A bibliovore’s dilemma

Best part of Martha Rosler’s fantastic current retrospective: Recreation of her 1974 installation, “A Gourmet Experience.”

Best part of the installation:  Shelves of cookbooks from MR’s personal library.

Best part of the cookbooks:  MR’s notations.

e.g., next to one recipe: “Last resort before cannibalism, ‘74.”

Another: “A round of drinks is a round of drinks, but every coffee drinker is on its / his own.”

TiR’s favorite, written on a yellow slip serving as a bookmark, in a copy of A Taste of Paradise: A Feast of Authentic Caribbean Cuisine and Refreshing Tropical Beverages for Health and Vitality:

Whereas the hipster wannabe might have a stuffed pillow in the shape of a coffee bean bearing the words Café Grumpy, the philistine will have a fuzzy throw pillow shaped like an improbably soft slab of bacon.

How true, how true.

Rosler’s bibliophilia pervaded the retrospective. Ideally, she would have an exhibition that consisted only of books from her library.

Oh wait.  She already did that.  It was great. 

We mean:  another exhibition, with more abundant comfy seating, good lighting . . . and coffee. 

And snacks.