Word is a Virus

Uncovering the rendezvous point for two intimately connected practices: art and the written word

Word is a Virus

Language, Time, & A Logo for America: An Interview with Alfredo Jaar

by Maria Pia Masella | Jun 30, 2016

Word is a Virus

Language, Time, & A Logo for America: An Interview with Alfredo Jaar

by Maria Pia Masella | Jun 30, 2016

Season 4 artist Alfredo Jaar discusses the latest installation of “A Logo for America,” coming this summer to London’s Piccadilly Circus.

Word is a Virus

Casting Spells over Los Angeles

by Carol Cheh | Jan 6, 2015

Word is a Virus

Casting Spells over Los Angeles

by Carol Cheh | Jan 6, 2015

Gurus, healers, psychics, and witches are common in Los Angeles—and their worlds often intersect with the world of artists.
Susan Silton, "In everything there is the trace," 2013. Installation view at the USC Fisher Museum of Art. Photo: Alexandra Brown.

Word is a Virus

Manual Transmissions

by Carol Cheh | Feb 4, 2014

Word is a Virus

Manual Transmissions

by Carol Cheh | Feb 4, 2014

“Word is a Virus” columnist Carol Cheh looks at two recent performance projects that involved retyping iconic works of literature on typewriters.

Word is a Virus

The Flights of Concord

by Carol Cheh | Aug 22, 2013

Word is a Virus

The Flights of Concord

by Carol Cheh | Aug 22, 2013

Columnist Carol Cheh interviews members of Concord, a “youthful and highly organic project” based in Los Angeles.

Word is a Virus

Armchair Travels

by Carol Cheh | Jul 30, 2013

Word is a Virus

Armchair Travels

by Carol Cheh | Jul 30, 2013

Columnist Carol Cheh reminisces on two exhibitions in L.A. that complicate “our reception of myth” and inspire “more nuanced engagement.”

Word is a Virus

Night Papers

by Carol Cheh | Jun 18, 2013

Word is a Virus

Night Papers

by Carol Cheh | Jun 18, 2013

Carol Cheh reports on an L.A.-based literary journal that “has the look and feel of a humble neighborhood rag” but is filled with “surprising moments.”

Word is a Virus

Public Fiction: The Play’s the Thing

by Carol Cheh | May 20, 2013

Word is a Virus

Public Fiction: The Play’s the Thing

by Carol Cheh | May 20, 2013

Public Fiction, an exhibition and event space in Los Angeles, hosts events that “provide constant stimuli” but “the journals really are the gems of the project.”

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Susan Silton Asks, “Who’s in a Name?”

by Carol Cheh | Apr 15, 2013

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Susan Silton Asks, “Who’s in a Name?”

by Carol Cheh | Apr 15, 2013

Columnist Carol Cheh reflects on Susan Stilton’s interventionist artwork “Who’s in a Name?”, a response to John Baldessari’s marquee installation “Your Name in Lights.”

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | LA Existancial

by Carol Cheh | Mar 21, 2013

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | LA Existancial

by Carol Cheh | Mar 21, 2013

Carol Cheh reviews the Guy de Cointet exhibition at LACE and touches on the creative links between Los Angeles and France.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Fan Letter: Printed Matter’s First Los Angeles Art Book Fair

by Carol Cheh | Feb 18, 2013

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Fan Letter: Printed Matter’s First Los Angeles Art Book Fair

by Carol Cheh | Feb 18, 2013

The first ever Los Angeles Art Book Fair gets a rave review from resident book lover Carol Cheh.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Artists’ Zines: Darin Klein and Friends’ Box of Books

by Carol Cheh | Jan 22, 2013

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Artists’ Zines: Darin Klein and Friends’ Box of Books

by Carol Cheh | Jan 22, 2013

Columnist Carol Cheh praises Darin Klein and Friends’ Box of Books that “conjure minimalist and conceptual art practices dating back to the 1960s.”

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | The Library of Sacred Technologies: Divine Providence 2.0

by Carol Cheh | Dec 17, 2012

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | The Library of Sacred Technologies: Divine Providence 2.0

by Carol Cheh | Dec 17, 2012

Carol Cheh on the Library of Sacred Technologies (LoST), an experimental publishing platform that has produced a series of pamphlets that are part religious tract, part art zine.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Revisiting Zines

by Carol Cheh | Nov 19, 2012

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Revisiting Zines

by Carol Cheh | Nov 19, 2012

Are zines making a comeback? Carol Cheh looks at the evolution of self-publishing since the 1990s and the resurgence of the zine scene in Los Angeles.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | New Releases in Artist-Run Journals: MATERIAL and Prism of Reality

by Carol Cheh | Oct 15, 2012

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | New Releases in Artist-Run Journals: MATERIAL and Prism of Reality

by Carol Cheh | Oct 15, 2012

Carol Cheh looks at two artist-run journals, both of which provide compelling textual windows into L.A.’s rich community of artists and artistic practices.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Jack Goldstein: The Subject Vanishes

by Carol Cheh | Aug 20, 2012

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Jack Goldstein: The Subject Vanishes

by Carol Cheh | Aug 20, 2012

Carol Cheh looks at the writings of Jack Goldstein, a seminal member of the Pictures Generation who also made numerous bodies of work using nothing but text.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | A Studio Visit with Danielle Adair

by Carol Cheh | Jul 16, 2012

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | A Studio Visit with Danielle Adair

by Carol Cheh | Jul 16, 2012

Carol Cheh talks with Danielle Adair, an artist whose videos, performances and installations interrogate the political uses to which language is put.

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Cutting Up

by Carol Cheh | Jun 18, 2012

Word is a Virus

Word is a Virus | Cutting Up

by Carol Cheh | Jun 18, 2012

Carol Cheh launches this new column by employing William S. Burroughs’s “cut up” technique to generate a new text based on her own discarded writings.

Word is a Virus

New Column: Word is a Virus

by Claudine Isé | Jun 18, 2012

Word is a Virus

New Column: Word is a Virus

by Claudine Isé | Jun 18, 2012

Penned by Carol Cheh, the Art21 Blog’s newest column explores the relationship between art and the written word.