CRUISING ARCHAELOGY

‘A Catalogue of Pleasure’


Initially born from an Instagram account bearing the same name, this project is a careful process of selection and curation that sees the anonymous artist reconstitute detritus and debris discarded in over half a dozen renowned cruising locations around London into cultural artefacts. Positioning archaeology as its point of departure, over 100 unique relics not only uncover and investigate the types of sex and pleasure that happen in cruising areas through a material culture lens, but also serve as a testimonial to the often invisible sexual practice.

Accompanying the series of scanned objects is a foreword by Marcus McCann, author of ‘Park Cruising: What Happens When We Wander Off Path’ (2023) as well as an interview with OWL, a volunteer litter-picking group in one of the cruising sites and a report on ‘Jurassic’ a renowned local cruising site in Medellín by academic David Edgar.

The soft-cover 200 page publication is purposely pocket sized, intended to be utilised as a nu-hunter’s-guide for those who cruise. The book’s design has been thoughtfully researched and assembled by London based designer Marco Cacioni. Distributed in collaboration with Public Knowledge Books. 

Cruising Archaeology
Unknown Artist
London, U.K.
200 pages
14.7 x 21 mm
Edition of 350
Distributed by Public Knowledge Books.
©️ SMUT Press (2024) 

Stockists:
(Ireland)
The Library Project, Dublin (SOLD OUT)
(UK)
Donlon Books, London
Tenderbooks, London (SOLD OUT)
South London Gallery, London
Artwords, London
Magma, London
Reference Point, London
Pages of Hackney, London
The Photographer’s Gallery, London (SOLD OUT)
August, Margate
Village Books, Manchester
Unitom, Manchester
Good Press, Glasgow
(Europe)
Keller Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterda, The Netherlands
After 8 Books, Paris, France
Palais de Tokyo, Paris, France
Classic, Paris, France
Les Mots a La Bouche, Paris, France
Libreria Finestrses, Barcelona, Spain
(ROW)
Skylight Books, Los Angeles, USA
Spruce Gallery, Philipines
Passionfruit The Sensuality Shop, Melbourne, Australia
World Food Books, Melbourne, Australia

‘Object Selection’ and ‘Launch’ posters made for ‘Cruising Archaeology’.

Object Selection
Poster
A3, edition of 50
2024. 

Launch Poster
Poster
A3, edition of 100
2024.