the work of artists and partners putting sustainability, social justice and equality on stage alongside their looks. These were all super different, always fun and we even got some nice press along the way.

 

DRØME: Revolutionere
September 2017

Photo by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York

Photo by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York

DRØME emailed Ace Hotel, asking if we'd buy their 2nd issue for rooms. Their aim was described as "fostering community of doers carves out space for empathy and kindness, working against mainstream ideologies that indoctrinate patriarchal and hateful theories via policy". I wasn’t in a position to buy the magazine but liked their mission and asked them if they had plans for Fashion Week.

The evening featured original looks by Homic, Elle Barbeito, Archie Robertson, Sanchez-Kane, Falcon, Helena Eisenhart, Possessed, Jahise LeBouef, Brian Swift, Official Rebrand, Noah Pica and Leila Jinnah. Music curated by Amber Valentine, Son of Lee, Blu Detiger, Coven King and Sola. It was a blowout. I am not sure another body could have fit in the building that night. Line down the street. Thanks, DRØME.

Photo courtesy of Kimani Ashley

Photo courtesy of Kimani Ashley

Kimani's Loft
September 2017

The Lewis-Ashley family home, a loft in Hell’s Kitchen, is somewhat of a cultural mecca. Throughout the years intimate gatherings over great food have attracted the likes of Fela Kuti, Danny Glover, Amiri Baraka, Sonia Sanchez and August Wilson. One of the Lewis-Ashley's own, Kimani, is part of Ace Hotel's front desk team, and was asked to create his own take on the classic NYC salon.

Kimani was gifted a loft suite for two nights and asked to use it was place to discuss issues of identity, gender, race, safety, etc as related to fashion, both personal and industry.

Photo by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York

Photo by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York

Illuscious: Textile Hive for NYFW
February 2017

Illuscious was NYC's first public exhibition of Textile Hive — a physical, digital and contextual collection of over 40,000 antique and handmade textiles spanning fifty countries and 200 years of design history.

Andrea Aranow, the co-founder of Textile Hive (along with her son Caleb Sayan), has been collecting fabrics from all over the world for decades, beginning in Peru in the 1970s.

Andrea invited a group of artists get inspired by the collection and create hand-painted yukatas made with Japanese washi paper. Models then walked the hotel lobby wearing these original artworks.

Photo by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York

Photo by Seze Devres for Ace Hotel New York

Natural Causes
September 2016

Ace Hotel New York teamed up with artist Jae Rhim Lee and her company, Coeio, to produce a gallery exhibition, an evening of performance, and a gifting opportunity all to promote the Infinity Burial Project and the concept of green burials more generally. We added in some music by noted mushroom-hound John Cage, a collection of dried mushroom specimens from Blue Oyster Cultivation, and called the whole thing Natural Causes.

Coverage from Vogue, The Creators Project, Hyperallergic and Dwell.

Photo by Nick McManus

Photo by Nick McManus

Platforms Heal
February 2016

Ace Hotel New York and Ace Hotel London Shoreditch presented Platforms Heal, supported by Squarespace. This program took shape during New York Fashion Week and London Fashion Week, respectively, using the loose lens of fashion to address topics of transphobia, xenophobia, racism and classism. 

DarkMatter (NYC) produced an online zine, ctrl/alt/gender, promoting gender non-conformity. In London, Selina Nwulu wrote a series of works titled Another Lens, which directly confront the exploitation of black culture and the black body.  The project earned positive press from Dazed, Time Out New York, and more. 

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Gogo Graham SS '16
September 2015

I read a short blurb on designer Gogo Graham in i-D, reached out to offer space for photoshoots, and she responded with another idea: a full-on runway show for her new SS '16 line.

In Gogo's words, "Gogo Graham’s namesake ready-to-wear line is created for trans femmes. Aside from the daily, often violent demands of living as an out trans woman in the city, each girl is also constantly confronted with the dysphoria-inducing decision of which clothing options, primarily designed for cisgender women, fits her body less poorly than others. This should not be the case."

The show was heralded as "groundbreaking" (Dazed), and earned positive press from Huffington Post, i-D, Posture Magazine, Bullett, W Magazine, and more.

