24 Sep 2014

Publication Studio Sets up Shop at the Williams College Museum of Art

Publication Studio is an on-demand press that prints, binds, and publishes original work of all kinds. WCMA's Rotunda, the site of the college's original library, becomes its latest hub. From September 25 through December 19, 2014, Publication Studio will be a platform for public and curricular use, bringing us together to make books and exchange ideas about the ever-changing notion of the book. It functions as an exhibition, an on-going program, and a site for social interaction.

Founded in Portland, Oregon in 2009, Publication Studio has worked and collaborated with innumerable artists, writers, and institutions to publish original work and create a new kind of space for the conversations, experimentation, and production of books. The on-demand press uses ubiquitous materials and modest machines to allow for broad and inexpensive publication. All that is necessary to make a Publication Studio book (besides human labor and thoughtfulness) is a photocopier, scoring machine, perfect-bind machine, guillotine cutter, office paper, manila folders in different stocks and colors, and stamps.

Patricia No and Antonia Pinter of Publication Studio Portland are the Publishers in Residence at the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) from September 25 through October 2, 2014. Patricia No, one of the co-founders of Publication Studio, is a writer and editor. Antonia Pinter is an artist who started out as No's intern and built a friendship and working relationship with her. Pinter has since become a co-owner and together, they have grown an experimental project into a thriving business that challenges traditional approaches to publishing. They sell books at over 60 bookstores worldwide, have 11 international locations, and have conducted artist residences around the world.

At WCMA, Publication Studio will serve as a resource for curricular and collegiate engagement. Faculty across disciplines will engage students in a range of book making projects. In conjunction with the English Department, poets Claudia Rankine and Craig Dworkin will visit to engage with the museum space, collection, visitors, and Williams students and faculty. Each of their projects will culminate in the production of a site-specific book and a public reading.

'Publication Studio is an innovative and exciting new way for the museum to collaborate with faculty, artists, and the public. It blurs the lines between what we've traditionally understood to be an exhibition, a program, and an artist's residency. And it makes transparent and accessible a process—publishing books—that is usually out of reach and sight of the public,' said Christina Olsen, Class of 1956 Director of WCMA.

Related Programming

Publishers in Residence
September 25–Oct 2, 2014
Patricia No and Antonia Pinter of Publication Studio Portland take up residence in the WCMA rotunda. Drop by to catch Patricia and Antonia trimming books, talking shop with classes, or giving pointers on how to achieve the perfect bind.

Opening Celebration and Roundtable Chat
Thursday, Sept 25, 4 pm
Have a glass of wine and talk with Publishers in Residence, Patricia No and Antonia Pinter about a new model of publication.

Pop-up Publication Studio Bookshop
Thursday, Oct 2, 10 am–2 pm
Peruse the books in WCMA's reading room. You just might find a new favorite. You can purchase a publication and have it bound while you wait. From the poems in Lessons From A Lonely Italian by Sydney S. Kim to the time based statistics in Every Second One Hundred Bolts of Lightning Strike the Earth by James Hoff, you're sure to find something that strikes your fancy. Go to www.publicationstudio.biz/books/ to view the extensive list of Publication Studio titles.

WCMA at Night: PS, I Love you
Thursday, Oct 2, 5–8 pm
We'll wrap up the residency with a bookish bash. Draft a love note and publish it in an epistolary novel experiment.

Rebind Workshops
Saturday, Sept 27 and Nov 8 drop in anytime from 1-4pm
Bring a well-loved or family favorite paperback in need of a makeover, or take one from our own softcover stash. We'll have everything you need to give it a second lease on life. Redesign the cover, rebind, reread.

Platform for Poets
WCMA and the English Department turn Publication Studio over to prominent poets who will direct writing projects, make original publications, and share their work.

Claudia Rankine
'Race in the Life of the Mind'

Project:
For the past several years, Claudia Rankine '86 has curated a national conversation about what she calls the Racial Imaginary, opening a communal inquiry into the ways race is created and experienced. At WCMA, she'll curate a selection of artworks to prompt written and creative responses from students and visitors alike. See Claudia's selection of artworks in our newly installed Reading Room and contribute your own reflections.

Publication:
Drawing from public and student contributions, Rankine will produce a multi-authored publication that surfaces traces of the Racial Imaginary.

Reading:
Thursday, Oct 30, 7 pm
Rankine reads from her new work, Citizen: An American Lyric and shares a selection of public contributions.

Craig Dworkin
An Attempt at Exhausting WCMA: A Sociological and Architectural Experiment

Project:
In October 1974, Georges Perec sat in the window of a Paris cafe, and chronicled everything that crossed his field of vision over three days. In An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris, he captured the 'infraordinary'—'what happens,' as he put it, 'when nothing happens.' Under Craig Dworkin's direction, Williams students will attempt to exhaustively collect, catalogue, and analyze language found within WCMA's walls, opening our minds to the oft-unnoticed language around us.

Publication:
Dworkin will turn student documentation into an original work that's part poem, part sociological survey, and part architectural analysis.

Reading:
Thursday, Nov 13, 7 pm
Dworkin reads from his work and shares insights into the 'infraordinary.'