{"product_id":"good-title-for-a-book-a-comprehensive-list-of-incomplete-works","title":"Good Title for a Book: A Comprehensive List of Incomplete Works","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBethany Parkinson \/ Sofie Cato Maas\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlice Smith and Friends, London, 2026\u003cbr\u003eSelf-published artist book\u003cbr\u003eEdition of 100\u003cbr\u003eHandmade in London by the artists \/ collective\u003cbr\u003e3.5 × 4.5 cm · 32 pp.\u003cbr\u003eColour and black-and-white images \/ text\u003cbr\u003eRounded corners · English language\u003cbr\u003eTNR-2026-0672\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA minute collaborative artist book by Bethany Parkinson and Sofie Cato Maas, cataloguing works that, by definition, never reached completion.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe subtitle gives the project away: \u003cem\u003eA comprehensive list of incomplete works.\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat contradiction is the book.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTo make a complete inventory of incompletion is already to change the status of everything on the list. A failed idea, abandoned work, unrealised proposal or unfinished fragment is brought back into circulation simply by being named.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe work may be incomplete. The record is not.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eParkinson's practice is playful, narrative-led and often improvised, moving between object-making, curating and artist-led contexts. Maas approaches incompletion through writing and research: a film critic, editor and scholar whose work has examined unfinished cinema and the status of works that remain fragmentary, interrupted or unrealised.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSo \u003cem\u003eGood Title for a Book\u003c\/em\u003e is not simply a joke about procrastination. Incompletion is already part of the material. The publication applies an almost administrative solution: make a list. Not finish the works. Catalogue them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt only 3.5 × 4.5 cm, the object is almost absurdly small — somewhere between a passport photograph, miniature notebook, private archive and identification document. A passport-style portrait occupies the cover; another tiny image appears to the reverse. Inside, conventional book typography is compressed across thirty-two miniature pages.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEven the title retains the provisional language of something not yet resolved: \u003cem\u003eGood Title for a Book.\u003c\/em\u003e It sounds like a note left in place while waiting for the real title. The placeholder survives. The unfinished thing becomes the finished thing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnd because each copy was handmade in London in an edition of only 100, the modest publication sits somewhere between book, multiple and artist object.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn unrealised work need not be completed in order to enter an archive. It only needs to be recorded. The list becomes the work that gets finished.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003chr\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe New Rare is pleased to present \u003cem\u003eGood Title for a Book\u003c\/em\u003e, a recent collaborative work by Bethany Parkinson and Sofie Cato Maas, at GLUE, ICA London, September 2026. Handmade in London in an edition of 100, the publication forms part of The New Rare's presentation of independent and artist-led publishing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e New \/ very good. Handmade production; minor variations between individual copies may occur and form part of the edition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/thenewrare.com\/blogs\/journal\/the-new-rare-at-glue-book-fair-2026\"\u003eRead our journal: The New Rare at GLUE Book Fair 2026 →\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Bethany Parkinson \/ Sofie Cato Maas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54697603039570,"sku":"TNR-2026-0671","price":35.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Parkinson_Bethany._Cato_Maas_Sofie._Good_title_for_a_book._2026.jpg?v=1789205060","url":"https:\/\/thenewrare.com\/products\/good-title-for-a-book-a-comprehensive-list-of-incomplete-works","provider":"The New Rare","version":"1.0","type":"link"}