This clever ad campaign is for the College of Creative Studies, an art school in Detroit. Clever, but oh how true. Click “Read More” below for additional images.

Obama made an appearance at the Apollo last night for a fundraiser, also attended by Al Green. Channeling the Reverend, the President sang a few lines of Let’s Stay Together. It reminded me why I liked Obama so much four years ago.

This weekend, Printed Matter presents the sixth annual NY Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1. Free and open to the public, the fair features more than 200 stands selling artists’ books, contemporary art catalogs and monographs, art periodicals, and artist zines. Exhibitors include international presses, booksellers, antiquarian dealers, artists and independent publishers from twenty-one countries. Personally, I recommend it highly. I went for the first time last year and got so many (too many) small photo books that I never would have seen otherwise. The selection of limited edition prints is also amazing. The fair opens today and runs from 11-7 through Sunday, October 2.

Anthology Film Archives will be screening two programs of films by Richard Kern this weekend. Shot in the 1980′s on Super-8 and originally distributed on VHS , the films are described by Anthology as as “darkly comedic, shocking, sexy, disturbed, debauched, violent, and really quite wonderful.” They feature the likes of Lydia Lunch, Nick Zedd, David Wojnarowicz, Karen Finley, Lung Leg, Henry Rollins, and Kembra Pfahler, with original soundtracks by musicians such as Foetus and Sonic Youth. The films have been remastered and preserved with funds from The Warhol Foundation and Anthology Film Archives. Screenings are at 7 and 9 pm, Friday, September 23 and Saturday, September 24. Kern will be there to answer questions at tonight’s screenings.

Shirin Neshat, who we profiled in Dossier Issue 7, spoke to us about her more recent move towards film as an artistic medium. In that vein, she has been working on a series of videos for the four seasons which are running on the New York Times Opinion page. The spring video, entitled Egypt in My Heart, paid tribute to the young protesters of the Arab Spring, and featured Umm Kulthum, the singer known as Mother of Egypt. The summer video, Before My Eyes, is about the hopes and fears for the Middle East and mourning for Japan. The video for fall, called simply The Fall, was published yesterday and addresses the famine in Somalia.

Dossier Contributing Editor Caris Reid has curated a portfolio for the art site Paddle8. The portfolio, which posted today, is on the subject of the female gaze – specifically, the intimate female gaze turned onto men. Caris had recently started a series of paintings that deal with the male body and male beauty when the site approached her about curating a portfolio. She says, “I kept feeling this hesitation about how I was sexualizing my subjects. Even though I was basically just applying the historical conventions that have been used in depictions of women for centuries, there was something about the experience that caused me a lot of trepidation. Photographer Aneta Bartos (whose work I find incredibly inspiring) and I had been discussing this topic, and we both felt there is something still left that needs to be “outed” in regard to female desire. What is the pre-existing vocabulary for female desire?  What does it mean for a woman to assert her sexual longing and to objectify the male body?” For the project, Caris worked on pulling together a group of images by female artists who are freely projecting their desire onto the male form. The selected images explore the vulnerability, fantasy, intimacy, dominance, affection and exploitation that can exist between a male and female counterpart; they explore the range of possibilities that can be articulated when the female perspective of sex and desire is (finally) granted an active seat.

Every month, artist Sam Falls makes a mix and sends it out to a group of friends. He also shares the playlists as a monthly feature here. They are compiled from the daily mixes he makes in his studio while working and are deliberately unthemed. Click here to download the September mix.

Every month, artist Sam Falls makes a mix and sends it out to a group of friends. He also shares the playlists as a monthly feature here. They are compiled from the daily mixes he makes in his studio while working and are deliberately unthemed. Click here to download the August mix.

Curator and Performa director RoseLee Goldberg is launching her book, Performa 09: Back to Futurism, which is a definitive account of the performance biennial. The book includes creative documentation by the 150 artists who participated – among them Guy Ben-Ner, Candice Breitz, Omer Fast, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Mike Kelley, Arto Lindsay, Wangechi Mutu, Christian Tomaszewski, Yeondoo Jung, Keren Cytter, Tacita Dean, Alicia Framis, Loris Greaud, William Kentridge and Joan Jonas.

The book launch will take place tonight, Thursday, August 4 from 5-7 pm, at the Artbook + R/Turpan pop-up shop, 63 Main Street, Second Floor, East Hampton.

The Pop Manifesto is an online magazine published by Ilirjana Alushaj (of the band Apache Beat) and Karl Maier. They showcase music, art, design and fashion, but heavy on the music. They just published their eighth issue, which features Fecal Face, Ford & Lopatin, How To Dress Well, Puro Instinct, Ryan De La Hoz, Greatest Hits, Y’OH, Lucy McRae, Sandy Kim, Zoo Music, Geoff Barrow, Snarkitecture, Mandy Coon and an exclusive mixtape by Das Racist. You can view the issue here.