This week at college - Bokship seminar

Tuesday's seminar was held at X marks the Bokship, a publishing project space for independent publications, in Bethnal Green; it was the first of a series of four led by Eleanor Vonne Brown, who runs the shop/exhibition space, and publishes artists' newspapers -

As well a books-in-their-covers displayed on shelving and in glass-fronted cabinets (with doors left open), there are books displayed on the wall -
Some themes and phrases from my notes on the seminar:

-exhibiting books (constraints of; ways of displaying)

-selling artists books in shops (where, how)

-printing "an eventual edition" in clusters of 5 or 10 copies at a time

-risograph (sorta like a mimeograph)

-Byam Shaw Library of Art (and publishers AND)

-Print Matters Interest Group (their un-scanable publication "Dear Google")

- Modern Art in Everyday Life (by Sara McKillop)

- Simon Popper's n0n-concordance to Ulysses

- Ruth Field's portable display "cabinet", which opens up like a medieval altarpiece

-finding trends (currently books about books; translation)

- book fairs - preaching to the converted?

-is the gallery a good place to show a book

-Fiona Banner's Life Drawing Drawings - how to display books that might not be books

-blank book projects, white books, reading copies

-imprints for artists

-"experiment and do the work you want to"

-production vs publishing

At the end of the formal session we picked up photocopies of the reading for next week, and even had a chance to quickly bind them (using a stapler) -
I'm looking forward to next week (as are the others I talked to) - after which there will be some "holiday homework", a project based on "Book", edited and designed by James Langdon, a mobile extension to the 2010 exhibition "Book Show".