For its second edition, Bound Art Book Fair 2018 paid particular attention to the press as a political and pedagogical tool. In an age of online activism, we championed artists and activists developing pamphlets and print ephemera with renewed urgency, and politically-engaged projects that employed print as a vital component of their output. We examined ways in which the stories and struggles of working people have been manifest in print form, and the ways the material qualities, processes and legacies of print activism have influenced contemporary artists and artworks. We also looked at recent publishing projects that give voice to marginalised communities or confront present injustices.
2018
This year we also hosted an open call for proposals for a project in collaboration with the Working Class Movement Library, Salford. We sought proposals for a display incorporating a selection of objects or titles from the WCML collection with new or existing work by the artist. This was not limited to the print form; we welcomed a range of media and were especially interested to see experimental and innovative approaches to synthesising historical material with new forms. The selected artist was Aaron Guy, who was offered a booked space in the WCML Reading Room with the assistance of a specialist Librarian with extensive knowledge of the collection over a number of days, along with a stipend of £1,000 to cover all expenses related to the project, and an artist’s fee of £500. Aaron's installation was exhibited in the Whitworth's galleries throughout the weekend, and the fair closed with a performance piece featuring Aaron and percussionist Holly Carter.
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Exhibitors
(01706)- Bemojake
- Bricks from the Kiln
- Bronze Age
- Ceremony Press
- Chateau International
- common-editions
- COPY
- Dan Szor & Jimmy Merris
- Desire Press
- DIY YOUTH
- DR.ME
- Fashion Art Direction, Manchester School of Art
- Fashion Image Making and Styling, University of Salford
- Four Corners Books
- Ginny
- Janina Sabaliauskaite, Jade Sweeting & Phyllis Christopher
- Jane and Jeremy
- Joe Devlin & David Mackintosh / Aye Aye Books
- Keep it Complex
- Kiosk
- Long Distance Press
- London Centre for Book Arts
- Loose Joints
- Lost Generation
- MACK
- Meanwhile Press
- Mishka Henner
- The Modernist Society
- Museums Press / A Plume
- Nomadic Reading Room
- Palm* Studios
- Pilot Press
- Pleats
- Rare Mags
- Rick Pushinsky & John Maclean
- Rope Press
- Rough Trade Books
- Salt n Pepper Press
- SEASON Zine
- seeaseasea
- Self Publish Be Happy
- Serf
- Setsuko
- Snöar Press
- Studio Operative
- Tide Press
- TRACE
- BA Photography, The University of Huddersfield
- Velvick & Speed & Murphy
- Village International Table
- Wired Press
- Witty Kiwi
Programme
Saturday
11:00-11:30am
Artist talk with Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy will discuss his new commission developed in collaboration with the Working Class Movement Library
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11:00am-12:00pm
SEASON zine and the National Football Museum present A History of Women’s Football Zines
A talk and show and tell led by Felicia Pennant, Editor-in-Chief of SEASON zine, and Belinda Scarlett, Collections Officer at the NFM, of women’s football newsletters, programmes and other DIY printed matter from the 1950s to the present day.
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12:15-1:15pm
Artist talk with Jamie Hawkesworth
Photographer Jamie Hawkesworth will discuss his recent work, spanning commercial commissions and personal work concerned with place, community and identity, such as his longstanding project on Preston Bus Station.
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1:30-2:30pm
Dan Szor & Steve Slocombe present SuperSuper: How Not To Run a Magazine
Artist Dan Szor and editor Steve Slocombe will chart the rise and fall of the notoriously day-glo, hyper-optimistic style magazine SuperSuper. SuperSuper was a kaleidoscopic snapshot of mid-2000s London that took its cues from Sleazenation, MySpace, Boombox and Wolfgang Tillmans, tearing up the rulebook in magazine design.
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1:30pm-3:00pm
A tie dye workshop with Keep it Complex
Keep It Complex is a collaborative and evolving organisation which confronts political issues through ideas and action. Members Margherita Huntley and Sarah Jury present a free tie dye t-shirt workshop, with t-shirts available to buy and take home.
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3:00-4:00pm
Artist talk with Vanessa Winship
Photographer Vanessa Winship will present a lecture on her two celebrated projects she dances on Jackson and As Time Folds, followed by a book signing with MACK.
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4:15-4:45pm
Artist talk with Sam Blackwood
Sam Blackwood will discuss his exhibition Up To No Good, which explores the translation of imagery into sculpture with themes from working class British culture, and the relationship between the exhibition and Powerhouse, his first artists book published by Snöar Press.
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Sunday
11:00am-12:00pm
Phil Thornton presents Fanzine Culture: from The End to the Internet
“Writer, community worker and gobshite” Phil Thornton will present a talk charting the zine culture of the North West of England in the 1980s and 1990s.
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11:15am-12:15pm
Tour of the Musgrave Kinley Outsider Art Collection
Curator Nikita Gill will deliver a tour of the Whitworth’s significant collection of Outsider Art - art that ‘tapped into the mains electricity of the imagination’ - focusing on artists publishing and works on paper.
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11:30am-12:30pm
OOMK present: Publishing Ecosystems
Sofia Niazi and Heiba Lamara from artist collective OOMK will discuss the highs and lows of setting up Rabbits Road Press, a community Risograph printing press, in 2017. Rabbits Road Press aims to make specialist printing facilities more accessible to the public and to help people take more control over the production of their work/publications. Since opening they've provided free or subsidised Risograph printing inductions to over 400 people, provided a regular arts space for people to use for free, commissioned new publications, delivered workshops to school groups and hosted a Riso Summer Residency programme.
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12:00-1:00pm
Georgiou & Tolley present Ten.8 to L8: Consent and Control in the Age of Google
Artists Darryl Georgiou and Rebekah Tolley will consider their current practice in the context of community art and social engagement, linking it back to themes often explored in influential photographic journal Ten.8, of which Georgiou was formerly Director and picture editor.
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1:15-2:15pm
Janina Sabaliauskaite, Jade Sweeting and Phyllis Christopher present On Our Backs: An Archive + Show and Tell
Artists Janina Sabaliauskaite, Jade Sweeting and Phyllis Christopher will present a talk and slideshow discussing the exhibition On Our Backs: An Archive, which explored the legacy of On Our Backs, a radically sex-positive magazine for “the adventurous lesbian” launched in San Francisco in 1984. Phyllis will show archival photographic materials from the period and Jade & Janina will discuss On Our Backs’ influence on their artistic practices and current projects.
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2:30-3:30pm
Artist talk with Mishka Henner
Mishka Henner is a Belgian artist living and working in Manchester, England. His work has featured in several surveys of contemporary artists working with photography in the internet age. - © Wikipedia
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3:45-4:00pm
Closing performance by Aaron Guy
Aaron Guy will close the programme with a performative manifestation of his recent research at the Working Class Movement Library.
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Bound Art Book Fair 2018 was made possible with generous support from the Whitworth Art Gallery and Arts Council England.