msdm Publications at
the Library of Artistic Print on Demand:
German National Library, Leipzig (Nov. 2023 - Feb. 2024)
Museum VILLA STUCK, Munich (May - Sept. 2024)
Digital archive: https://www.apod.li/
Included:
TITLE: Photobook Is
Did You Mean Photo Book Is
AUTHOR: paula roush
See photobook [here]
TITLE: Tested vaio road test
AUTHORS: paula roush + teresa paiva+ maria lusitano
See photobook [here]
TITLE: The Photobook Project at lulu,com
Brief Led Project AME-3-BLP
AUTHOR: paula roush
See course pamphlet [here]
TITLE: Photographic Cultures AME-2-PHC FALL 08
harnessing the power of self-publishing technologies for the creation and distribution of photobooks
AUTHOR: paula roush
See course pamphlet [here]
TITLE:Publishing with friends: exploring social networks to support photo publishing practices.
AUTHORS: paula roush and ruth brown
In Educational social software for context-aware learning: collaborative methods and human interaction. Eds Niki Lambropoulos and Margarida Romero. Hershey, PA: IGI Global. 2009
See text here [ pdf ]
msdm research in photobook publishing is part of the Library of Artistic Print On Demand platform, exhibitions and forthcoming book, Library of Artistic Print On Demand: Post-Digital Publishing in Times of Platform Capitalism. This book explores automated print-on-demand as a critical media practice with historical and cultural significance. Set for release in 2024, published by Andreas Bülhoff and Annette Gilbert from the Free University of Berlin, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, and the Bavarian State Library in collaboration with Spector Books
Print on demand has revolutionized the world of books. Since the beginning of the millennium, there has been a convergence of ever better and cheaper digital printing processes and expanded possibilities offered by the global online trade. This has resulted in a production method in which books are no longer reproduced in stock. Instead, they are only printed when there is a specific need, in other words: “on demand.”
Digital platforms like Kindle Direct Publishing, Blurb, and Lulu currently dominate the ondemand production of books in the self-publishing segment. In principle, this makes it possible for anyone to publish their work immediately across the globe without having to rely on a publisher and without the need for any financial investment or risk. Just a few clicks are needed to create the books and enter them into the global book trade. This opens up space beyond the classical book market and helps democratize production.
But while print on demand overturns old value attributions and bypasses gatekeepers, it at the same time creates new dependencies on digital platforms and their specifications and interests. People also lament the loss of content quality when anyone can print anything. Moreover, digital printing and binding are often not of a high quality and the error rate in fully automated production is quite significant. On the other hand, print-on-demand platforms enable participation and experimentation and open books up to new fields of application and areas of thought.
This dynamic has given rise to an entire subculture in artistic publishing that freshly explores the medium of the book in search of possible content, aesthetics, materiality, economies, and publics, while at the same time negotiating and critically reflecting on our digital present.
The books show how these innovative methods of production and publication can be harnessed creatively, used exploratively, and made subject to nuanced reflection. They also demonstrate the undiminished appeal and relevance of the printed book.
With more 244 items, the “Library of Artistic Print on Demand” maps this experimental field for the first time, exploring its global spread, historical depth, and political relevance. All publications are documented extensively in a web archive. Since 2024, they are also being preserved in physical form at the Bavarian State Library (Collection of Artists’ Books). A detailed catalogue including essays by key practitioners and thinkers in the field will be published by Spector Books.
The “Library of Artistic Print on Demand” is based on a research project conducted by Annette Gilbert and Andreas Bülhoff at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (2019–2022) and funded by the German Research Foundation. Annette Gilbert has curated the selection of the more than 110 books assembled and made accessible here. Each copy comes with a note describing the respective project in German and English.
The Ugly Duckling of Publishing?
Books on Demand
the Library of Artistic Print on Demand
at the German National Library, Leipzig
(Nov. 2023 - Feb. 2024)
Exhibition zine download
[+ click & reload]
The Ugly Duckling of Publishing? Books on Demand
Print on demand has revolutionized book culture. Since the turn of the millennium, ever better and cheaper digital printing processes have joined hands with the possibilities for global trade created by the World Wide Web. This has led to production methods that no longer entail printing a stock of each title. Instead, books are first printed in response to concrete requirements: "on demand“.
Digital platforms have quickly been set up that enable everyone to produce books on demand. This has not only had an impact on the book industry, it has even influenced the content and aesthetics of books. They can now be made and fed into the global book trade with a couple of clicks. While some criticise this as leading to a drop in quality, it fosters on the other hand participation and experimentation. Print on demand also opens up new ways of thinking about and utilising books. Which means that while cherished values are cast aside, at the same time new dependencies arise.
The works in this exhibition show how these new means of production and publication can be used creatively, while opening themselves for further exploration and critical appraisal. They vouch moreover for the unbroken aura and relevance of the printed medium. These and further examples can be found in the digital archive of the "Library of Artistic Print on Demand“ funded by the German Research Foundation (online at: apod.li), which has provided the basis of the exhibition.
ABOUT
Library of Artistic Print on Demand:
Collection and Research
https://www.msdm.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Booklet_Ugly-Duckling_Apod_Leipzig.pdf
Print-on-demand has revolutionized the world of books. As analogue-digital hybrids, PoD books epitomize the post-digital age. Digital printing and low-threshold online platforms like Blurb, Lulu, and Kindle Direct Publishing in principle allow anyone to publish work immediately across the globe without the need for any financial investment or risk. This opens up space beyond the classical book market and helps democratize production. At the same time, the new scope this offers is contingent at a fundamental level on the specifications and interests of the platforms. This dynamic has given rise to an entire subculture that is once again probing the medium of the book in search of possible content, aesthetics, materiality, economies, and publics, while at the same time critically reflecting on and negotiating our digital present.
With 244 items, the Library of Artistic Print-on-Demand maps this experimental field for the first time, exploring its global spread, historical depth, and political relevance. All publications are documented extensively in a web archive, accessible via www.apod.li. They are also preserved in physical form by the Bavarian State Library. A detailed catalog including essays by key practitioners and thinkers of the field will be published by Spector Books in 2024.
The official handover of the collection to the Bavarian State Library took place in November 2023. This will also mark the end of the research project, which was carried out between 2019 and 2022 at Friedrich Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg and was funded by the German Research Foundation. The Library of Artistic Print-on-Demand was led by Andreas Bülhoff (hi@abue.io) and Annette Gilbert (annette.gilbert@fau.de).
contact
paula roush ::: paularoush@gmail.com
msdm studio ::: msdm@msdm.org.uk