ALYS, Francis - 'The Loop' Tijuana-San Diego 1997, postcard, unlimited edition

This postcard was found at Francis Alÿs' brilliant - but soon to end - exhibition, A Story of Deception at Tate Modern (until 5 September, 2010). It was first produced in 1997 when the artist was invited to participate at InSite, an exhibition held in the border territory between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Mexico. He used his commission fee to make a journey, from Tijuana down through South America, to Australia, across the Pacific Rim, north through Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong, Shanghai and Seoul, before crossing to Canada and heading south through America back down to San Diego - in essence, traveling from Tijuana to its American neighbour without ever setting foot across the US/Mexican border. This ostensibly absurd and excessive action was undertaken to call attention to both the difficulties faced by Mexican citizens trying to visit the US, and also the extravagances of the art world at the time, flying here there and everywhere to attend the explosion of biennials. This small postcard, taken away from the exhibition by many thousands of hands, carries Alÿs' ideas out into the world spreading them far and wide.

A number of other extraordinary film works which are included in the exhibition have been made available by the artist for free to the public who can download them from his website:

www.francisalys.com

NAUMAN, Bruce - 'Body Pressure' (1974) poster print, unlimited edition

Incongruous baby pink in the subterranean gloom of DIA Beacon’s vast dungeon-like galleries devoted to Bruce Nauman, sits a thick stack of wafer thin poster sheets. They are copies of Body Pressure (1974), a brilliant early work which invites you to recreate one of Nauman's seminal performance pieces. Having made this discovery and perhaps peeled a poster of your own from the pile, you will begin to notice, when you resurface into DIA’s immense airy galleries above, many familiar flashes of pink, rolled or folded, peeking out of scruffy bags, tucked under armpits, crooked in elbows, or clasped tightly in hands. Then you can imagine each of your fellow visitors returning to the privacy of their own home and following the typed-out instructions which sign off with the unforgettable caution:

Availability: permanent display

www.diabeacon.org

STEZAKER, John - '18 Unassisted Readymades', MONO Issue #3, quarterly newspaper, edition of 3000

Perhaps not strictly speaking an art work, nonetheless, this beautifully produced newspaper edition deserves its place here. MONO is a quarterly paper dedicated to publishing visual essays, each issue selected by invited artists and curators. Issue #3 is devoted to artist John Stezaker and reproduces 18 enigmatic portrait photographs.

Availability: free, published in an edition of 3,000.

I collected my copy from The Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh.

See the website for other locations where MONO will be available periodically.

www.monopaper.co.uk

CONSUEGRA, Nicolás - 'Cartografia Textual' (2009), offset print on paper, 125 x 90 cm

Cartografia Textual (2009) is a vast printed map of the world which has so far been presented as a free multiple within two exhibitions, Vamos (curated by Sonia Becce) at Galería Nueveochenta, Bogotá (July 23 to August 27, 2009), and VI Salón de Arte Bidimensional at Fundación Gilberto Alzate Avendaño, Bogotá (December 5, 2009 to February 7, 2010).

Devoid of all the usual territorial markings carving up land and sea, Consuegra's map leaves only the names of each country floating in an ocean of undelineated white, the sole clue to their geographical reach - or their political and economic power - being the map's various original font sizes which he faithfully preserves.

Nicolás Consuegra is an artist and graphic designer who lives and works in Bogotá, Colombia. For images of the project and more information visit:

www.nicolasconsuegra.com/details.php?project=worldmap

www.tangramagrafica.com

McALPINE, Elizabeth - 'Words and Music (Headlines: Thursday July 15 2010)'

Hand-typed onto fragile copy paper, this free limited edition print is signed and numbered by the artist and accompanies a new work first performed during the Barbican Art Gallery's Words event on July 15th 201o, an evening of poetry and artistic interventions relating to the current exhibition Surreal House. For those who missed the performance, in which 5 pianists played the days' headlines on one piano following a score made by transposing the newspapers headlines' letters, numbers and punctuation marks into musical notes, the artist plans to repeat it in the future, possibly at The Whitechapel Art Gallery later this year.

Availability: copies may still be available at The Barbican, possible re-edition at future performances.

For more information visit the artists' website:

www.elizabethmcalpine.com