Collective Publishing Practices

Three Collaborative Experimental Publishing Projects:::
Liquid Memories, Road Less Travelled Press and Photobook Popup

In May 2022, mobile strategies (of display & mediation, aka msdm) - incubated and hosted a one-day event at the Borough Road Gallery, intersecting three experimental publishing projects: Liquid Memories, Road Less Travelled Press Vol. 0/1, and Photobook Popup, each of whom represent distinctive modes of collective publishing.

Liquid Memories ~ To Read With Water, developed with 23 co-authors through a commission and residency (January - March 2021), was presented at the Borough Road Gallery. The installation displayed the loose sections in a live editorial lab installation, with visitors invited to create their own Liquid Memories from the 55 unbound pamphlets, posters, cards, and photographs - and compile their personalized photobook, an individual constellation of printed matter from the exhibition installation. Each reader took from 40 minutes to 2 hours to complete the process, which included creating the clear enclosure, printing it with a unique monotype of acrylic gold, folding and cutting specific sections, registering the edition number, and signing their own "original copy".

Road Less Travelled Vol. 0 / 1, developed with 23 co-authors (no connection), started as an invitation to friends to make a publication which became an invitation and catalyst for future volumes and other publications, each one expanding on ideas of the Road Less Travelled: how to invite others to share their experiences of kindness, care, protest and direct action in public space; and how can we make and circulate a publication together? During 2021, contributions developed through email exchanges, conversations, and a shared Google document. Designer Rose Nordin shared ideas and worked on the publication layout. Riso pages were printed by Jordan Taylor/Pagemasters.

The launch at the Borough Road Gallery kicked off with a reading group, 'Moving at the Speed of Trust': a collective reading of 'Toolkit for Cooperative, Collective & Collaborative Cultural Work' by Press Press & The Institute for Expanded Research and sharing ideas and experiences on collaboration, process, and trust. This was followed by a participatory book binding workshop, in which participants were invited to collate and bind copies for themselves, friends, and others, and share their ideas on dissemination and circulation for this and future volumes.

Photobook Popup is a project space dedicated to the presentation of experimental photobookworks created during the module "Self-Publishing and the Photobook," part of Photography at the School of Arts and Creative Industries. May 2022 marks the fifth iteration of the popup.

Liquid memories ~ to read with water DIY book launch