.
The Book Affair / Automatic Books
Last Thursday and Friday Metricubi played host to The Book Affair. Tucked into a cozy corner of Campo San Polo under ruby red Elena Xausa-designed banners, the event curated by Automatic Books brought together an excellent cross-section of independent publishers working across Europe today.
And although the polizia showed up at one point (down, rowdy book nerds!), the event was a smashing success. There were a series of readings by the various publishing houses, and the entire event was set up to encourage conversation. Much like picking fresh fruit from an orchard, talking to the people who make the books you’re about to read is a revelation not to be missed.
Highlights included the intriguing works by France’s Incertain Sens (including one of its entirely handwritten notebook volumes), a large selection of works from Britain’s Bookworks, the Recession boxed set by Studio Blanco, and some seriously deep literature pondering existence, banality, politics, everything… We were happy to see a printed version of San Rocco, having admired their website and the concept behind their zine for quite some time, and were exposed to a host of stellar works from foreign publishes we hadn’t known before. And we were happy to see works in the flesh by 0_100, Secret Furry Hole, Kaleidescope Press, The Milan Review, and Wonder Room alumni Studio Temp.
As top-down publishing increasingly gives way to electronic, hybrid and user-generated formats, the creativity these independent houses bring to books is a promising look towards the future. While run-of-the-mill, straightforward books might one day cease to be printed on paper, the book itself has exciting new life ahead of it: originality, distinction, rarity. Not only are these publishers not abandoning the printed, physical book, they are carrying it forward in its most fertile conceptual space – they are creating new, original paradigms and designs for end users who will continue to appreciate books as treasures.
The Book Affair’s first outing was a fantastic start, and we hope it flourishes with time. Until the next outing!
Tag Christof
