An Inventory of Shimmers: Objects of Intimacy in Contemporary Art uses Mallory by Frere-Jones Type in both title and text. Edited by Henriette Huldisch and published by Prestel/ DelMonico Books in association with the MIT List Visual Arts Center on the occasion of the exhibition of the same title, compiling the work of fifteen international artists, this generously illustrated book provides a multi-faceted lens through which to explore ideas of affect and intimacy. Affect is an essentially indefinable, largely non-conscious quality that correlates to the experience of diverse emotional and physiological states. This exciting book examines the idea of affect in art.

Drawing from an international cadre of contemporary artists working in a variety of media, this book addresses the question of how bodies are affected by intimate relationships with and through objects. The book investigates the kinds of intimate relationships we form with art; explores how art acts as a vehicle for affective engagement or transactions of desire; what role gender plays in affect; and how we experience this force in works of art.