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Beyond Measure
February 2015

For Beyond Measure, Ace Hotel teamed up with suit-makers Bindle & Keep and lifestyle co. dapperQ to award three community-nominated do-gooders with custom bespoke suits. Hundreds of nominations came in, which were voted on by JD Samson, Murray Hill, and dapperQ. In the end Renata Hill, Zahyr Lauren, Tiq Milan came out on top.

Out.com, Nylon, GLAAD,  and others covered the event, leading to Ace linking up with PBS's POV for a premier screening of Out in the Night, a documentary which focuses on Renata Hill and the "NJ4".

Photo: Cool Hunting

Photo: Cool Hunting


SLEEP / WALK
September 2014

With curatorial help from post-drag collective Chez Deep, we turned some of our best rooms into a four day fashion incubator — with progressive/subversive art and design collectives from across the city re-interpreting fashion in costumes, wearables and other fact-finding ephemera.

Chez Deep, Mike and Claire, Houe of Ladosha, and FCKNLZ took part, and in short this was an extension of Ace's Artists in Residence program. All weekend long people produced artifacts within the loose confines of "fashion" (flow charts, costumes, new looks, music videos, writings, candy, and more). 

On Sunday September 7 — during Fashion Week itself — these garments, furniture wrappings, videos, and other fruits of labor were debuted in Liberty Hall in a public party withl guest DJs D'hanna and DJ False Witness. This was really fun, but the party was a bit of a flop. I blame not having open-bar during NYFW.

Cool Hunting said some nice things about it,  as did Complex.


Awesome Foundation

 

As of August 2023, I’ve started up a Rhode Island chapter of Awesome Foundation! We are looking to start accepting grant proposals in early 2024 and are looking for Trustees. Please visit awesomeisland.org to learn more!

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From July 2015 - August 2016 I was a trustee at the New York chapter of Awesome Foundation, a global community acting on behalf of awesome, $1,000 at a time. Below are projects I helped fund. Each fully autonomous chapter supports projects through out-of-pocket micro-grants, usually given out monthly, and in total AF's given away over $5m. These are no-strings-attached funds given to people and groups working on awesome projects.

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Murals for a Queens Supportive Housing Facility
August 2016

AwesomeNYC is pleased to support artist Laini Nemett's mural project in a new supportive housing facility for Transitional Services New York (TSINY) in Jamaica, Queens. While our grant will fund the creation of the paintings on the first floor, the entire building has been created with art in mind, with 18 "art niches" designed into the structure's 7 floors.

Awesome Link

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ID Shop
July 2016

AwesomeNYC is pleased to support the 2016 edition of ID Shop, artist Sue Jeong Ka's project that operates as a liaison between art and public institutions to help homeless and immigrant youths apply for federally issued ID cards.

Awesome Link

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Queer Kid Stuff
June 2016

Queer Kid Stuff is a new educational web series creating LGBTQ+ videos for kids. Queer representation and content for children is scarce and Queer Kid Stuff aims to eliminate stigma by educating future generations through free and entertaining videos. The project allows young people to have access to a queer resource that is specifically made for them.

Awesome Link

NYC #popscope
May 2016

When was the last time you looked at the craters on the moon, the rings around Saturn, or the four moons around Jupiter? #popscope — which stands for “pop-up telescope” — brings free astronomy nights to the public. When the skies are clear, we “pop-up” in different neighborhoods to promote community-building through science.

Awesome Link

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Cello Without Walls
April 2016

In his project Cello Without Walls, Jacob Cohen conducts music workshops and live concerts for teens and young adults in jail on Rikers Island. Jacob has been volunteering on Rikers for the past year, inviting young people to recite poetry, freestyle rap, dance, sing and make art together. Besides reducing stress in a notoriously violent jail, Jacob’s program has helped young people leaving the justice system find programs in education and mentoring after their release.

Awesome Link

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Amateur Science Meets Superconductor Research
March 2016

Superconductors are materials that allow for the continuous transmission of electric and magnetic fields without loss of energy. They have numerous applications to industry, transportation, power generation, and medicine. This Awesome Foundation grant has been awarded to continue research on superconductor production methods which will could allow for the production of irregularly shaped superconductors. These irregular shapes could be utilized in power transmission, magnetic levitation trains, medical devices, and in plasma reactors.

