BookTalk: Curious Matter: Exhibitions, Books, and the Practice of Inquiry

Please join us at the Center for Book Arts for an in-person conversation with artists Raymond E. Mingst and Arthur Bruso, who are the founders and co-directors of Curious Matter, an exhibition and project space they established in Jersey City in 2007. Growing from their individual art practices and shared interests in cabinets of curiosities, museology, and art as a point of departure for inquiry, Curious Matter brings artists, writers, and audiences into conversation through exhibitions, publications, and public programs. Books and printed matter have been integral to its work from the beginning, from exhibition catalogues and artist monographs to broadsides and publications that extend the life and ideas of an exhibition. 

Raymond E. Mingst is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores mourning, devotion, and cultural memory through found texts, archival interventions, and material forms. Arthur Bruso is an artist, curator, and writer whose visual and written work explores art, memory, and the spiritual. Their nearly two decades of work with Curious Matter have encompassed collaborations with artists and cultural institutions, while their work continues to explore the relationship between artistic and curatorial practice.