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Miranda July
Filmmaker. Author. Performer. Shopkeeper. Miranda July--the most impressive cross-disciplinary artist of her generation--is brought into focus in this career-spanning retrospective.
Regardless of the medium, July's daring, urgent, and idiosyncratic voice finds unexpectedly accessible forms that reflect the poignancy and strangeness of the human plight. In film, fiction, performance, public art, commerce, and even a smartphone app, July deftly explores themes of inclusivity, desire, fear, and fantasy. This chronological survey spans the artist's entire career to date, including her early plays and fanzines, participatory works, and personal projects which illuminate the multidimensionality and timeliness of her work.
Miranda July is brought to life in an introductory interview with Julia Bryan-Wilson and candid recollections by friends, collaborators, curators, assistants, and audience members: Carrie Brownstein, David Byrne, Spike Jonze, Sheila Heti, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and July herself. This revealing, insightful commentary provides an intimate perspective on the artist's ever-evolving process. July may be impossible to categorize, but the enduring importance of her work and her status as an essential cultural icon is irrefutable.
Regardless of the medium, July's daring, urgent, and idiosyncratic voice finds unexpectedly accessible forms that reflect the poignancy and strangeness of the human plight. In film, fiction, performance, public art, commerce, and even a smartphone app, July deftly explores themes of inclusivity, desire, fear, and fantasy. This chronological survey spans the artist's entire career to date, including her early plays and fanzines, participatory works, and personal projects which illuminate the multidimensionality and timeliness of her work.
Miranda July is brought to life in an introductory interview with Julia Bryan-Wilson and candid recollections by friends, collaborators, curators, assistants, and audience members: Carrie Brownstein, David Byrne, Spike Jonze, Sheila Heti, Hans Ulrich Obrist, and July herself. This revealing, insightful commentary provides an intimate perspective on the artist's ever-evolving process. July may be impossible to categorize, but the enduring importance of her work and her status as an essential cultural icon is irrefutable.
- GenresArtNonfiction
224 pages, Hardcover
Published April 14, 2020
14 people are currently reading
1122 people want to read
About the author
Miranda July
35 books7,001 followersMiranda July (born February 15, 1974) is a performance artist, musician, writer, actress and film director. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California, after having lived for many years in Portland, Oregon. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with a high school friend called "Snarla."
Miranda July was born in Barre, Vermont, the daughter of Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger. Her parents, who taught at Goddard College at the time, are both writers. In 1974 they founded North Atlantic Books, a publisher of alternative health, martial arts, and spiritual titles. Miranda was encouraged to work on her short fiction by author and friend of a friend, Rick Moody.
Miranda grew up in Berkeley, California, where she first began writing plays and staging them at the all-ages club 924 Gilman. She later attended UC Santa Cruz, dropping out in her sophomore year. After leaving college, she moved to Portland, Oregon and took up performance art. Her performances were successful; she has been quoted as saying she has not worked a day job since she was 23 years old.
Filmmaking
Filmmaker Magazine rated her number one in their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2004. After winning a slot in a Sundance workshop, she developed her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which opened in 2005. The film won The Caméra d'Or prize in The Cannes Festival 2005.
Beginning in 1996, while residing in Portland, July began a project called Joanie4Jackie (originally called "Big Miss Moviola") which solicited short films by women, which she compiled onto video cassettes, using the theme of a chain letter. She then sent the cassette to the participants, and to subscribers to the series, and offered them for sale to others interested. In addition to the chain letter series, July began a second series called the Co-Star Series, in which she invited friends from larger cities to select a group of films outside of the chain letter submissions. The curators included Miranda July, Rita Gonzalez, and Astria Suparak. The Joanie4Jackie series also screened at film festivals and DIY movie events. So far, thirteen editions have been released, the latest in 2002.
At her speaking engagement at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco's Mission District on May 16, 2007, July mentioned that she is currently working on a new film.
Music
She recorded her first EP for Kill Rock Stars in 1996, entitled Margie Ruskie Stops Time, with music by The Need. After that, she released two more full-length LPs, 10 Million Hours A Mile in 1997 and Binet-Simon Test in 1998, both released on Kill Rock Stars. In 1999 she made a split EP with IQU, released on K Records.
Screen Writer
Miranda co-wrote the Wayne Wang feaure length film "The Center of the World."
