Temporary Services presents their Aesthetic Analysis of Human Groupings, an installation consisting of words and symbols for human groupings, as well as hundreds of photos of social groupings appropriated from books and magazines, displayed throughout the exhibition space Five booklet ‘pods’ showcase eleven of the collective’s publications In addition, the group has chosen books by groups from Printed Matter’s inventory as an extension of the exhibition A window installation completes the project: the collective’s vast array of publications dangles from strings for public perusal.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Printed Matter will launch Group Work, the latest book in Printed Matter’s Emerging Artist Publication Series Based on a pamphlet published by Temporary Services in 2002 titled Group Work: A Compilation of Quotes About Collaboration from a Variety of Sources and Practices, this publication provides a multitude of perspectives on the theme of Group Work by practitioners of artistic group practice from 1960s to the present The publication presents interviews with Canadian collective General Idea; Chicago collective Haha; the dutch punk band The Ex; the Vienna-based WochenKlausur; Croatian artist group What, How & for Whom (WHW); Funkadelic album designer Pedro Bell; and Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D); along with essays on The Abortion Counseling Service of the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union (better known as Jane) and the anarchist Guerilla street theater group The Diggers A list of words used to describe group practices and a working list of hundreds of collectives from the last four decades rounds out the publication

Temporary Services is a Chicago based collective made up of Brett Bloom, Salem Collo-Julin, and Marc Fischer. Together they draw on varied backgrounds and interests to produce creative exhibitions, events, projects, and publications Since their inception they have produced over 70 publications and participated in as many exhibitions Printed Matter is pleased to be the publisher of Group Work, 112 pages with 34 black and white images The book retails for $19.95, and is available at Printed Matter’s storefront.