Program
The 2020 program featured guests, producers and thinkers that were involved with artist´s books from Tromsø, Norway and beyond, curated by Mondo Books and presented through a variety of platforms, in person and digitally live-streamed during the book fair.
Book Fair Launch
More info to be announced soon
Feminism — What´s in a Word?
Delphine Bedel (FRA / NLD) in conversation with Tine Semb (NOR)
Delphine Bedel will present her research on the emergence of the term “feminism” and its historical relation to publishing, in the 19th century heteropatriarchal and colonial society. From the invention of the Gutenberg press in 1450 to 1881, the law forbade women in France to access the profession of printer, publisher, or typographer–with a few exceptions. How did women’s emancipation movements arise worldwide in this context? Reclaiming the legacies of feminist publishing is an urgent and collective process. Tine Semb is founder and organizer of Karmaklubb* — a nomadic queer oriented club concept, discursive platform, publisher and research hub in Oslo, Norway.
Russian Samizdat — Forward, backward and beyond
A lecture by Anastasia Patsey (RUS). Samizdat (from the Russian "самиздат" – self publishing) is one of the most interesting phenomenons in the history of independent culture in the USSR. It appeared as a reaction to the reform of the publishing system in the 1930s and played an essential role in preserving and distribution censored texts for over 50 years. The talk will guide the audience through the history of samizdat in Russia and introduce interesting techniques and examples from this field. Special attention will be given to the heritage of the "transfurists' — a dissident art group whose work opened a whole new dimension in the samizdat practice.
Slow Scrape
A reading by Tanya Lukin Linklater (CAN). Tanya Lukin Linklater´s performances, videos, installations, and writings work through orality and embodiment – investigating histories of Indigenous peoples’ lives, lands, and structures of sustenance. Slow Scrape is, in the words of Layli Long Soldier, “an expansive and undulating meditation on time, relations, origin and colonization.” Slow Scrape is Tanya´s first collection of poetry.
Dreamacademy — Self-organizing in the North
Artists Camilla Fagerli and Henrik Sørlid, in conversation with curator of the North Norwegian Art Center Karolin Tampere about the soon to be released anthology ‘Dream Academy’. The book explores the politics of art education in Northern Norway through looking at the way in which the Tromsø Academy of Contemporary Art was created and developed from 2007, after over 30 years of political struggle for art education in the region. Furthermore, the book pursues various historical, political and artistic issues in a wider context resonating with this specific event.
‘Dream Academy’ is an anthology with 40+ contributors produced by artist-run space Kurant (Tromsø) and published by Archive Books (Berlin).
Artist Talk by Inuuteq Storch
Inuuteq Storch (GRL) lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark and Sisimiut, Greenland. Most of his photographic work involves studies of his own nationality and cultural roots, through artist books and photographic installations. Storch studied photography at Fatamorgana – The Danish School of Art Photography in Copenhagen and at the International Center of Photography in New York, and he has an upcoming residency (through Mondo) in the Nordic-Baltic AiR 2021.
Juolgevuođđu
A reading by Niilas Holmberg (FIN). Niillas Holmberg is a Sámi poet, musician and scriptwriter. He has published six books of poetry and has been translated into more than ten languages. For many years he has been involved in several movements against extractivism and other discriminations of Sámi culture in the traditional Sámi areas. Juolgevuođđu is his latest book.
Hydrobodies
Astrida Neimanis is a philosopher and author of Bodies of Water: Posthuman Feminist Phenomenology, and known for developing the concept of hydrofeminism. So Tired, the Sea … is an audio-visual essay where Neimanis puts forward a rich and timely vein of discussion that considers the exhaustion of bodies of water, the pace of life within the contemporary moment, and the universal need for rest. It was commissioned by LIAF – Lofoten International Art Festival in 2019. This audio-visual lecture will be screened with an introduction by one of the editors of The Kelp Congress, Hilde Methi. The Kelp Congress book was published by NNKS Press in 2020.
Nordic Distribution
A panel discussion by Nicolas Siepen and Tanya Busse (Mondo Books, NOR) Iben H. Philipsen (Rebel With A Cause, DEN) and Inhabit Media (Iqaluit, CAN)
The Internet and the PC individualizes production of printed matter and enables online distribution in real time. What does this mean for small scale art book-printing? Could it it be possible to use peer to peer technologies to distribute physical books?
Satellite program
Soon to come: satellite events from our arctic partners.