Multimedia
In 1998, July made her first full-length multimedia performance piece, Love Diamond, in collaboration with composer Zac Love and with help from artist Jamie Isenstein; she called it a "live movie." She performed it at venues around the country, including the New York Video Festival, The Kitchen, and Yo-yo a Go-go in Olympia. She created her next major full-length performance piece, The Swan Tool, in 2000, also in collaboration with Love, with digital production work by Mitsu Hadeishi. She performed this piece in venues around the world, including the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
In 2006, after completing her first feature film, she went on to create another multimedia piece, Things We Don’t Understand and Definitely are Not Going To Talk About, which she performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
Her short story The Boy from Lam Kien was published in 2005 by Cloverfield Press, as a special-edition book.
Miranda July was born in Barre, Vermont, the daughter of Lindy Hough and Richard Grossinger. Her parents, who taught at Goddard College at the time, are both writers. In 1974 they founded North Atlantic Books, a publisher of alternative health, martial arts, and spiritual titles. Miranda was encouraged to work on her short fiction by author and friend of a friend, Rick Moody.
Miranda grew up in Berkeley, California, where she first began writing plays and staging them at the all-ages club 924 Gilman. She later attended UC Santa Cruz, dropping out in her sophomore year. After leaving college, she moved to Portland, Oregon and took up performance art. Her performances were successful; she has been quoted as saying she has not worked a day job since she was 23 years old.
Filmmaking
Filmmaker Magazine rated her number one in their "25 New Faces of Indie Film" in 2004. After winning a slot in a Sundance workshop, she developed her first feature-length film, Me and You and Everyone We Know, which opened in 2005. The film won The Caméra d'Or prize in The Cannes Festival 2005.
Beginning in 1996, while residing in Portland, July began a project called Joanie4Jackie (originally called "Big Miss Moviola") which solicited short films by women, which she compiled onto video cassettes, using the theme of a chain letter. She then sent the cassette to the participants, and to subscribers to the series, and offered them for sale to others interested. In addition to the chain letter series, July began a second series called the Co-Star Series, in which she invited friends from larger cities to select a group of films outside of the chain letter submissions. The curators included Miranda July, Rita Gonzalez, and Astria Suparak. The Joanie4Jackie series also screened at film festivals and DIY movie events. So far, thirteen editions have been released, the latest in 2002.
At her speaking engagement at the Modern Times Bookstore in San Francisco's Mission District on May 16, 2007, July mentioned that she is currently working on a new film.
Music
She recorded her first EP for Kill Rock Stars in 1996, entitled Margie Ruskie Stops Time, with music by The Need. After that, she released two more full-length LPs, 10 Million Hours A Mile in 1997 and Binet-Simon Test in 1998, both released on Kill Rock Stars. In 1999 she made a split EP with IQU, released on K Records.
Screen Writer
Miranda co-wrote the Wayne Wang feaure length film "The Center of the World."
Multimedia
In 1998, July made her first full-length multimedia performance piece, Love Diamond, in collaboration with composer Zac Love and with help from artist Jamie Isenstein; she called it a "live movie." She performed it at venues around the country, including the New York Video Festival, The Kitchen, and Yo-yo a Go-go in Olympia. She created her next major full-length performance piece, The Swan Tool, in 2000, also in collaboration with Love, with digital production work by Mitsu Hadeishi. She performed this piece in venues around the world, including the Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
In 2006, after completing her first feature film, she went on to create another multimedia piece, Things We Don’t Understand and Definitely are Not Going To Talk About, which she performed in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York.
Her short story The Boy from Lam Kien was published in 2005 by Cloverfield Press, as a special-edition book.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
June 15, 2020
This woman is bonkers and I could not be more in love with her brain.
June 10, 2021
Miranda July's approach to the artist monograph is, fittingly, crowd sourced. It is full of conversation, and the inclusion of others. Each of her projects is annotated by friends, participants, curators, etc. These give each a humanness. Even the interview with art historian has a personal connection-- Julia Bryan-Wilson, for example, is an old friend. It's doubtful that the compendium will convince those who are not on board with July's work, but for this reader, who very much is on the train, the added dimension is in how this book illuminates an approach and demeanor. July comes across as confident, deliberate, and driven. These may seem to be the opposite of the quirks and neuroses that may be on display in her films and performances. In that sense, this book very much fits its convention of affirming July's artistic relevance. And more.
December 29, 2021
Zeer mooi overzicht van een oeuvre dat zich niet in boekvorm laat vatten. De vele verschillende stemmen in het boek geven de levendigheid van haar werk en haar manier van werken heel goed weer. Het zeer aanwezig zijn in het moment en de enorme sociale vrijheid in haar werk vind ik fantastisch. Ze toont hoe 'grensoverschrijdend' niet alleen een negatieve term hoeft te zijn.
