Q&A: KIOSK
by Brynn McNab and Ryan Ming
Juli Majer, Cristian Hernandez, Tylor Macmillan and Hugo Noriega form a Vancouver-based collective Ddoogg, Juli Majer, Cristian Hernandez, and Hugo Noriega are the organizers behind the print fair KIOSK (hosted at Avenue Gallery from June 20–21, 27–28, 2015). KIOSK is a print fair with contributions mostly from visual artists. As well as print merchandise, the fair included live music and reading events, turning the two day fair into more of a festival. They will be presenting a reading room for the Vancouver Art Book Fair as well. (more information on that after the post!)
Ddoogg is an online curatorial collective that showcases artists work in a simple space-oriented website. One line from their manifesto is: “Handsome nose and frankness, to play, to chase, to experiment, such is dog.”
PS: So, what is KIOSK? Can you tell me a bit about the idea behind it?
Hugo: Kiosk started with the concept of distancing print from the traditional “table at a fair” thing. we wanted to explore different ways to showcase print. explore the ways that people can incorporate print into different “cultural practices” and vice versa. the idea of emphasizing how normalized print is in “art” and in everyday life is cool, it’s also great to find new ways those things can coincide.
Juli: A big focus for Kiosk was to highlight and include different collectives in Vancouver that are doing interesting things revolving around printed matter and/or and literary content. To just shed some light on groups like BYOB, and Lit Lit Lit Lit was really important to us.
Christian: Yeah, what is foundational to the project is the dynamism of the material; it addresses a variety of creative concerns and is a kind of humble bridge between different disciplines. At the risk of sounding redundant, I think KIOSK aims to provide an open-ended platform that lends itself to the broad swaths of creative activity which overlap with print media, without relying solely on the conventional print-fair framework.
PS: Can you tell me about the collective, Dog? How did it start, what are the ideas behind it, and who is involved? Where do you want it to go?
Juli: Dog was created in a class lead by Justin Langlois and Meichen Waxer about artist collectives. It consists of Myself, Cristian Hernandez, Tylor McMillan, and Lucy Chan. It started as a website (ddoogg.ca) that showcased different artists’ work, kind of an online publication. Currently Tylor, Cristian and myself are working on doing printed publications, anthologies and distributing printed works by artists that are associated with DDOOGG.
Cristian: For me the website was both a playful aesthetic trial and an instrument for pursuing future printed projects. Personally I am interested in steering DDOOGG towards publishing work that engages with the alternative-comics format. I think it could be really promising to encourage artists of all stripes to create one-off experiments with the comic form. What’s important is that whatever direction any of us pups feel drawn towards we also try to trust, respect and celebrate each others sensibilities, so um, the future of DDOOGG is a nascent field of whatever.
PS: Who are the artists that you are working with? (both in print and otherwise) and what lies behind your choice of exhibiting these specific artists?
Hugo: a lot of artists we work with are people we see on a regular basis and friends in the community. there’s a lot of folks doing great stuff, so it’s not difficult to find people. we try to get people showcasing work together who might not otherwise be, or try to get people to work in print who might not be known for it (though some definitely are).
Juli: Many of the people who i am interested in getting involved with Kiosk aren’t normally working in print. they are artists exploring different medias who i think could do something really interesting in print. Kiosk is a good way to give them a chance to explore that outlet.
Cristian: I think KIOSK affords us a great opportunity to establish relationships with small/independent publishers from outside the city as well. For instance, we’ve invited Bellingham-based comics publisher Neoglyphic Media to display some of their catalog with us at the VABF. Juli and I met Cullen (NM) at a zine fair in the states and really loved their enthusiasm and approach to providing alternative creative and educational spaces, whether on a printed page, in the social world, or both. Currently Cullen is involved in re-purposing an old church to serve as an educational co-op, community centre and alternative library.
A selection of printed material by Late Cuts
Brick Press
1080p’s goods
A little animation flipbook by Courtney Garvin (Two dollar coin used for scale purposes)
Comic on the right by Rob Ondzik
Dog’s library tent
Photos by Ryan Ming
KIOSK is presenting a reading room at the Vancouver Art/Book Fair
Facebook event here
Room 100, 750 Hornby Street
October 17 “` 12pm-6pm
October 18 “` 12pm-6pm
FEATURING
installations by:
> late cuts
> ddoogg
> 1080p
> brick press
> dunk
+
readings and performances by:
> BYOB
> aaron read & a special guest
> aileen bryant
> Lit Lit Lit Lit
> cowboy city rockers
+
a reading area with furniture designed and built by Levi Bruce featuring publications by:
> simone jarvis
> courtney garvin
> brock mayer
> nigel & geoff dembicki
> kara hornland & jody rogac
> brie moreno
> bahar habibi
> joseph carhoun
> neoglyphics
> kate moss
> brittney groetelaars
> sara wylie
> katrina niebergal & bradley iles
> BYOB
> jaymes bowman
> mt mann
> claire newton
> katayoon yousefbigloo
> andrea lukic
> william derume
> aaron read
> cowboy city rockers
> aileen bryant
> hiller goodspeed
> general delivery
> christine berezowski
> sonja ratkay
> kate fobert & mike chmil
+
fabric backdrop by:
> chad murray
> simone jarvis
kiosk flyer by:
> tylor macmillan
