Printing Plant: Saturday -Public Programme
23 November 2019

Printing Plant 2019 is accompanied by an exciting public programme. This year’s programme includes a varied line-up of talks, lectures and workshops, thematically divided into two general categories: Politics of Publishing and (Dis)appearance. The first theme touches on the symbolic importance of publishing, as a practice and as an industry, due to its role in the legitimization of cultural creation, standardization of discourse and as a platform for self-expression. The second relates to the concepts of creation and erasure in an increasingly globalized, industrialized and digitized world. We look forward to opening up the world of art-book publishing to the general public whilst affording industry professionals the opportunity to encounter fresh perspectives.

On Saturday November 23 there are several exciting events happening at Looiersgracht 60, see the schedule below.

*Please note there are limited places available for each event. To make a reservation please email us at info@looiersgracht60.org. Tickets are 4,50€ each and are available on our website and at the door prior to the event.

Special Event Amsterdam Art Weekend
‘Press, Publish, Action’
Premiere screening and panel discussion
12:30 – 13:30, auditorium (theme 1)
The Dutch progressive publishing house, The Future Publishing, will premiere the video installation ‘Press, Publish, Action’, which expands on the development and importance of art publishing in Amsterdam. The installation uses conversations with a multitude of experts from professors and buyers to artists and publishers to sketch the contours of how Amsterdam has been shaped by the books industry and trace the reasons for the revival of the medium in recent years.

A panel discussion will accompany the screening of ‘Press, Publish, Action’. Several participants from the installation will join members of the creative and cultural field to exchange thoughts, and debate the various implications, possibilities, and dangers of independent publishing today.

Speakers: Marc Robbemond (Buyer at Athenaeum Boekhandel en Nieuwscentrum), Prof.dr. Emilia Sitzia (Fiep Westendorp Foundation Special Chair Professor of Illustration at University of Amsterdam), Yamandu Roos (Photographer, Artist), Wei Guan (co-founder Banafish Books & Unfold Shanghai Art Book Fair), and Klara van Duijkeren and Vincent Schipper (The Future Publishing).

Tickets available here.

‘Publishing in Architecture: Politics in Publishing’
Panel discussion
14:00 – 15:00, auditorium (theme 1)
‘Publishing in Architecture’ is a series of symposia and a curated online archive focusing on the relationship between publishing and architecture. The fifth volume of ‘Publishing in Architecture’, will focus on the politics of publishing. From the Epic of Gilgamesh to the IKEA catalogue, every act of publishing is rooted in a will to convey a specific message in order to consequently promote a certain behaviour. Publishing is thus an intrinsically political act. This volume engages in a discussion with a group of publishers about their intentions and perception of their publications in the discipline of architecture.

Speakers: Marcel Witvoet (architecture publisher for nai010), Pia Pol (editor for Valiz contemporary art book publisher), Justinien Tribillon and Christoph Miler (editor and designer, respectively of Migrant Journal).

Moderator : Francisco Moura Veiga (Founder and Curator at ‘Publishing in Architecture’)

Tickets available here.

Witte de With presents ‘Hans van Dijk: A Life with Art in China’
A conversation with Marianne Brouwer and Prof.dr.Kitty Zijlmans
14:30 – 15:00, room for books
Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art (Rotterdam) presents a talk on the publication, Hans van Dijk: A Life with Art in China. Van Dijk was both a witness and a catalyst in the development of contemporary art in mainland China, where he lived and worked as a curator, art historian and gallerist from 1986 until his death in 2002. Marianne Brouwer is the author of this publication as well as the curator of two exhibitions by Witte de With and UCCA (Beijing) in 2014 about the legacy of van Dijk. She will be discussing the complex history of Chinese contemporary art together with Kitty Zijlmans, a renowned professor specializing in contemporary art history at Leiden University.

Tickets available here.