January 12, 2022
la meva possessió més preuada, us convido a casa i el mirem juntets
July 12, 2022
inspiring!
August 15, 2020
I've followed July's career ever since I witnessed "The Auction" (which is tragically only given two pages, 112-113) at Seattle's Bumbershoot music and arts festival in 2007. Hungry for more, over the years I have consumed much of the available media on many of the projects/pieces covered in this book. While I myself might not give each and every one of them a five-star rating for their personal value to me, I unquestionably give this journey through her first 28 years as a multidisciplinary artist the maximum stars available. It gives me more to imagine, more to try and track down, and more to be inspired by.
Side note: I highly recommend checking out the Criterion release of Me and You and Everyone We Know and watching all the extras, which feature some of the works in this book or films about the projects/pieces in this book. These include some short films (The Amateurist and Nest of Tens), a doc on Joanie 4 Jackie, some films made for Joanie 4 Jackie, and a documentary on the Interfaith Charity Shop.
Side note: I highly recommend checking out the Criterion release of Me and You and Everyone We Know and watching all the extras, which feature some of the works in this book or films about the projects/pieces in this book. These include some short films (The Amateurist and Nest of Tens), a doc on Joanie 4 Jackie, some films made for Joanie 4 Jackie, and a documentary on the Interfaith Charity Shop.
October 11, 2020
Bible vibes
October 15, 2020
I discovered Miranda July in the 90s when her spoken word releases were on my favourite riot grrrl record label Kill Rock Stars. As much as I adored riot grrrl, there was a certain homogeneity to it all, whereas July seemed like she marched completely to her own beat. Her giant, soulful eyes, attached to her tiny, thin frame, reminded me of the Margaret Keane "big eyes" paintings. Her multi-disciplinary art knew no boundaries and she was always experimenting, doing something cool and interesting and weird that made you think more about human connection.
In this book, a chronological story of her journey and output as an artist over the last 25+ years, I really loved being able to access some of her more obscure works, which, due to the nature of her performative, audience-participation style, were only ever seen by a small number of people. I also loved how she had a more unusual pathway to eventually becoming a filmmaker. I feel like a lot of her performance art was about testing her skills as a writer, director and actor, yet at a smaller scale.
This book is a beautiful cultural artifact, where July and friends/associates tell the story of how her projects came to be, while exploring the artist herself and her processes. The only other thing I would have liked was an artist statement or story at the conclusion—next steps perhaps? But I feel like July will also write another book in the future, more like an autobiography about her life, not just the art. There were some very interesting things touched on (health problems with her eyes, her foray as a sex-worker to get money for her art, a lonely childhood with absent parents) but we didn't get the full story. I'm also really curious about her strong work ethic and steadfast determination to be an artist over anything else.
In this book, a chronological story of her journey and output as an artist over the last 25+ years, I really loved being able to access some of her more obscure works, which, due to the nature of her performative, audience-participation style, were only ever seen by a small number of people. I also loved how she had a more unusual pathway to eventually becoming a filmmaker. I feel like a lot of her performance art was about testing her skills as a writer, director and actor, yet at a smaller scale.
This book is a beautiful cultural artifact, where July and friends/associates tell the story of how her projects came to be, while exploring the artist herself and her processes. The only other thing I would have liked was an artist statement or story at the conclusion—next steps perhaps? But I feel like July will also write another book in the future, more like an autobiography about her life, not just the art. There were some very interesting things touched on (health problems with her eyes, her foray as a sex-worker to get money for her art, a lonely childhood with absent parents) but we didn't get the full story. I'm also really curious about her strong work ethic and steadfast determination to be an artist over anything else.
May 22, 2022
Miranda July is the best. She makes the best movies and writes the best stories. She's so weird in the best way possible. I've always felt a connection to her work, and her work has inspired myself to be as unique and original as I can. This massive table book is full of summaries, interviews and photos of all of her work from 1992-2020. From her early plays and zines, to her later novels and films. I was familiar with her more accessible work, but some of her performance pieces and other smaller works I knew nothing about. I loved reading about her start and her early plays at Gilman Street, and was extremely interested in her work that revolved around technology and creating art in new ways. I recommend anything that has to do with Miranda July to everyone! She is a living legend. This is probably not the best place to start as it's just summaries of all of her work, I would recommend checking out one of her films first, or her book of short stories is one of my favorites. Any fan of hers would absolutely love this book though.
