The New City Reader

The New City Reader is a newspaper on architecture, public space and the city, published as part of The Last Newspaper, an exhibit running at the New Museum from 6 October 2010 to 9 January 2011. The format of the New City Reader is inspired by the dazibao, the Chinese practice of affixing newspapers in public space for them to be read collectively. Editorial work for the New City Reader took place in a purpose-designed office in the New Museum gallery in full public view.

Produced as a collaboration between Joseph Grima and Kazys Varnelis/Columbia University NetLab, the New City Reader consisted of 14 weekly editions guest-edited by a contributing network of architects, theorists, and research groups. Each issue addressed a single section of a typical newspaper (such as Sports, Finance or Obituaries). The sections were available for free at the New Museum and—in emulation of a practice also common in the 19th-century American city before newspapers became cheap and abundant—were posted in public throughout the city for collective reading.
A second edition of the New City Reader was published in Istanbul to coincide with the first edition of the Istanbul Design Biennial.

New City Reader 1st edition, New York credits:

Executive editors: Joseph Grima and Kazys Varnelis
Managing Editor: Alan Rapp
Associate managing editor: John Cantwell
Associate editors: Brigette Borders, Daniel Payne
Editorial assistant: Pantea Tehrani
Art director: Neil Donnelly
Designer: Chris Rypkema
Editorial cartoonist: Klaus
Blackout! cartoonists: Momo Araki, Alexis Burson, Leigha Dennis, Kyle Hovenkotter
Web Developer: Jochen Hartmann
Contributing editors: David Benjamin & Livia Corona, C-Lab/Jeffrey Inaba, Program in Media + Modernity, common room, DJ N-RON & DJ/rupture, Jeannie Kim & Hunter Tura,Leagues and Legions, Michael Meredith, Network Architecture Lab, Frank Pasquale & Kevin Slavin, D-Crit – School of Visual Arts, Robert Sumrell & Andrea Ching, Nugu (Geminidas & Nomeda Urbonas) with Saskia Sassen, Eyal Weizman, Centre for Research Architecture, Goldsmiths College, University of London

New City Reader 2nd edition, Istanbul credits:

Executive editors: Joseph Grima and Kazys Varnelis
Editorial coordinator: Elian Stefa
Managing editor: Benan Kapucu
Associate editor: Merve Yücel
Translator: Aslı Mertan
Art direction: Folder
Contributing Editors: Emre Arolat, DEMILIT, Fake Industries Architecture Agonism, Beatrice Galilee & Tom Keeley, Mehmet Gürs,Ömer Kanıpak, Unfold, Şevin Yıldız