Masked Cell Towers of Tucson  Philip Zimmermann (2021)

In the summer of 2021, Katie Garth and Tracy Honn, the founders of Quarantine Public Library, asked me to contribute to the Library. The QPL has dozens of little one-sheet books by various artists from all over the United States and world. They books are free to download and print by anyone.

Here, from their website, is information about the QPL:

"Quarantine Public Library is a repository of books made by artists. The works published here are for anyone to freely download, print and assemble—to keep or give away.

This collaborative project was dreamed up by Katie Garth and Tracy Honn in May 2020. We love artists’ books, zines, and libraries; art and poetry; words and pictures. We wanted to make something to share as many of us are staying at home, disconnected from art, books, and one another. The project is not about COVID-19, but is explicitly of its time.

With brisk attention, a lot of talking and correspondence, and the enthusiastic good will of generous artists who say yes, we offer this as a gift to share and circulate in a discombobulated time."

When they asked me, I was deep into research into the history and taxonomy of concealed cell phone towers here in Tucson where they were invented by a company called Larson Co. At the same time, the political fight over masking to fight the spread of Covid-19 was constantly in the news. I thought it would be amusing to bring together the two issues and tie together the hiding of the cell phone signal emitters with fake foliage or cactus skins with the use of surgical masks to hide the breath and mouths of people.

If you would like to download and print this book from the QPL site, please go to:

https://www.quarantinepubliclibrary.com/masked-cell-towers-of-tucson-by-...

 (And print and enjoy all of the others in the library.)

[By the way, for some reason the thumbnail page views on the right do not work properly in the Chrome browser, but do work in all other browsers.]