For the London Art Book Fair 2018, founder of bookshop and art space X Marks the Bökship Eleanor Vonne Brown has collaborated with the Gallery to curate a series of events reimagining Whitechapel Gallery as the X Publishing School. Divided across five spaces, a lecture hall, a common room, assembly hall, library and a playground, the School takes Robert Filliou’s Teaching and Learning as Performing Arts, Koenig,1970, (Reprinted, Occasional Papers, 2014) as its curriculum.
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.’
Enrol in collaborative workshops, publisher led seminars, performances and family friendly activities and embrace the fair as an opportunity for community-making, networking and sharing ideas.
All events are free to attend; some must be booked in advance.
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
Experience the London Art Book Fair 2018 as a family and join artist Sarah Carne to explore 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 time-slots throughout the duration of the book fair. Publishers include: Publication Studio, AND, Sara Mackillop, Setsuko, Common Books, PrintRoom, Behind the X, The Everyday Press, Flat Time House, Copy Press, Chelsea Space, London Centre for Book Arts, Archive Books, Oh!, We are Publication, OOMK, Independents United, Clare Gasson and more.
Reading List
A reading list to support the X Publishing School curriculum is available as a printed handout. The books in the reading list are available to buy from Koenig Books and from individual publishers throughout the book fair. A book display has been selected by Franz Koenig on rare material from the curator Seth Siegelaub.
Friday
1.30pm – 3pm Lecture: Sarah Lowndes
The DIY Movement in Art, Music and Publishing: Subjugated Knowledges (book now)
2pm – 4pm Shared Ideas: Feminist Print Network
Peer-Feedback Session (book now)
Saturday
11am – 4pm Family Day (book now)
12.20pm – 5pm Open Platform: Publisher Talks (no booking required)
12.30pm – 2pm Reading Group: The Bad Vibes Club
To Become Two by Alex Martinis Roe (book now)
2pm – 4pm Shared Ideas: Copy Press Reader’s Union
Reading and Revelation 2 with Cecile Malaspina (book now)
4pm – 6pm Workshop: Writer X
With Eva Weinmayr and Eleanor Vonne Brown (book now)
Sunday
11am – 4pm Family Day (book now)
11am – 12pm Publishers Assembly: Book Fairs (no booking required]
12.30pm – 2pm Reading Group: Evening Class
On Ecologies and Economies (book now)
2pm – 3.30pm Lecture: Anders Kreuger The Secret of Permanent Creation (book now)
2 – 3.30pm Workshop: Equal Voices in the Room (book now)
