'C21ST RECENT HISTORY’, 2016 is an artist’s book, itself a collaboration, presenting the collaborative works of Alison Jones and Milly Thompson from 2011 - 2016 comprising documentation, papers and publicity for the following collaborative projects and exhibitions: 'Martha Rosler Reads Vogue' (2010); 'ÉVASION', 'VUOTO' and 'ÉVASION Panel Discussion' (all 2012) and 'C21ST ART-WORKER' (2016).
Thompson worked mainly on the design/aesthetics and visual articulation whilst Jones was mainly responsible for writing introductions for each project. Throughout the project Thompson designed visual strategies that would reflect the dynamics, aims and context for each. Thus fluidity was maintained throughout the project, culminating in the artists’ book or ‘publication’.
The collaboration began with a shared interest in the film ‘Martha Rosler reads Vogue’ (Rosler, 1982); Rosler’s film marked the end of the ‘public sphere’, marking the beginning of rampant individualism. Jones and Thompson looked at Rosler’s feminist investigation of the representation of women in women’s magazines and brought those issues into a contemporary context asking whether representation had altered in the ensuing years. The results revealed the problematic between two positions that formed the basis of our collaboration and which we saw in Rosler’s film – a sort of worthiness intermingled with the guilty fan-hood of glamour in culture and the art world. The publication acknowledges the context within which it comes to have meaning whilst dressing up the language of institutional critique as glamorous chimera. As a strategy the publication allowed Jones and Thompson to claim criticality whilst being motivated by aspiration.
The publication concludes the collaboration and reveals the interrelatedness of all the projects through careful design. It is prescient of its time, revealing social/political thinking in positions on art at a time marking the end of subsidy and state support, and the beginning of private patronage and lobbying as power – coincidentally feminism is relevant once more.

- 'C21ST RECENT HISTORY' was launched at FILET project space with an exhibition 'C21ST RECENT HISTORY, Valentines Day, 2016’ which featured some of the works in the book alongside two new poster-prints by the artists. Michael Archer wrote an introduction to the project for the private view.