Awesome Link

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The Harlem Free School
March 2016

The Harlem Free School is a series of place-based micro-sessions designed to encourage freedom of the mental, emotional and social dispositions of Harlem residents. In the spirit of the historical Freedom Schools of the 1960’s, this two-day intensive presents itself, in the form of workshops, gatherings and collaborative creative sessions, to diverse range of Harlem residents at no cost.

Awesome Link

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SLIME - Students of Long Island Maker Expo
February 2016

SLIME (Students of Long Island Maker Expo) is an interactive Day of Making for students, parents and educators from across Long Island, taking place on May 7, 2016. Students, parents, educators, and other community members come together from various school districts to participate in hands-on activities promoting imagination and creativity.

Awesome Link

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Gender Amplified
January 2016

Gender Amplified is a movement that aims to celebrate Women in music production, raise their visibility and develop a pipeline for girls and young women to get involved behind the scenes as music producers.

Awesome Link

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Swale
December 2015

Swale is a sculptural floating island containing a public food forest that will dock at various piers around New York City’s harbor in 2016. AwesomeNYC's grant will underwrite a series of educational/community workshops taking place at locations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. 

Awesome Link

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Visioning the adaptive reuse of the Montauk Cutoff
November 2015

Across the Newtown Creek from Greenpoint in Long Island City, Smiling Hogshead Ranch has shown what can happen when a group of people can organize and work together with each other and with the city agencies to form a thriving community space. 

Awesome Link

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Mobile Print Power + Combat Paper + Interference Archive
October 2015

Mobile Print Power is a multigenerational collective bringing mobile printing carts into communities, collecting ideas, and turning them into collaboratively generated designs. Along with Interference Archive, Combat Paper will invite veterans to pulp their uniforms into paper as a medium for expressing their experiences.

Awesome Link

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The Free Portrait Project — Crown Heights
September 2015

"The Free Portrait Project paints a portrait of a place through it’s people by giving oil-painted portraits to residents of Crown Heights for an entire year, creating a physical record of who we are now amid shifting demographics..."

Awesome Link

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ACCESS N. BK: Flushing Avenue J/M Station
August 2015

ACCESS N. BK plans to take a creative and light-hearted approach to raising public awareness of the issue of closed, bottleneck-causing / dirty subway station entrances. They will be orchestrating  events combining street art, theater and tech with old-school community organizing tactics to the people in the affected communities and beyond.

Awesome Link

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Alliance for Girls in STEM
July 2015

"We are a publisher of picture books that show girls as the main characters in stories with science, technology, engineering, and math themes. Our target audience is girls from 4-9 years old, with an emphasis on girls from underrepresented minority groups."

Awesome Link
 

 

Sometimes

“Sometimes" is a set of 9 dice with the letters S, O, M, E, T, and I on the sides. Players are to roll all the dice together in the hopes of spelling the word “sometimes.” The work is also potentially self-signing, as another roll may spell out Sisto is me.” Players are free to make up additional rules.

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Microfortnight

March 30, 2011 at PACS Gallery

A fortnight spans 14 days.
The word “microfortnight” contains 14 characters.

This exhibition showcased the work of 14 artists who’s names are 14 characters.

The exhibition was on display for three-hours and twenty six minutes (14x14/60)

  • Leah Beeferman

  • Kevin Driscoll

  • Kerry Gaertner

  • Joshua Weibley

  • Daniel Lopatin

  • Benjamin Sisto

  • James Corrigan

  • Twos and Fours

  • Jeanette Mundt

  • S.E. Schoemann

  • A.K.A. SR PALM

  • Pierre Le Hors

  • Bennett4senate

  • Bryce Hackford

What I'm Trying to Say

“What I’m Trying to Say” was produced for a website called Parallelograms.info, who sent me an image of an organist and asked me to create a web-based work in response to it. The project can be seen as documentation of how I surf the web; the things I enjoy clicking on and resulting connections made. The final stop was a performance with SR Palm.

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