‘The Politics of Design Publishing: Alternative narratives from the Arab world’
A lecture by Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès
15:15 – 16:15, auditorium (theme 1)
The publisher and editor, Dr. Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès, will be presenting some of her latest work and delivering a talk addressing the importance of documenting an alternative design history from parts of the world that are rarely covered in main-stream design publications. Specialized in bilingual typographic research and design, Dr. AbiFarès works as an editor of the Khatt Foundation as well as a curator of exhibitions and collaborative design research projects between Europe and the Middle East.

This series of concise monographs, ‘The Arabic Design Library’, published by Khatt Books, focuses on inspiring design achievements from the Middle East and North Africa and highlights the work of some of the Arab world's design pioneers from the 1960s to the 1980s and who engaged with design as a tool for political emancipation and socio-cultural progress. Seven titles have been published so far including designers from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.

Tickets available here.

The Influence of Independent Magazine Publishing
A conversation between Zeit Magazin and MacGuffin
16.30 – 17.30, auditorium (theme 1)

Christoph Amend, the editor in chief of ZEIT Magazin, together with editors-in-chief Kirsten Algera and Ernst van der Hoeven, from MacGuffin, will discuss magazine making, independent publishing and the influence of independent magazines on the media landscape.

ZEIT Magazin is a weekly magazine which supplements the Hamburgian newspaper, Die Zeit. It additionally publishes a biannual English edition featuring a selection of the best stories from the weekly publication. The award-winning independent magazine MacGuffin, builds each issue around a single object. It is a platform for fans of inspiring, personal, unexpected, highly familiar or utterly disregarded things.

Tickets available here.

Atelier Triay presents ‘Visions: Publishing from the Ground Up’
A talk by Mathieu Triay
17:00 – 17:30, room for books (theme 1)
Mathieu Triay, a tinkerer, creative technologist and member of the BBC Research and Development team, will walk the audience through the making of Visions, a science fiction magazine that aims to change the perception of the genre and bring it to a wider audience. Triay will address his role as the founder, designer, editor and publisher as well as the process he underwent to finance the independent publication process through the sale of a font designed for its branding. “I’ve worn all the hats, sometimes at once, and I’d love to share all the things I’ve learnt working on this magazine.”

Tickets available here.

'Realistic Distance: Rules and Reactions'
A conversation with Georgina Johnson, Cairo Clarke, Sumitra Upham
17:45 – 18:45, auditorium (theme 1)
In this discussion, panelists will attempt to unpack the shapeshifting nature of the guarded practice of publishing through transparent, candid conversation. The event brings together a variety of perspectives and experiences of creatives working in established institutions as well as independently. The conversation will center on the contemporary phenomenon of the democratization of publishing––codes and constructs are often necessary, but are being re-written in response to the critical issues of our time. This discussion will expand upon the institution’s role in publishing as well as the power and limitations of self, small and independent publishing.

Panelists: Sumitra Upham (Senior Curator of Programmes at The Design Museum, London), Georgina Johnson AKA Saint Lov'ie (artist, curator and founder of The Laundry- creative platform and studio), and Cairo Clarke (an independent curator and the director of SITE, an initiative supporting artists and socio-political initiatives to circulate through cultural practices).

Tickets available here.

‘Publishing as an Urban Platform’
A lecture by Ania Molenda
19:00 – 20:00, auditorium (theme 1)
The Site Collective will deliver a short lecture on publishing as an urban platform, discussing the evolution of printing technology as a pivotal technology developed during the industrial revolution that drove urbanization. Today, we are seeing that the medium is growing, incorporating and leveraging post-internet technologies. In the fields of architecture and urbanism, publishing is playing an increasingly important role in the struggle against privatization, depoliticization and commercialization. The Site Collective will discuss the difficulty of maintaining critical discourse when audiences expect increasingly fast and concise messages. How can we use a publication to provide a platform for a variety of voices, rather than merely the editorial voice?

The lecture will be delivered by Ania Molenda, an architect, researcher and curator based in Rotterdam currently working as editor of The Site Magazine. Molenda is interested in an interdisciplinary approach to architecture and urban planning to create novel perspectives.

Tickets available here.