Independent Curators International (ICI): Publishing Against the Grain

Organized by the Independent Curators International (ICI), Publishing Against the Grain 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 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.

Publishing Against the Grain is an exhibition organized and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), New York, and initiated by Alaina Claire Feldman and Becky Nahom, with Sanna Almajedi. The exhibition was made possible with the generous support from The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, ICI’s Board of Trustees and International Forum. 

Key contributors to Publishing Against the Grain include:
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)
Tráfico Visual (Venezuela)
White Fungus (Taiwan)
X-TRA Contemporary Art Quarterly (United States)
Antena Aire (United States)
LibroMobile (Unites States)
Mochi-la (Mexico and United States)
BOOKSHELVES (United States)
 

Related Events: 

Opening Reception and X-TRA Forum #5: One Text Two Minutes

Saturday, February 2, 2019 from 2:00-4:00 pm at Nichols Gallery 

with Cathy Akers, Stacey Allan, Brent Armendinger, Leslie Dick, Micol Hebron, Nick Herman, Christopher James, Olga Koumoundouros, Jeff Khonsary, Thomas Lawson, Hailey Loman, Ming-Yuen S. Ma, Rachel Mayeri, Susan Silton, Aziz Sohail, and Carlin Wing

Join us for this program of 2-minute readings by sixteen artists who will share an article chosen from the exhibition. Participants might read directly from the journal or share an anecdote. Presentations are likely to be somewhat spontaneous, un-rehearsed and conversational. Publishing Against the Grain includes X-TRA’s complete archive.
 

Image Caption

Installation view of Independent Curators International (ICI): Publishing Against the Grain at Pitzer College Art Galleries, February 2 – March 28, 2019. Photograph courtesy of Ruben Diaz.