Printing Matters

With the Printing Matters event, Witte de With will be focusing on independent publishing for just over two weeks. The inspiration was the traveling exhibition KIOSK, an exceptional collection of independent publishing projects (artists’ books, periodicals, fanzines, record labels, and video and audio projects) assembled by Christoph Keller of Revolver publishers (Frankfurt).

With this collection, Keller aims to present an overview of various models of multiplication and distribution for artistic publications or projects, focusing on the activities ‘behind the scenes’ (publishers, editors, multiplicators, distributors) and their driving forces, strategies and motivations. At each place it is presented, KIOSK takes on a new form.

At Witte de With, KIOSK is the point of reference for an event about independent work in printed form with L.A.T. (Amsterdam), PrintROOM (Rotterdam), Piet Zwart Institute (Rotterdam), and others. L.A.T. (Kees Maas, Kasper Andreasen, Tine Melzer) and PrintROOM (Karin de Jong and editorial team) have been invited to respond to KIOSK in a presentation in the spaces of Witte de With. A series of panel discussions, book presentations, and interventions has also been organized.

What is the reason for the proliferation of books and magazines in recent years? How does this relate to the production of other visual strategies, such as installations, performances, film/video, and the globally accessible Internet? And what do designers, artists, and publishers think about the future of printing and distribution? These are the questions that will be addressed during Printing Matters.

Kiosk Update

Right now (November 2005) the Kiosk is being deinstalled at the Istanbul Biennial and will travel on to the ICA London, where Liam Gillick has designed a display for the forthcoming presentation of the archive on independent publishing, which will open on the 16th of December.

After the exhibition at the ICA, the Kiosk will travel on: In spring and summer 2006 Revolver will present the archive in New zealand (Artspace, Auckland) and Australia, in September 2006 the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver, Canada will host the presentation, from where it will travel on in Canada and the US.