Join us as we celebrate SPARE TIME, the first artist book by photographer and filmmaker Adam T. Deen and accompanying solo exhibition at the Germantown Library.

The Germantown library is honored to host the local artist and his work, an expansive documentation of recreational activities captured over the course of a decade, positing how we spend our spare time reflects a core truth about who we are.

The body of work was created from 2014 to 2024 and depicts wide-ranging pastimes from a Demolition Derby in the Hudson Valley to an evening swim in the French Riviera. The poignant images are a meditation on the time “for what you will,” drawing inspiration from Robert Owen’s influential 19th-century declaration: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, eight hours for what you will.” The book release and exhibition opening will take place on Friday, May 30, at 6pm – 8pm, and the exhibition will be on view through Thursday, July 31.

The book features a new essay by the artist Caitlin MacBride, who received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts, Bard College. She is represented by Deanna Evans Projects and is the Co-Chair of Painting for the MFA Program at Bard College. The book was photo edited by Jennifer Greim, who previously worked in the studio of Annie Leibovitz and the visuals department of Vogue.

SPARE TIME will be available for checkout at the Germantown Library.

About the Artist

Deen is a photographer and filmmaker whose practice documents contemporary culture. His photography has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and Hyperallergic. He has shown at the Center for Photography Woodstock (CPW), The Stewart House, and CREATE Council on the Arts, and his mini doc “Ice Yachts” was an official selection of the 2024 Hudson Valley Film Festival.

For more on Adam Deen and his work, visit adamtdeen.com.