Landlord Colors reconsiders periods of economic and social collapse through the lens of artistic innovations. It examines five art scenes generated during heightened periods of upheaval: America's Detroit from the 1967 Rebellion to the present; the cultural climate of the Italian avant-garde during the 1960s–80s; authoritarian-ruled South Korea of the 1970s; Cuba since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s to the present; and contemporary Greece since the financial crisis of 2009. While the project unearths microhistories and vernaculars specific to place, it also examines a powerful global dialogue communicated through materiality.

The publication features essays by Laura Mott and Taylor Aldridge, a new interview with arte povera artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, reprinted articles and manifestos from each of the art scenes during the era of focus and dedicated entries for each artist.

Artists include: Giovanni Anselmo, Pier Paolo Calzolari, Riccardo Dalisi, Lucio Fontana, Jannis Kounellis, Maria Lai, Mario Merz, Marisa Merz, Giulio Paolini, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Ha Chong-Hyun, Kwon Young-Woo, Lee Ufan, Park Hyun-Ki, Park Seo-Bo, Yun Hyong-Keun, Belkis Ayón, Tania Bruguera, Yoan Capote, Elizabet Cerviño, Julio Llópiz-Casal, Reynier Leyva Novo, Eduardo Ponjuán, Wilfredo Prieto, Diana Fonseca Quiñones, Ezequiel O. Suárez; Andreas Angelidakis, Dora Economou, Andreas Lolis, Panos Papadopoulos, Zoë Paul, Socratis Socratous, Kostis Velonis, Cay Bahnmiller, Kevin Beasley, James Lee Byars, Olayami Dabls, Brenda Goodman, Tyree Guyton, Carole Harris, Matthew Angelo Harrison, Patrick Hill, Scott Hocking, Addie Langford, Kylie Lockwood, Alvin Loving, Michael Luchs, Tiff Massey, Charles McGee, Allie McGhee, Jason Murphy, Gordon Newton, Chris Schanck and Gilda Snowden.