THe PUBLiC DiARieS is a unique set of conceptual journals composed primarily of personal handwritten documents and ephemera, and secondarily from received correspondence. All the documents were obsessively compiled since 1984 in San Francisco and then after 1992, in Madison, Wisconsin. The books are filled with hand and typewritten text, drawings in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image on varied paper stocks and formats including stationary, envelopes, scraps, and refuse. Many pages are worn and damaged (burnt, torn, water-stained) palimpsests of great character. They create a tactile experience as well as a textual and visual one. These fragments are framed intimately in traditional book forms. The editing of these documents reveals internal thought processes by tracing the schematics of my activities. Having been an exhibiting artist, new genre curator, and itinerant cultural critic for twenty years, my thinking had focused upon the social mechanisms of the contemporary art world. The ‘DiARieS’ form a detailed personal history of these mechanisms as constructed by the intimate fragments of my daily existence.
— Marshall Weber

#1. “List #2,” 1996, 119 pages, 8 3/4 x 11 1/4 x 1 1/4 inches
Compiled primarily in San Francisco from 1984 to 1996, “List #2” focuses on art world activities and is composed of worn and re-inscribed phone, addresses, daily tasks, and shopping lists, personal notes, and ephemera. Hand and typewritten text, doodles in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image on a variety of paper stocks and formats. Notch binding and quarter-bound canvas casing by Shon Schooler, with antique board covers.
#2. “Richard Breath,” 1996, 76 pages, 8 7/8 x 11 3/8 x 5/8 inches
Drawings, hand and typewritten text, and notes in pen, pencil, marker, and other media, on a variety of paper stocks and formats, describing a spectacular and unrealized film by the same title. Compiled from 1985 to 1996. Notch binding with quarter-bound canvas casing, painted covers by Shon Schooler.
#3. “Teaching/Learning,” 1997, 92 pages, 9 x 11 1/4 x 3/4 inches
A collection of grade sheets, attendance lists, syllabi, and notes recording every student I taught in the Mid West from 1993 to 1997. Hand and typewritten text, drawings in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image on a variety of paper stocks and formats. Handmade post binder with a quarter-bound canvas casing by Shon Schooler, and a gold foil imprinted spine.
#4. “List #4,” 1996, 97 pages, 8 3/4 x 11 1/2 x 3/4 inches
Compiled from 1986 to 1996, “List #4” is composed of well-used phones, addresses, daily tasks, and shopping lists. The focus is split between art world activities and personal situations, including the birth of my daughter and logs regarding health problems. With hand and typewritten text, drawings in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image on a variety of paper stocks and formats. Notch binding and quarter-bound leather casing with collaged covers by Shon Schooler, with a hot foil stamped spine.
#5. “Answers,” 1996, 226 pages,  1/2 x 11 1/4 x 1 1/2 inches
A selection from the huge amount of correspondence I received from 1986 till 1996, much of it contentious, argumentative, and confrontational. “Answers” is filled with illustrations, writings, poems, ranting, insidious gossip, and some hate mail. It includes correspondence from artists Joyce Burstein, Manuel Ocampo, Dale Hoyt, Steve Hurd, Rigo, Annie Sprinkle, and many more. Hand and typewritten text, drawings in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image on a variety of paper stocks and formats. Notch binding and full leather casing by Shon Schooler, with a hot foil stamped hardcover and imprinted spine.
#6. “Ideas,” 1996, 140 pages, 8 3/4 x 11 3/8 x 1 inches
Collected notes, schematics, sketches, writing, and documentation from a decade of realized and unrealized collage, conceptual, installation, performance, sculpture, and video artworks. Hand and typewritten texts, drawings in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image, on a variety of paper stocks and formats. Notch binding with quarter-bound canvas casing by Shon Schooler, with a hot foil-stamped leather spine and imprinted cover.
#7. “Bitter Thoughts for a Better Artworld,” 1997, 118 pages, 17.9 x 11 1/4 x 1 1/2inches
Complied primarily in San Francisco and secondarily from around the world, and composed of notes from artworld conferences, reviews of artwork, correspondence from Congresspeople, personal speeches and rants, photos, posters, and other ephemera, celebrating and critiquing the art industry from 1984 through 1997. A table of discontents provides a map of my decade-long trajectory from didactic art critic and troublemaker to critical artist and teacher. Hand and typewritten texts, drawings in pen, pencil, ink, and marker, and photocopied text and image, on a variety of paper stocks and formats. Notch binding, full leather casing by Shon Schooler, with a hot foil-stamped cover and imprinted spine.

Set of seven single object artists’ books in various media. Hand bound with hard covers designed and created by Shon Schooler. The set is contained in an aluminum museum-quality exhibition case, hand-made by artist/fabricator David Hoyt. 1997.