August 26 introduction
August 28 show and tell

September 2 materialities of publishing
Readings: “The Medium’s Two Bodies“, Transmitting Culture. Regis Debray. pp 1–8.
“Like Mushrooms” (everyone read the Ben Morea and Emory Douglas parts, and then choose a couple more interesting ones to discuss in class, in relation to the Debray text ), On the Ground. Sean Stewart ed.
Discussion: What is the “material act of transmitting” according to Debray, and how is it different from communication more broadly conceived? Sketch an account of the design origins of Black Mask and The Black Panther as transmission narratives.
Assignment: Briefly research each of the case study publications, and pick the three you’d be most interested in researching further. Email me your three choices by Thurs Sept 4.
September 4
workday

September 9 print specifics
Readings: “A History of Alternative Publishing” from Post-Digital Print. Alessandro Ludovico.
“Dead medium: The Copy Press, the Hektograph, Edison’s Electric Pen, Zuccato’s Trypograph, Gestetner’s Cyclostyle, Dick-Edison Mimeograph, the Gammeter aka Multigraph, the Varityper, the IBM Selectric“. Darryl Rehr.
“Pro Domo Nostra“, Minima Moralia, Theodor Adorno.
“Socialism: A Life-Cycle“. Regis Debray. pp 5–12.
Discussion: Some general co-ordinates: In what ways does print uniquely make possible forms of socialist politics (Debray)? What are some aesthetic and social consequences of the medium-specific qualities of mimeograph, offset, and xerox (Ludovico)? If print is in a late or obsolescent stage, what new political uses might it thereby have nowadays; and what new aesthetic forms (Adorno)?
September 11
Determine case study and working groups

September 16 literary experiments, art spaces
Visit to Joan Flasch Artists Book Collection
Readings: “The Magazine as an Alternative Space“, Artists’ Magazines: An Alternative Space for Art, Gwen Allen.
“Pre-Face“, A Secret Place on the Lower East Side. Jerome Rothenberg
“The Plain Edition: Gertude Stein and Modernist Book History“. Sarah Stone.
September 18
Research bibliography due

September 23 scene report: London
Readings: “Anarchy and the 1960s“. Autonomy, Richard Hollis.
“London“, Clip Stamp Fold: The Radical Architecture of Little Magazines. Beatriz Colomina, Craig Buckley (eds.). pp 20-36. This book is available in the Open Archive.
September 25

September 30 DIY ethics and the figure of the amateur
Research Presentations 1
October 2
Research Presentations 2

October 7 scene report: New York
Readings: selections from On The Ground. Sean Stewart.
“Introduction“, Queer Zines, AA Bronson.
Xerography, Art, and Activism in the Late 20th Century. Kate Eichhorn, pp 82-95 (more if you like).
October 9
workday

October 14
Readings: “Amateurs Rush In“, Paper Knowledge. Lisa Gitelman.
“Toward an Insurrection of the Published? Ten Thoughts on Ticks & Comrades“. Stevphen Shukaitis.
October 16

October 21
Readings: Teal Triggs, “Scissors and Glue: Punk Fanzines and the Creation of a DIY Aesthetic,” Journal of Design History. Stephen Duncombe, “Zines“, Notes from Underground: Zines and the Politics of Alternative Culture.
October 23

October 28
October 30

November 4 punk and what follows
Work day
Project proposal draft due
November 6

November 11 publics and counter-publics: constitutive circularities
Readings: “Publics and Counterpublics“. Michael Warner. pp 49-55, 82–89.
Work in-progress presentations
November 13

November 18
Work day
November 20

November 25 theorizing a communist media form
Readings: Communist objects and small press pamphlets. from Anti-Book. Nicholas Thoburn. pp 61-85 (and more if you like).
November 27 Thanksgiving

December 2
December 4