Blakey Bessire

For the Critics’ Table, @bblakeybb brings us to Philadelphia, where the Shakers are getting the contemporary treatment. On view through August, the @icaphiladelphia ’s “A World in the Making: The Shakers” sets up a relay between Shaker material culture and seven current-day artists’ interdisciplinary work, asking what happens when communal structures are encountered through objects, archives, and bodies. “How does this interest in traditional handmaking sit within the sticky Venn diagram of the trad wife, the MAHA mom, and the curation of the homemade for public consumption or aspiration?” Bessire writes. “Viewed today, craft starts to feel like a lifestyle signal rather than a shared practice. Are craft aesthetics stepping in where collective futures have stalled, offering atomized consolations in place of structural communality and holistic skill sharing? For the Shakers, ‘the world’ was all that existed outside of their pacifist communal living structures. The appetite for Shaker-dom feels consonant with this idea of the collective or lack thereof today. In ‘A World in the Making: The Shakers,’ that tension shows up most clearly in the contemporary works themselves, where Shaker belief is reactivated not as atmosphere but as language, gesture, and form.” Link in bio to read the full review now.

NULA, BOOK LAUNCH @ SWISS INSTITUE NEW YORK Wednesday, February 11, 7 PM Join us for a celebration to mark the release of NULA. On the occasion of the book launch, writers Irena Haiduk and Blakey Bessire will be joined by SI Chief Curator Alison Coplan for a conversation and reading. As the curse of war disfigures all, a family of three women, an illustrator, a statistician, and a teenager, transform into a forger, a prostitute, and bait. All lairs and smuggling tunnels lead to Nula, a prop cleaner at the otherworldly Cabaret Économique, where the dead state, police, and criminal gangs are faced by art and love. Fear dissolves all distinctions. Written by Irena Haiduk and Blakey Bessire following Haiduk’s 2020 exhibition at Swiss Institute, New York, Nula’s edges seep into the shadows we cast, tonight and every night. Please RSVP to [email protected]. NULA Edited by Alison Coplan, Laura McLean-Ferris (@lmcleanferris ) Text by Irena Haiduk, Blakey Bessire Published by Swiss Institute / METER Books Hardcover, 7.5 x 10.5 in. / 208 pgs / 2 color / 24 bw. Distribution in the US by D.A.P. ISBN: 978-3-948338-10-7 https://nula.ink/ #swissinstitute #nula #irenahaiduk #blakeybessire #meterbooks

Book Launch and Conversation | Nula with Irena Haiduk and Blakey Bessire Wednesday, February 11 at 7 PM Join us for a Valentine’s celebration to mark the release of NULA. On the occasion of the book launch, writers Irena Haiduk (@irena.haiduk ) and Blakey Bessire (@bblakeybb ) will be joined by SI Chief Curator Alison Coplan (@alicopes ) for a conversation and reading. 🏹 💕 As the curse of war disfigures all, a family of three women, an illustrator, a statistician, and a teenager, transform into a forger, a prostitute, and bait. All lairs and smuggling tunnels lead to Nula, a prop cleaner at the otherworldly Cabaret Économique, where the dead state, police, and criminal gangs are faced by art and love. Fear dissolves all distinctions. Written by Irena Haiduk and Blakey Bessire following Haiduk’s 2020 exhibition at Swiss Institute, New York, Nula’s edges seep into the shadows we cast, tonight and every night. Please RSVP to [email protected]. NULA Edited by Alison Coplan, Laura McLean-Ferris (@lmcleanferris ) Text by Irena Haiduk, Blakey Bessire Published by Swiss Institute/METER Hardcover, 7.5 x 10.5 in. / 208 pgs / 2 color / 24 bw. Distribution by D.A.P. ISBN: 978-3-948338-10-7 https://nula.ink/ Image: Photo by Studio HelloMe, 2025. #swissinstitute #nula #irenahaiduk #blakeybessire #alisoncoplan

From Greer Lankton’s first monograph to a deep dive into UFOs and other paranormal phenomena, these are the essential art books of the year. @johannafateman , @john_vincler , and @bblakeybb sifted through hundreds of publications to pick out their favorites. Link in bio to find your next coffee or bedside table read before the year ends.

Irena and I wrote a book and it is out! I feel infinitely lucky and still giddy to hold it. Nula is co-published by The Swiss Institute @swissinstitute and METER books @meterbooks.co edited by Alison Coplan @alicopes and Laura McLean-Ferris @lmcleanferris and designed by @hellome.studio I love you @irena.haiduk Photos by @hellome.studio

Happy birthday James💟I love you🐌

Well, my and Blakey's home and studio in Mt. Baldy Village burned down in the Bridge Fire 😢. I evacuated on Monday with my laptop and a pile of hard drives but all other home and music stuff has been lost. I’m deeply moved by the support of my community and to the many friends and family who’ve reached out. I am safe and well resourced and very thankful for that. So much love and gratitude to the Mt. Baldy community, my heart goes out to the others who lost homes and to everyone living there who’s had their lives displaced and shook this last week. And a very heartfelt thanks to all the firefighters continuing to work so crazy hard. My place didn’t make it but so many other homes in the community were saved through their amazing effort. Just kinda wanted to share something here. I’m doing good all things considered ❤️ j

marble street mattress like a little oozy river also like butter cookie 🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴

Last summer before you had a cat I stand by this as prediction may many more cats bless the home

Since you’ve all been asking about the grotto I moved toʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔʅ（◞‿◟）ʃ here it is!

recently, having just crashed a birthday party at a sewage treatment center responsible for 4 million gallons of waste water pollution caused by an electrical splice in a power feeder line. the cake looked good it had pink frosting. overheard topics of conversation included someone’s dog being put down, a new fleece sweater, exhaustion. Sound on lol

New account (^｡^) 💬 old one is gone forever lol into the ether idk new era hi 😇😤🦋 decommissioned nuclear power plant, new sheets :), still from My 20th Century 1989, window washing kit, half done vest made from dock lines, effective click bait