The Serving Library Annual 2017-18

The Serving Library Annual comprises a number of individual “Bulletins” organized around a theme for an international audience of designers, artists, writers, and researchers. Newly published by ROMA Publications in a yearly format, this inaugural issue is realised in collaboration with Public Fiction, a journal and exhibition-maker based in Los Angeles. It deals with acts of civil disobedience and other forms of resistance, particularly in view of the relationship between entertainment and power. Contributors include Hilton Als, Tauba Auerbach, Anne Carson, Mark Leckey, Adrian Piper, Frances Stark, and Martine Syms. Public Fiction’s next project, which runs broadly concurrent to this new Annual’s lifespan, is named The Conscientious Objector — a multifaceted endeavour commissioned by West Hollywood City Council that unfurls in parts from September 2017 to April 2018. Curated by Public Fiction founder Lauren Mackler and Serving Library editor Francesca Bertolotti-Bailey, The Conscientious Objector comprises a series of “commercials” produced by artists for public access TV, an exhibition of artworks and performances at the MAK Center for Art and Architecture’s Schindler House in West Hollywood, and the present publication. - Roma