Mark Pawson -
Unboxing

Exhibition open:
8.6.13 – 30.6.13
Sat. – Sun. 12:00 – 18:00

Private view:
Wednesday June 5th 19:00 – 21:00

Talk by Eleanor Vonne Brown (X Marks the Bökship bookshop/project space, Cambridge Heath Rd.):
Sunday June 23rd 14:00

After being invited to loan material to two exhibitions in 2011 (the Stewart Home retrospective at White Columns, New York and the fanzine exhibition which was part of the Dazed Live Festival, London), and also writing an article in response to the question 'Why Distribute? Why Archive?' for the 2012 Bookworks publication 'Again, A Time Machine, from distribution to archive’, it felt as if the numerous cardboard boxes stashed under my bed, in the hall cupboard and kitchen cabinets had somehow changed status and been transformed from 'Stuff' into an 'Archive'. I thought that it was the right time to start sorting through some of these boxes, to see what was in there and to see what would happen as a result of this process. So after writing a note to myself saying 'Start cataloguing some of this stuff.', on the morning of February 5th 2013, I opened up an A4 paper box crammed full of mid to late 1990s fanzines and publications by artists, sat down in front of the computer and started cataloguing them…

Mark Pawson will be unpacking, cataloguing and displaying some of his extensive library of zines, mail art publications, small press magazines, leaflets, pamphlets and other hard-to-categorise print creations – a collection which accumulated over the past 30 years and has managed to survive intact after several changes of address. He will be working in the gallery each Sunday during the exhibition, adding material to the display and producing weekly catalogue sheets, which will be available at the gallery and online at www.xero-kilne-coma.com. Pawson is an artist, publisher, bookseller and lecturer. Since being at school he's made and distributed a constant stream of books, postcards, badges, multiples, T-shirts and other essential ephemera, some examples of which are in the collections of the Tate Gallery Library, London and MOMA Library, New York. He was an active and prolific participant in the international postal art network during the 1980s and early 1990s and has reviewed independent publications for Variant Magazine since 1998.

The artist will be in conversation with Eleanor Vonne Brown about the themes of the exhibition, archiving, cataloguing and dealing with a collection of zines, mail art publications, small press magazines, leaflets, pamphlets and other hard-to-categorise print creations. The talk will be followed by an open discussion.

Eleanor Vonne Brown set up and runs X Marks the Bökship, a bookshop and project space for independent publishers in London, UK. X Marks the Bökship specialises in small press publications by artists and designers. It promotes contemporary publishing activity through book launches, events and production resources that bring together individual practitioners to create a local publishing community. Projects include Publisher of the Month, Publisher’s Lunch, eShelf, the XARCHIVE and the XALPHABET; a print edition of 26 Xs by 26 artists. 
X Marks the Bökship has a shop in Cambridge Heath Road, around the corner from xero, kline & coma.

More information about Mark Pawson can be found on his website.

Read Stewart Home's blog post about the show here.