Art Publications from Start to Finish

Online course with John Holten

Duration: Apr 14 – May 5, 2020
Fee: 154€
Max seats: 30
Enroll before: Apr 10, 2020
Dedication: 3 hrs/week

Art books and catalogues are increasingly important as a site where contemporary art carries out its discourses and activities. They are integral parts of exhibitions and indeed can be considered artworks themselves in the case of artist’s books and editions.

This course takes the participants through various types of publications before looking in detail at each of the key stages of producing an exhibition catalogue, from looking at funding possibilities, sample publication budgets, contracts and permissions, as well as at ways of giving a publication a life through promotion and marketing before looking at distribution and where books end up.

Beautiful books are comprised of a myriad of finely tuned details all added at key moments in a book’s creation. The course outlines each stage in the exciting and challenging process of publishing.

Program

Week 1: Introduction – Approaches to Publications

• Introduction: what publications can offer curators
• A brief history of the books as exhibition space
• Self-publishing versus finding a publisher
• Deciding on content
• Types of publications

Week 2: Content – Types of Publications

• ISBNs
• Looking at funding
• Budgets
• Contracts
• Copyright
• Permissions
• Questions related to design

Week 3: Production

• Image editing and captioning
• Fact checking, copy-editing and proofreading
• Paper types
• Offset print versus digital print
• Printing specifications and how they affect content decisions

Week 4: Marketing and Distribution

• Consignment forms
• Finding distribution
• Press releases, launch events
• Reviews