Hauser & Wirth opens temporary bookstore in Venice for Biennale

Hauser & Wirth Publishers has released a new book titled "Mark Bradford: Process Collectivo" and opened a temporary bookstore in Venice's Campo San Maurizio until May 5, 2024. The volume, edited by Nicole R. Fleetwood, celebrates eight years of collaboration between artist Mark Bradford and the Italian prison cooperative Rio Terà dei Pensieri, which operates in two Venetian penitentiaries. Contributors include Asale Angel-Ajani, Elisabetta Grande, Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson, and Jessica Lynne. The book examines the state of Italian prisons through a dialogue between Bradford and Liri Longo, former president of Rio Terà, comparing Italian and American institutions and highlighting creative collaboration as social practice. Bradford's involvement began in 2016–2017 while preparing his US Pavilion for the 57th Venice Biennale; he participated in prison workshops and later initiated Process Collectivo, a project based on listening to incarcerated communities and expanding opportunities. During the book promotion in Venice, Bradford will sell a glass tote bag made with Berengo Studio of Murano, referencing both the PVC bags produced in the men's prison workshop and art fair totes, symbolizing the temporality of detention.