Required Reading
2015–2017
Required Reading is a compilation of thirty-six books recommended by thirty-six friends, acquaintances, and a stranger. Contributors were asked to recommend a book on any subject in any genre, a book that has influenced them or one they greatly enjoyed. Required Reading was compiled with contributions from local and international artists, a curator and a collector. The list includes novels, philosophy, contemporary poetry, a book of short stories, a book about radical gardening, and a book about the universe.
2017
January
Hannah Arendt’s On Revolution, recommended by Anna Viola Hallberg (curator | SWE)
February
Simone de Beauvoir’s The Ethics of Ambiguity, recommended by Francois Jonker (art educator | SA)
March
Anita Diamant’s The Red Tent, recommended by Juliana Irene Smith (artist and cultural worker | SA)
April
James Franco’s Palo Alta, recommended by Rose Gelderbloem Waddilove and Adam-Jon Williams (artists and collaborators | SA)
May
Steve Biko’s I Write What I Like, recommended by Rory Emmett (artist | SA)
June
Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist, recommended by Jody Paulsen (artist | SA)
July
Joe Brainard’s I Remember, recommended by Brett Seiler (artist and art educator | SA)
August
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s We Should All Be Feminists, recommended by Bulgar Witchez (art collective | SA)
September
Teju Cole’s Known and Strange Things, recommended by Johno Mellish (photographer | SA)
October
Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts, recommended by Anna Steilau (art critic and theorist | SA)
November
Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things, recommended by Alexandra Karakashian (artist | SA)
December
Fred Moten’s The Undercommons: Fugitive Planning and Black Study, recommended by Thuli Gamedze (artist, curator and critic | SA)
2016
January
Reza Negarestani's Cyclonopedia: Complicity with Anonymous Materials, recommended by Mohamed Berro (artist | LBN)
February
Michel Tournier’s The Erl-King, recommended by Ivana Ivkovik (artist | SRB)
March
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre, recommended by Sharné Mcdonald (artist | SA)
April
Hubert Selby Jr.’s Last Exit to Brooklyn, recommended by Christopher Rizkallah (artist | LBN)
May
J.M. Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians, recommended by Bert Pauw (artist | SA)
June
David Mitchell’s Cloud Atlas, recommended by Sitaara Stodel (artist | SA)
July
Sabahattin Ali’s Madonna in a Fur Coat, recommended by Eda Sutunc (artist | TUR)
August
John Irving’s The World According to Garp, recommended by Amy Lester (artist | SA)
September
Robert Fisk’s Pity the Nation, recommended by Julia Rosa Clark (artist | SA)
October
Judy Blume’s Tiger Eyes, recommended by Bonolo Kavula (artist | SA)
November
David Bayle’s Art and Fear, recommended by Pierre Dalpé (artist | CAN)
December
Graeme Simsion’s The Rosie Project, recommended by Rafi Münz (artist | ISR)
2015
January
Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost, recommended by James Webb (artist | SA)
February
Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves, recommended by Matthais Hartmann (collector | SA)
March
J.G. Ballard’s High-Rise, recommended by Olivia Leahy (curator | UK)
April
Daniel C. Dennet’s Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking, recommended by Ian Grose (artist | SA)
May
Martin Gardner’s The New Ambidextrous Universe, recommended by Matty Roodt (artist | SA)
June
Nils Norman’s Edible Park, recommended by Love Enqvist (artist and stranger | SE) via Olivia Leahy
July
Donald Barthelme’s Sixty Stories, recommended by Mitchell Gilbert (artist | SA)
August
Zakes Mda’s The Sculptors of Mapungubwe, recommended by Simphiwe Ndzube (artist | SA)
September
Peter Anderson’s Foundlings Island, recommended by Matthew King (artist | SA)
October
Jorge Lois Borges’s Labyrinths, recommended by Marc Barben (associated gallery director | SA)
November
Jorge Lois Borges’s Ficciones, recommended by Morné Visagie (artist | SA)
December
Maurice Merleau-Ponty's The World of Perception, recommended by Jared Ginsberg (artist | SA)
