Fall 2017
Publishing Against the Grain is a new traveling exhibition that provides a space for reading, thinking, and conversing, where slowing down can become a form of intellectual resistance. It encourages discursive public participation, self-reflective investigation, and invites visitors to discover new perspectives while connecting differing and analogous spheres of contemporary art.
In the context of today’s corporatization and commodification of cultural institutions, and in many political situations where free speech becomes ever more precarious, independent publishing has shown extraordinary vitality and importance as a platform for disseminating alternative, progressive and autonomous positions.
Publishing Against the Grain highlights the current state of publishing and art criticism as it exists in small journals, experimental publications, websites, and radio, as well as other innovative forms. It is organized around projects that connect theoretical, social, political, and aesthetic questions with a focus on community, whether understood in relation to a particular place, or defined in identitarian or diasporic terms. Included in the exhibition are print journals like Makhzin (Lebanon) and Pisegrama (Brazil), alongside more experimental forms like the record label Aakuluk Music (Nunavut) or tranzit’s interactive Curatorial Dictionary (Hungary).
In bringing these projects together from around the world, Publishing Against the Grain reveals how their material and discursive activities respond to intersecting subjects such as contemporary aesthetics, diaspora, sex and gender, gentrification, race, language, and art history.
A selection of key publications was drawn from ICI’s international network of collaborators. These curators, artists, and scholars involved in independent publishing are represented in the exhibition through their own projects and those of others who have influenced their work and school of thought. The exhibition continues to grow and accumulate as it travels, when new publications are added at every site.
Key contributors to Publishing Against the Grain include:
Aakuluk Music (Nunavut) / Art Against Art (Germany) / Bisagra (Peru) / Chimurenga (The Chronic / The Pan African Space Station) (South Africa) / Curatorial Dictionary (Hungary) / East of Borneo (United States) / Exhausted Geographies (Pakistan) / Fillip (Canada) / Glänta (Sweden) / Makhzin (Lebanon) / Our Literal Speed (United States) / Pages (The Netherlands / Iran) / PISEAGRAMA (Brazil) / Raking Leaves (Sri Lanka) / SALT. (United Kingdom) / Start Journal (Uganda) / Stationary (Hong Kong) / The Trans-African (Pan-African) / Tráfico Visual (Venezuela) / White Fungus (Taiwan) / Witte de With Review (The Netherlands)
And more…
About Independent Curators International (ICI)
ICI produces exhibitions, events, publications, research and training opportunities for curators and diverse audiences around the world. Established in 1975 and headquartered in New York, ICI is a hub that connects emerging and established curators, artists, and art spaces in all 50 US states and 65 countries, forging international networks and generating new forms of collaborations.
Publishing Against the Grain is available through to December 2020. For more information or questions regarding bookings, visit ICI’s website or email becky [at] curatorsintl.org.
