New Releases on Metalabel (#002)
Photobooks from Japan; poetry and wrestling in NYC; and a second printing from the Dark Forest of the Internet
Metalabel is a new space for co-releasing and collecting creative work.
Co-releasing means groups of creative people who stand for a similar idea or scene putting out work together. Sharing audiences, sharing credit, and building something bigger than them on their own.
We’re inspired by the grassroots indies and artist- and community-led labels of the past and present, and see them as what’s needed now and in the future. We don’t need another Creator Economy savior or innovation. We just need each other. Not lone genius. Scenius.
Don’t just listen to us. Listen to Brian Eno. Here he is talking about why he and Hard Art are releasing work with Metalabel:
This week’s new releases exemplify the new-old model Metalabel, Hard Art, and others are bringing back. Photographers, poets, and models in Japan collaborating to make photobooks. An artist and a choreographer staging unexpected performance art. A collective of internet writers publishing a new edition of a sold-out work. Yes!
New on Metalabel
Trying to Remember Not to Forget
By Francis Kanai, Kan Sano, and JOYCE
Photography and Poetry publication
11 x 16 cm, 50 pages
Made in Japan
Trying to Remember Not to Forget is a mysterious new photography and poetry book by the Japan-based photographer Francis Kanai (who previously made Everything Is a Self-Portrait), model and poet Kan Sano, and designer JOYCE. It opens:
“He began to suffer migraines, accompanied by worry about everyday things that he had previously found pleasant and average — things taken for granted as easy. Eventually, that anxiety revealed itself as connected to an acute understanding of an approaching precipice: the impermanence of things that were assumed to endure.”
Images, emotions, and a sense of longing permeate the fifty lush pages beautifully printed and bound in Japan. This work, which makes its premiere today, is available exclusively on Metalabel.
$31 | 200 editions
Goodnight Sweet Thing: The Performance
Directed and adapted by Cristine Brache and Sigrid Lauren
Starring Emily Allan, Betsey Brown, and Joshua Weidenmiller
Live score by Ryan Woodhall
Live performance NYC
May 11, 2024 (8pm show, 10:30pm show + afterparty)
Last week a new book of poetry by the artist Cristine Brache, Goodnight Sweet Thing, debuted on Metalabel. This week we are honored to debut a special performance of the work.
Directed and adapted by Cristine Brache and choreographer Sigrid Lauren, this theatrical expression of Brache’s new book of poems is a performance piece that involves actors, a live score, and an unexpected setting (live wrestling) to explore power dynamics, mortality, and the female psyche.
This performance may prove to be legendary in Downtown NYC. Purchase one of just 45 tickets to either performance (8pm or 10:30pm) on May 11, 2024, exclusively on Metalabel.
$30 | 45 tickets per performance
Newly Reissued
The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet (Second Printing)
By The Dark Forest Collective
Physical and digital book
Second printing
11.2 x 16.8 cm, 208 pages
Recently curated into MIT Library’s Permanent Collection, The Dark Forest Anthology of the Internet returns to Metalabel to again explore how we live, survive, and cooperate on the web.
The first edition of 777 copies sold out in just a few days and has been enthusiastically received by collectors:
The Collective has come back for a second print run that includes a PDF (and soon Kindle) download as part of the package. The Dark Forest Anthology is both a slice of internet history and a contemporary exploration of what it means to live life on the web today.
$35 | 1,111 editions
Everything Is a Self-Portrait
By Francis Kanai and Malaya Malandro
Photography and poetry book
First Edition
Hardcover Cloth-Bound, 5 x 7 inches, 307 pages
Printed and bound in Maebashi, Japan
Everything Is a Self-Portrait is a staggering confessional of poetry and photography by the Los Angeles-based poet Malaya Malandro and the Japan-based photographer Francis Kanai. The book was beautifully produced in Japan in a cloth-bound hardcover with hundreds of luminous pages of work.
Originally released almost exactly one year ago on Metalabel, photographer Francis Kanai has made this work newly re-available with the release of his new collection, Trying to Remember Not to Forget.
$66 | 200 editions
Releasing with Metalabel
Long-term we aspire for Metalabel to be an open platform for any group of creative people to start co-releasing work together. But in our early days, we are intentionally starting slowly.
Right now we’re inviting in a small handful of people each week to release work with Metalabel. We want to make sure we deliver a quality experience with our small team and young product.
Want to join the waitlist to be notified when we open up, and to potentially be invited to release with us sooner? Tell us about your work here:
On rotation
Quality work in the Metalabel catalogue:
Shantell Martin, “Bad Ideas” — A deluxe album and unique print from one of the most vibrant artists working today. ($150 | 200 editions)
Josh Citerella, “Class Fantasy” — A tabletop card game that invites players to LARP and dominate using various internet-derived ideologies. ($60 | 500 editions)
Maggie Dunlap, “Male Fantasies” — When is a hoodie not just a hoodie? When it’s making an oblique commentary on fascist ideals and aesthetics. ($222 | 52 editions)
Forever Magazine, “Relics VI” — One of the best magazines on the planet. Get their latest issue while you still can. ($22 | 400 editions)
Hard Art, “The Work WE Need To Do” — The Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller; a group that includes Brian Eno and Es Devlin; a desire to change the world; and a limited edition zine. What more do you need? (Pay what you want | 300 editions)
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