Gavin Brown’s enterprise is pleased to present JG Reads, a new film by Rirkrit Tiravanija. For a week in summer 2008 Tiravanija filmed the poet John Giorno performing his poems, memoirs, and music works. Shot on location at Giorno Poetry Systems, JG Reads spans five decades of work, creating an essential record of one New York’s most important poets. JG Reads was shot on 16mm film and runs 10 hours 6 minutes.

John Giorno (b. 1936) is a poet, musician, and performance artist. Giorno came to prominence for his influential Dial-a-Poem project (1968) and for his collaborations with William S. Borroughs and especially Andy Warhol. He is the subject of Warhol’s first film, Sleep, (1963) a six-hour recording of Giorno sleeping. Giorno’s famous studio on the Bowery, known as The Bunker, was a center for experimentation among some of the most important artists of the postwar, including Robert Rauschenberg, Frank O’Hara, Roy Lichtenstein, Yvonne Rainer, and John Cage. Giorno has published numerous collections of poetry, music and spoken-word recordings.

Rirkrit Tiravanija (b. 1961) is among the world’s most influential contemporary artists. His solo exhibitions include “A Retrospective (tomorrow is another fine day)” (Serpentine Gallery, London; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2004-5); Hugo Boss Prize (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2004); and the 48th Venice Biennale (Venice, 1999). Tiravanija lives and works in New York.