Rachel Stern, “(Love Me)” (image courtesy Brooklyn Dirty Book Fair and Point Green Studio)
Luckily for us, there seems to be a publication for every niche, desire, and obsession — and the book fairs are catching up. This year marks the first for the Brooklyn Dirty Book Fair, titled Crushed. Put together by the artist and curator Matthew Leifheit, the fair, which will be annual, is described as “a platform for independent publishers of erotic and pornographic material and artists working with sex.” It will be held this weekend at Greenpoint’s Point Green Studio and promises to break from the traditional booth format with a nude performance by classical and jazz musicians and what’s been advertised as an “orgy afterparty.”
“I … believe people will come out to a fair that is specifically smutty,” said Leifheit. “You could bring a Tinder date to the fair, for example, as a titillating prelude to dinner.”
Among the highlights is a looping video of rarely seen erotic photographs by George Pitts, who died earlier this year, and a brand new performance by M. Lamar, who often explores race and desire in his musical, multimedia works. You’ll also have the chance to peruse plenty of printed projects, including queer zines from the vast collection of Shelley Fox Aarons and Phil Aarons, the president of Printed Matter’s board, and multiple issues of MATTE Magazine, which Leifheit began in 2010 as a way to highlight individual artists and queer life. I personally recommend checking out Math Magazine, a publication run by women that seeks to reimagine porn “through depictions of desires that are often sought but rarely seen.”
If you stick around on Saturday night, look out for a screening of erotic short films, selected by Michael Thomas Vassallo.
When: Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, 16, 12pm–9pm
Where: Point Green Studio (260 Java Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn)
More info here.
