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Mladen Stilinović
Re-print #3: I Have No Time (1983 [1979])
Softcover, 150 x 225 mm, 72 pp, offset.
Edition of 500
Design by Matt Hinkley
Text by Kerrie Poliness
Series Design by Matt Hinkley
Series Editors: Fayen d’Evie and Matt Hinkley
Published by 3-ply, 2015; launched 2016
ISBN 978-0-9873555-7-7
RRP AUD14.00
“Despite Mladen’s instruction to read this book when I have no time, when I am very busy, I first ‘properly’ read I have no time when I had a lot of time, while lying in bed in a hospital in the early 1990s. It was then that I began to understand that this small book was more than some small joke. I have no time, I have no time, I have no time… is for me a kind of mantra, to stop and think about what and why I am doing something, anything…
Paradoxically the pursuit of laziness requires an active engagement in stealing back time. That activity becomes harder and harder when time seems to accelerate and is consumed by an endless quota of daily tasks (even supposedly art associated) and so this little book, first hand-written in 1978, becomes more and more important (to read properly) through time, especially when you are very busy…”
— Kerrie Poliness, Re-print #3: I Have No Time (1983 [1979])
The Re-print project is a curated series that reintroduces out-of-print artist publications to a contemporary audience. The series also exploits the character of the reprints to insert interventions in public archives: introducing material that was never legally deposited, or reinserting previously archived publications in the form of mediated replications, thereby indexing the originals.
The book selected for Re-print #3 is Nemam vremena (1979) [I Have No Time (1979)] (1983) by Mladen Stilinović. The 1983 version was offset printed by Edition Dacic, Tubingen, in an edition of 150 copies. The specific book scanned for this Re-print was loaned from the collection of artist John Nixon.
Nemam vremena (1979) [I Have No Time (1979)] was the first printed version of ‘I Have No Time’, and was an Artist’s Edition, 70 copies. It was offset printed in Zagreb, seven sheets, softcover, stapled, 17.5 x 13.5 cm.
Nemam vremena (1978) [I Have No Time (1978)] was the original version of ‘I Have No Time’. It was handwritten by Mladen Stilinović in pencil on paper, nine sheets (four written on), cardboard covers, stapled, 17 x 24 cm.
With special thanks to Mladen Stilinović and Branka Stipančić for their enthusiasm for the Re-print project, and their collaboration during design and production of Re-print #3: I Have No Time (1983 [1979]). Sadly, Mladen Stilinović passed away during the final week of production of Re-print #3. The launch of the Re-print was thus an occasion to commemorate Mladen’s life work and friendships, his attentiveness to the politics of everyday language, his irony and humour. The launch took place in World Food Books, alongside an exhibition of works by Mladen Stilinović, and a selection of his artist books including Artist’s Editions. Thanks to Kerrie Poliness, Stephen Bram, and John Nixon for their assistance throughout this project.
Launched Saturday 10 September 2016 at World Food Books, Naarm Melbourne, Australia.
Launch reader: John Nixon
Photos of Re-print #3 (book object) by Christo Crocker.