Parasite On View: Mel Bochner, Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper to Be Viewed as Art

In the exhibition Parasite On View, the artists' organization Parasite presented a series of public events focused on project-based art. Parasite was an evolving group of artists, including: Julie Ault, Dennis Balk, Judith Barry, Martin Beck, Tom Burr, Michael Clegg, Mark Dion, Andrea Fraser, Aki Fujiyoshi, Renée Green, Martin Guttmann, Ben Kinmont, Simón Leung, Christian Marclay, Christian Philipp Müller, Nils Norman, J. Morgan Puett, Jason Simon, Lincoln Tobier, Fred Wilson, and Florian Zeyfang.

Exhibition events included discussions, artists' presentations, film, and video screenings. During the exhibition, Parasite continuously updated a collection of contemporary and historical documents, which were on display to the public. The aim of Parasite was to establish a discursive context for project work and related issues, with a focus on issues of artistic autonomy, censorship, and sponsorship.

Parasite also featured Mel Bochner's Working Drawings and Other Visible Things on Paper Not Necessarily Meant to Be Viewed as Art. This work consisted of four binders, filled with photocopies of proposals for artworks, correspondence, drawings, notes, and other paper-based ephemera by Bochner (alongside contributions from his colleagues and friends). This presentation was the first public showing of the installation since its original debut in 1966.