David Rosetzky: Composite Acts

Publication Details Paperback, 24 x 17cm, 0.375kgs, 140 pp, 190 image plates, ISBN 978-0-646-83406-1

Author and/or Editor name/s Author: Sophie Knezic. Editor: Brigid Moriaty

Author and/or Editor bio/s Sophie Knezic is a writer and researcher with a focus on the nexus between art theory, Continental philosophy and post-Conceptual practices in contemporary art. She is a regular contributor to Frieze and Australian Book Review and currently lectures in Critical and Theoretical Studies at VCA, University of Melbourne.

Brigid Moriarty is an arts organiser and currently Associate Director of Sutton Gallery. She runs a collaborative publishing practice with graphic designer Alex Ward under the title of Sonntag Press and has previously held roles at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, and the Australian Museums and Galleries Association (Victoria).

Year of Publication 2021

Publisher Sonntag Press, Melbourne

Abstract David Rosetzky: Composite Acts was published on the occasion of the artist’s eponymous exhibition at Sutton Gallery as part of PHOTO2021 International Festival of Photography.

Hinging on the durational media of video and performance, Composite Acts is an interdisciplinary and collaborative project that branches into the fields of speech, choreography, set design and photography. Through the artistic and personal contributions of the participants, these composite parts coalesce in an intimate exploration of memory and identity. The accompanying publication draws together critical reflections, visual material and artist insights to form a catalogue and an archive of this major project.

Sophie Knezic’s essay, ‘To Slip on a Jacket: Gesture and Objects in David Rosetzky’s Composite Acts’, is a scholarly yet experimental text that situates Rosetzky’s work within a philosophical lineage of gesture and psychoanalytic conceptions of object relations. It uses a split format to juxtapose lines of critical enquiry with a poetic focus on choreographic language.

Designed by Alex Ward of Naarm/Melbourne-based studio Pidgeon Ward, the publication is an innovative approach to representing time-based media within the static format of the book. Responding to themes within the work, a custom display typeface was developed for the cover, adapted from archival documentation of a typography study by Rosetzky’s late father, a prominent graphic designer.

The first print run of David Rosetzky: Composite Acts is a limited edition of 185 (+15 APs). Each edition contains a unique cover design and time stamp corresponding to the film component of the work..