“The salesgirl, the landlord, the guests, the bystanders, sixteen varieties of social circumstance in a day. Everyone has the power to call your whole life into question here. Too many people have access to your state of mind.” ― Renata Adler, Speedboat
In June 2015 we read Renata Adler’s Speedboat, the cult favorite turned undisputed classic that reflects on what it means to be an urban American. Set in 1970s New York, Speedboat provides glimpses into the city of the past. The conversation was led by Garnette Cadogan and Mimi Zeiger.
If you’re interested in joining future book club sessions please write to Director of Research Anne Guiney at aguiney@vanalen.org
Garnette Cadogan writes about culture and the arts for various publications. He is editor-at-large for Unstoppable Metropolis: A New York City Atlas and is co-editor (with Shirley E. Thompson) of the Oxford Handbook of the Harlem Renaissance. His research interests include the cultural dynamics of urban change, the phenomenology of walking, and the traditions of pedestrianism in literature. He is currently at work on a book on rock-reggae superstar Bob Marley.
Mimi Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based journalist and critic. She covers art, architecture, urbanism and design for a number of publications including The New York Times, Domus, Dwell, and Architect, where she is a contributing editor. Zeiger is author of New Museums, Tiny Houses and Micro Green: Tiny Houses in Nature. She’s lectured internationally on “The Interventionist Toolkit”, a series of articles on alternative urbanist practice she wrote for Places Journal.
Zeiger is editor and publisher of loud paper, a zine and blog dedicated to increasing the volume of architectural discourse. She is a founding member of #lgnlgn, a think tank on architecture and publishing. The group’s work has been shown at Urban Design Week, the New Museum, Storefront for Art and Architecture, pinkcomma gallery, and the AA School.
She is currently adjunct faculty in the Media Design Practices MFA program at Art Center and co-president of the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design.
