X Publishing School: Teaching + LearningLondon Art Book Fair 2018 Public Programmes6–9 September, 2018
For 2018, the public programme of the London Art Book Fair reimagines the Whitechapel Gallery as a publishing school. Divided across five spaces, a lecture hall, a common room, assembly hall, reading room and a playground, the programme brings together artists and publishers proposing models for collaboration and participation in independent publishing. We embrace the fair as a social event and through reading groups, workshops, talks and discussions offer new opportunities for networking and sharing ideas.
As its curriculum is Robert Filliou’s Teaching and Learning as Performing Arts (1970), a study on experimental pedagogy based on the principles of Fluxus and kindred, participatory art movements of Filliou’s era. In his introduction, Filliou writes:
‘The purpose of this study is to show how some of the problems inherent to teaching and learning can be solved – or at least eased – through an application of the participation techniques developed by artists in such fields as: happenings, events, action poetry, environments, visual poetry, films, street performances, non-instrumental music, games, correspondences, etc.’
The publishing school has a reading list with titles on display in Koenig books and available from publisher tables throughout the fair.
Lecture Hall
Visit the lecture hall to be inspired by writers, thinkers and theorists. Curator of recent Filliou retrospective Anders Kreuger (M HKA, Antwerp) delivers a keynote lecture about the mind and practice of this extraordinary artist, who inspires our curriculum. Sarah Lowndes shares her research into DIY practice in art, music and publishing. We also invite exhibiting publishers to programme short 30 minute talks on topics of their choice.
Common Room
Step into the Common Room to encounter Shared Ideas, a programme championing collectivity and collaboration. Join a workshop or seminar led by print and publishing collectives including the Feminist Print Network, Copy Press Reader’s Union, and X Publishing School
Assembly Hall
The site of the fair itself is re-imagined as an assembly hall, the place of coming together for publishers and readers. Don’t miss the rotation of guest small publishers hosted at the Table Share including Publication Studio, AND, Independents United and Common Books. Sunday morning also sees the first Publishers Assembly hosted as part of the fair, where exhibitors meet with the organisers of contemporary art book fairs including Strange Perfume and D.I.Y Cultures, for a discussion on the future of fairs, from travel to display, distribution to self-organising.
Reading Room
Take part in special sessions hosted by London-based reading groups including The Bad Vibes Club and Evening Class.
Playground
Explore the London Art Book Fair as a family and find new ways to consider language and visual, audio and sensorial storytelling.
Table Share
A shared table for invited artists and independent publishers. Each publisher will share the table with another for 2 – 3 hour timeslots throughout the duration of the book fair. Publishers include: Publication Studio, AND, Sara Mackillop, Setsuko, Common Books, PrintRoom, Behind the X, The Everyday Press, Copy Press, Chelsea Space, London Centre for Book Arts, Archive Books, Oh!, We are Publication, OOMK, Independents United, Clare Gasson and Flat Time House.
The X Publishing School has compiled the programme for this years’ London Art Book Fair. It will take place across five spaces in the book fair, a lecture hall, a common room, an assembly hall, a reading room and a playground. The school takes Robert Filliou’s book Teaching and Learning as Performing Arts, (published by Koenig,1970, reprinted by Occasional Papers, 2014) as inspiration for its curriculum. Robert Filliou was a French artist associated with Fluxus, who produced works with a do-it-yourself philosophy and had radical ideas on participatory art making and teaching. Anders Kreuger MKHA’s Senior Curator will give a lecture introducing Filliou’s ideas in the Lecture Hall on Sunday.
In the Common Room and Reading Room people who have participatory practices or are interested in creating networks have been invited to host events. Design collective Evening Class are having a discussion on Commons and Community Economies, Feminist Print Network are running a peer-to- peer crit. Visitors to the book fair can enroll in collaborative workshops, publisher led seminars, reading groups and family friendly activities. There will be a reading list available as a handout of publications that supports these ideas that can be brought from publishers at the fair. Franz Koenig has selected rare material from the curator Seth Siegelaub to display in Koenig Books.
