Experimental publishing and archiving: Neural magazine and Temporary Libraries

Neural magazine has been published in the last 25 years, and it has incorporated since its birth experiments in graphic design, artists’ interventions and distribution tactics into its own scalable economy. A brief history of specific cases will show how technologies can be critically integrated into the printed page and how the involvement of artists can enlighten new strategies, bridging the traditional infrastructure of publishing with the infinite world of digital.

Archiving these practices is essential, too. Inspired by the historical experiments in ‘mobile libraries’ (or ‘bookmobiles’), there are two models of alternative models of libraries, we’ve been testing in the last few years. The first is the ‘distributed library’, integrating relevant small/private collections of specialised knowledge accumulated elsewhere, possibly at some point joining the traditional library system without structurally intervene in it. The second is the creation of a few ‘temporary libraries’ to fill specific knowledge needs during cultural events, becoming then permanent resources in referential libraries, when the event ends, but also potentially keeping a ‘mobile’ feature, combining preservation and mobility issues.

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Alessandro Ludovico is a researcher, artist and chief editor of Neural magazine since 1993. He received his PhD degree in English and Media from Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge (UK). He is Associate Professor at the Winchester School of Art, University of Southampton and Lecturer at Parsons Paris – The New School. He has published and edited several books, including the widely read Post-Digital Print: The Mutation of Publishing Since 1894, and has lectured worldwide. He also served as an advisor for the Documenta 12’s Magazine Project. He is is one of the authors of the award-winning Hacking Monopolism trilogy of artworks (Google Will Eat Itself, Amazon Noir, Face to Facebook). Currently Alessandro is part of the research group AMT (Archeologies of Media and Technology) at the Winchester School of Art.

Alessandro's lecture takes place within the frame of The Temporary Laboratory of Norwegian Media Art, an exhibition that accompanies the Temporary Library of Norwegian Media Art collection presented during the Metamorf Biennale for Art & Technology, March 8 - May 6, 2018. The Temporary Library of Norwegian Media Art collects the most comprehensive knowledge and documentation of media arts in Norway, in terms of history, artistic activities, artists, and the development of the field.

Financial support provided by ARTEC