Are you “in the Dolomites?” Apparently everyone is. They’re not just in the Dolomites, of course, but thru-hiking the Dolomites with Helene Bartos-Bärtos – Bartos-Bärtos being of course the chief docent at the Kirson Institute, and an absolute riot. That Henrich and Cristóbal would also be in attendance goes without saying; Helene’s husbands are both avid mountaineers.  

Versions of this are all we're hearing from the summer-plans crowd. “We’re fly-fishing in Uzbekistan with Malia Obama’s Mandarin tutor,” they say. “From there we’ll catamaran to Madagascar with the CFO of Walmart,” they continue. We aren’t just supposed to be impressed by these expeditions, by the way. We’re meant to be devastated – especially those of us who were legitimately looking forward to going tubing with the Hendersons on Lake Berryessa. 

As you may have guessed, Marin Lately refuses to play this game. Our trips are reasonable, even performatively modest, designed to reassure others that their lives are going well. If anyone asks if we have “any fun summer plans” we send them a video of us being pelted with unwanted blueberries by the children we're driving around to various parks-and-rec centers. 

But – and this is where this missive is revealed to be an extremely elaborate out-of-office message – we do need some time off. A month or so. To spend time with our ungrateful and violent family. To travel, exclusively via America's highway system and low-cost domestic airlines. And most importantly to take a break and come back with a reinvigorated version of this publication that never runs out of subject material.

We hope you enjoy your summers, and promise to get through ours. And give our regards to Dmitry at the Biennale!