Elena Filipovic's Study on David Hammons's Bliz-aard Ball Sale

Elena Filipovic's new publication, part of Afterall's One Work series, offers the most comprehensive study to date of David Hammons's 1983 street performance Bliz-aard Ball Sale. On a wintry day in 1983, Hammons sold snowballs of various sizes arranged in graduated rows, acting as an obliging salesman. The work, which uses 'black' materials and discreet actions, comments on the nature of the artwork, the art world, and race in America. Filipovic collected a vast oral history, uncovered rare images and documents, and conducted new interviews with Hammons and his collaborators. The book includes first-hand accounts of the sale, analysis of photographic and archival records, and tales of the snowballs' afterlives. Bruce Hainley contributed a foreword. The study positions the work at the fringe of the art world and the center of racialized politics in America.