{"product_id":"ian-whittlesea-trataka-the-everyday-press-2020","title":"IAN WHITTLESEA — Trataka, The Everyday Press, 2020","description":"\u003cp\u003eIan Whittlesea, \u003cem\u003eTrataka\u003c\/em\u003e. The Everyday Press, London, 2020. First edition. Softcover; 200 pages, 15 × 22 cm; four-colour offset printing; 200 sequential photographs. ISBN 978-1-912458-10-3.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrataka\u003c\/em\u003e consists of 200 photographs recording a single white candle burning in daylight until it disappears. Whittlesea photographed it individually at two-minute intervals over approximately six hours, so what initially resembles film stills is actually the residue of a sustained physical exercise in attention. Matter is progressively converted into light, heat and, finally, smoke.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe title refers to the yogic practice of concentrating on a fixed point, traditionally a candle flame. Whittlesea explicitly proposes the publication as meditation aid, flick book and memento mori. It belongs to a longer strand in his practice in which books operate as what have been described as ‘instruction manuals for transcendental exercise’, connecting language, diagrams, colour, light and bodily practice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrataka\u003c\/em\u003e does not document an artwork that happened somewhere else. The book is where the work happens.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe candle becomes photograph. The photographs become sequence. The sequence becomes duration. The book becomes an apparatus for looking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt belongs to an important lineage of printed matter that exceeds its apparent category. It can be read, watched, flicked through, meditated with, or simply retained as an object. Its function changes according to placement and use.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThere is also something particularly precise about its treatment of disappearance. Usually the archive exists to prevent disappearance; \u003cem\u003eTrataka\u003c\/em\u003e methodically records it. Every subsequent page contains slightly less object than the page before it. By the end, the physical subject has disappeared while the publication remains. The object disappears. The document accumulates.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIts TNR significance is less about scarcity than about classification: recognising an apparently modest artist publication as a complete conceptual object rather than supplementary publishing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eCondition: sealed in original shrinkwrap; shrinkwrap split and loose at lower-left corner with minor handling to the wrapping. Book itself appears unread.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSecurely packed; tracked UK and international shipping available.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Everyday Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54229987590482,"sku":"WHITTLESEA-EVERYDAY-CAT-2020","price":45.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0991\/5636\/1554\/files\/Whittlesea_Ian.Trataka.2020cover.jpg?v=1786441493","url":"https:\/\/thenewrare.com\/products\/ian-whittlesea-trataka-the-everyday-press-2020","provider":"The New Rare","version":"1.0","type":"link"}