Don’t Miss:Thursday 6thSeptember, 6 – 9pmOpening of London Art Book Fair
Friday 7thSeptember 1.30pmSarah Lowndes talk on Friday lunchtime on The DIY Movement in Art, Music and Publishing showing examples of alternative models from across the world. Free. Book here.
Saturday 8th September 12.30pmThe Bad Vibes Club on Saturday will discuss an excellent new book To Become Two by Alex Martinis Row in their reading group. It is a practical handbook of twenty new propositions for feminist collective practice, which were formed in collaboration with a network of contributors through experiments based on historical practices including those of the Milan Women’s Bookstore co-operative. Free. Book here.
Sunday 9thSeptember, 2pmOn Sunday Anders Kreuger, editor of Robert Filliou: The Secret of Permanent Creation, will discuss his book based on the transcript of an extensive conversation between the Filliou and the Brussels-based art critic Irmeline Lebeer, recorded on seven cassette tapes in Flayosc, southern France, in August 1976. The text is structured as an abécédaire and touches on a variety of topics to do with Filliou’s art and thinking, from amitié (friendship) to zen. It was supposed to become an extensive monograph but was never published at the time. The recent discovery and publication of the text gives a direct insight into the mind and the practice of Robert Filliou. Free. Book here.
Table ShareA shared table for invited artists and independent publishers.
Thursday 6 September6pm Publication Studio, ANDLaunch of Two Augusts in a Row, In a Row, with reading by Shelley Marlow7.30pm Sara Mackillop, Setsuko
Friday 7 September11am Common Books, PrintRoom2pm Mörel Books, LCBA4pm Flat Time House, The Everyday Press
Saturday 8 September11am Behind the X, Keep it Complex2pm We are Publication, Oh4pm Copy Press, Chelsea Space
Sunday 9 September12pm OOMK, Independents United2pm Clare Gasson, Test Centre
LABF Programme 2018
Friday 7th September1.30pm Lecture Hall Sarah Lowndes: The DIY Movement in Art, Music and Publishing. Free. Book here.
2pm Common Room Feminist Print Network Peer Feedback Session. Free. Book here.
Saturday 8th September12.20pm Lecture Hall Open Platform Publisher Talks12.20pm – Laurence King: Ways of Being Advice for Artists by Artists by James Cahill1.00pm – Tara Books present two short films by Indian Film Maker Arun Wolf1.40pm – Faceless Artist Fanzine: Anders Nygaard on the Norwegian Art Scene2.20pm – Valiz: Astrid Vorstenmans on Commonism, A New Aesthetic of the Real3.00pm – Summer Forest X Ju Hee on crowdfunding3.40pm – Samuel Domínguez on the fanzine Paint Bucket4.20pm – Maggie Jennings reads from Studio Sink Poetry12.30pm Reading Room Bad Vibes Club Reading Group reading To Become Two by Alex Martinis Roe. Free. Book here.
2pm Common Room Copy Press Readers Union. Reading and Revelations 2. Free. Book here.
4pm Common Room Writer X: Collaborative Writing Workshop. Free. Book here.
12 – 4pm Playground Family Workshop with Sarah Carne. Free. Book here.
Sunday 9th September10am* Assembly Hall Publishers Breakfast10.30am* Assembly Hall Publishers Assembly on Book Fairs. Discussion with D.I.Y Cultures, Strange Perfume, Dublin Art Book Fair. Ju Hee Hong and Mark Pawson.*Before book fair opens. Email me if you want to come.
12.30pm Reading Room Evening Class Reading Group reading Commons and Community Economies by Brave New Alps (PDF attached). Free. Book here.
2pm Common Room Workshop. Equal Voices in the Room? Free. 2pm Lecture Hall Anders Kreuger, The Secret of Permanent Creation. Free. Book here.
MagCulture QuarterAs well as their pop-up shop, presenting over 50 titles, the magCulture team have curated a selection of 18 independent magazines. The magCulture Quarter encourages browsing for fresh discoveries and will include indie favourites Real Review, an architecture title asking what it means to live today, The Gourmand, a contemporary food and arts journal, and feminist culture magazineLadybeard.
LABF 2018 ExhibitorsA full list of publishers at this years fair is here.
