August 27 introduction

September 3 Labor Day

September 10 materialities of publishing
Readings: “The Medium’s Two Bodies“, Transmitting Culture. Regis Debray. pp 1–8.
“Like Mushrooms” (Ben Morea and Emory Douglas), On the Ground. Sean Stewart ed.
Discussion: What is the “material act of transmitting” according to Debray, and how is it different from communication more broadly conceived? Briefly sketch an account of the design origins of Black Mask and The Black Panther as transmission narratives.
Assignment: Briefly research each of the case study publications, and pick the three you’d be most interested in researching further. Email me your three choices by Fri Sept 7.

September 17 print specifics
Readings: “A History of Alternative Publishing” from Post-Digital Print. Alessandro Ludovico.
“Dead medium: The Copy Press, the Hektograph, Edison’s Electric Pen, Zuccato’s Trypograph, Gestetner’s Cyclostyle, Dick-Edison Mimeograph, the Gammeter aka Multigraph, the Varityper, the IBM Selectric“. Darryl Rehr.
“Pro Domo Nostra“, Minima Moralia, Theodor Adorno.
“Socialism: A Life-Cycle“. Regis Debray. pp 5–12.
Discussion: Some general co-ordinates: In what ways does print uniquely make possible forms of socialist politics (Debray)? What are some aesthetic and social consequences of the medium-specific qualities of mimeograph, offset, and xerox (Ludovico)? If print is in a late or obsolescent stage, what new political uses might it thereby have nowadays; and what new aesthetic forms (Adorno)?

September 24 literary experiments, art spaces
Visit to Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection
Readings: “The Magazine as an Alternative Space“, Artists’ Magazines: An Alternative Space for Art, Gwen Allen.
“Pre-Face“, A Secret Place on the Lower East Side. Jerome Rothenberg
“The Plain Edition: Gertude Stein and Modernist Book History“. Sarah Stone.

October 1 scene report: London
Readings: “Anarchy and the 1960s“. Autonomy, Richard Hollis.
“London“, Clip Stamp Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines. Beatriz Colomina, Craig Buckley (eds.). pp 20-36. This book is available in the reading room of the SoA office.
First research bibliographies due

October 8 DIY ethics and the figure of the amateur
Marc Fischer visits
Readings: “Amateurs Rush In“, Paper Knowledge. Lisa Gitelman.
“Toward an Insurrection of the Published? Ten Thoughts on Ticks & Comrades“. Stevphen Shukaitis.

October 15 scene report: New York
Readings: selections from On The Ground. Sean Stewart.
“Introduction“, Queer Zines, AA Bronson.
Xerography, Art, and Activism in the Late 20th Century. Kate Eichhorn, pp 82-95 (more if you like).

October 22
Hannah Higgins visits

October 29
Research Presentations 1

November 5
Research Presentations 2

November 12 punk and what follows
Work day
Project proposal draft due

November 19 publics and counter-publics: constitutive circularities
Readings: “Publics and Counterpublics“. Michael Warner. pp 49-55, 82–89.
Work in-progress presentations

November 26
Work day

December 3 theorizing a communist media form
Readings: Communist objects and small press pamphlets. from Anti-Book. Nicholas Thoburn. pp 61-85 (and more if you like).