Johanna Reed is a Los Angeles based artist who runs the blog This is That. She recently began a project called Ride Along, a program of one-day residencies that take place in her car this summer in Los Angeles (fill out an application HERE). Her other most recent projects include Love Letters on Demand for a $1/minute and Signs of Thinking. Here she is talking to us about her interests, her desires and what she’s been reading…

Hi Johanna! When, how, and why did you start This is That? TisT is a completely selfish endeavor that serves as my public bookmarking system, and an excuse to talk to people whose work fascinates me. I started it when I worked at a job that required me to crawl around the internet for “inspiration,” I think it was in 2007.

What are three things that interest you deeply at this time? Very, very tiny things: the way heavy cream looks in strong coffee, certain words.

What kind of projects are you currently working on? An orgasm serenade, a play about grief, a long poem about women and men, a giant floating ball of pudding, something with human hair, this interview, finding a good sunscreen, maybe going sailing next Wednesday, getting back to Berlin.

Have you read anything interesting lately? Words are food. This week: David Foster Wallace, the New Yorker article about quantum computing, some Lorca poems, some Pushkin poems, the Oxford translation of Medea.

What is one of your favorite quotes and why? “Whenever I see images of myself from years ago, I always think the same thing: what happened to those clothes?” John Lurie. I’ve never heard a better way to describe how time feels as it passes.

What is something you desire? Every morning, a good breakfast. If not that, then a good coffee.

Thank you, Johanna!

Website / This is That