In the Fall of 2023, Bennington students from all years and other invited guests are invited to participate in a special ARCHIVE AND ACCESS workshop cohort, in conjunction with the ongoing “PUBLICATION and PUBLIC ACTION” and “YEAR ONE: SEED LAB” public projects, running in Crossett Library, CAPA, and in other pop-up campus and local spaces from 2023-25.
“ARCHIVE and ACCESS” is at its core a project about the power of printed materials and other shared tools; in which workshop participants explore the history and contemporary landscape of DIY and community publication making and distribution, as well as public tool building and peer-to-peer education models.
Workshop participants will be trained in a range of book and publication making strategies and technologies, from zines and handmade intermedia objects, to the use and implementation of binding machines, as well as trained in the creation of a fully operational, professionally bound and distributed imprint or self-publishing project using Print on Demand (POD) platform models. We will also study the use of open resources in radical movements and solidarity spaces, and develop our own collective tool and/or strategy publications for public use, to be added upon completion to the PUBLICATION AS PUBLIC ACTION Crossett Collection.
This nonhierarchical space is based in the open source methodologies developed by Elæ Moss for and through The Operating System and Liminal Lab since 2013, resulting in the publication of over 150 books, published with Creative Commons Licensing – many of which make up the holdings currently in Crossett. Students who are interested can be trained in InDesign; all will come away with the capability of laying out and designing books and other publications using a combination of analog and digital methods.
Students may join with a project already in progress, ready for design, and/or can develop a project as the semester progresses. Multiple exercise-based projects per student will be made throughout the semester, in addition to the completion of a final printed project using the materials / methods of the student’s choosing.
Join us to make your own public materials and become a part of this important and empowering lineage!
Learning Outcomes:
- Individual training in book and publication design, independent publishing practices, strategies, and methodologies, including InDesign
- Familiarity with both the history and contemporary landscape of radical and DIY publication as well as its relationship to resistance movements, mutual aid resource and strategy building
- Collective practice in non-hierarchical space and system operation and community agreement building
- Collective practice around research, publication and public resource development across disciplines as a solidarity strategy for changemaking within and beyond institutions.
- Training in and familiarity with the planning and design of public-facing interventions and actions
Delivery Method: Hybrid
Course Level: 2000-level
Credits: 4
F 2:10PM - 5:50PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 15
Course Frequency: One time only
Categories: 2000 , All courses , CAPA , Four Credit , Hybrid
Tags: archives , books , CAPA , collaborative , creative , curating , design , DIY design , interactive , lab , libraries , media , mutual aid , projects , public action , public art , publication