‘A BOOK ABOUT COLAB (AND RELATED ACTIVITIES)’ Edited by Max Schumann; Printed Matter; $39.95; printed matter.org
Collaborative Projects Inc., known by the covert-ops-sounding abbreviation Colab, was a group of more than 40 artists who — in the Wild West that was New York City in the late 1970s and early ’80s — did things that now seem unbelievable. They staged a monumental show in a former massage parlor (“The Times Square Show”) and illegally occupied a city-owned building downtown (“The Real Estate Show”). They started a cable program and a film “division.” This book brings it all together in a way that feels as if you’re reading about it in a zine taped to the side of a city streetlight pole. RANDY KENNEDY