June 10, 2024
"This is not the first hole my finger has been in nor will it be the last"
from the cover - Miranda July
I’ve always appreciated Miranda July. The world needs her type of eccentric energy. I believe she has a new novel coming out, but in my recent library visit I couldn't get that one so ended up picking this up instead. It’s a really great overview of her work. Most of it is done through short Q&A anecdotal stories about her various projects by her as well as various people surrounding each project and friends. Sheila Heti is in there which I thought was cool. I think July has such an interesting mind and comes up with a lot of unique ideas and ways of looking at the world. Recommend checking this out whether you’re a fan or if you’ve never heard of her!
from the cover - Miranda July
I’ve always appreciated Miranda July. The world needs her type of eccentric energy. I believe she has a new novel coming out, but in my recent library visit I couldn't get that one so ended up picking this up instead. It’s a really great overview of her work. Most of it is done through short Q&A anecdotal stories about her various projects by her as well as various people surrounding each project and friends. Sheila Heti is in there which I thought was cool. I think July has such an interesting mind and comes up with a lot of unique ideas and ways of looking at the world. Recommend checking this out whether you’re a fan or if you’ve never heard of her!
December 28, 2020
A concise survey of MJ's works that gives equal weight to her first projects (chain-mail movies by women), her performances (creating a new society with audience members), those uncategorizable projects, and her films and writing, including the most recent Kajillionaire. The elegant coffee-table-sized book (with a raunchy cover) opens with an interview with July. Each work has a couple quotes from her as well as short comments from friends and collaborators on the works and on July's process and person. I would read any artist's compendium if formatted this way; I would pore over Miranda July's works in any format.
October 20, 2023
"I walked out of the car thinking, Yes, I reach out to strangers, but it goes both ways. There's just a porousness to life"
No sé si es que estoy muy cansado, pero no me llamó tanto la atención como esperaba. Miranda July es una de las directoras/escritoras/performers más interesantes que tenemos. Posiblemente la /persona/ viva con la que más afección siento. Esto recopila a modo de archivo toda su carrera. La gracia está en salir al mundo, descubrir algo en él, presentarlo al resto, dejarlo ir. Capaz la sigo tanto que esta recopilación no me sorprende mucho, o tal vez ella es tan abierta y tiene una forma de pensar tan clara que esto se siente innecesario. Idk. Igual es genial.
No sé si es que estoy muy cansado, pero no me llamó tanto la atención como esperaba. Miranda July es una de las directoras/escritoras/performers más interesantes que tenemos. Posiblemente la /persona/ viva con la que más afección siento. Esto recopila a modo de archivo toda su carrera. La gracia está en salir al mundo, descubrir algo en él, presentarlo al resto, dejarlo ir. Capaz la sigo tanto que esta recopilación no me sorprende mucho, o tal vez ella es tan abierta y tiene una forma de pensar tan clara que esto se siente innecesario. Idk. Igual es genial.
September 8, 2020
Inspiring, subversive, and surprising. This intimate anecdotal and visual history of Miranda July's groundbreaking career in film, writing, and performance captures her oeuvre in all it's weird, wonderful glory. She's a national treasure and a feminist icon, and I couldn't put this book down (which was slightly problematic because it is very big and heavy).
February 28, 2021
What do you do when you checkout an amazing artist compilation coffee table book from the library, and it's the best way you've ever been able to grasp so much about the artist's work, but you've already sworn to stop buying books like this because you really want to sell most of your books and move out of the country? what then?!?
January 11, 2022
Was für ein kreativer Geist Miranda July doch ist. Diese Monographie bringt nicht nur all ihre Projekte, Filme und Darbietungen zusammen, sondern lässt begleitende Personen, Freund:innen und weitere Kulturschaffende zu Wort kommen. Mehr als bloss eine Übersicht, sondern ein Fundus an Ideen, eine Vorwärtsbewegung, ein Kommentar zur heutigen Zeit.
April 12, 2021
This retrospective is full of delightful oddities and tidbits. It does assume a familiarity with July's body of work. I wanted a graf or two of contextualization ahead of some of the projects. But obscurity is sort of the name of the game with Miranda July.
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November 10, 2021very inspiring! i'm channeling all my weirdness into my art.
September 14, 2020
My Miranda July brain crush has only grown larger and more disgusting as a result of reading this book. Beware! Dangerously satisfying.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews