Offprint Paris — Art Publishing Fair — Beaux-Arts de Paris – Palais des Études — Fair — Slash Paris

Past: November 12 → 15, 2015

Offprint Projects is an independent publishing fair and forum that focuses on specific thematic areas in numerous locations; featuring publications on art, photography, design, experimental music, open culture and activism. Focusing on discerning practices in these fields, we aim to offer members of these communities a context in which they can maintain their integrity, their critical voice and their social role while dealing with external factors (the market, urbanism, press and communication).

Acknowledging the qualitative and unique publishing practices, Offprint also seeks to bring a larger and dedicated audience into contact with these publishers, both online and offline. Crossing over between disciplines is an integral part of this process.

Offprint 2014 — Hall

From its origins, as an arts organization supporting artist projects as well as mounting the annual Offprint Paris publishing fair, Offprint stands for the legitimacy of our field and its discourses. At the same time, however, it aims to reconnect the arts with society; putting aside a market imperative for novelty in favour of art-based projects with broader social concerns. We strongly dismiss any use of art as a strategy for social discrimination. Finally, Offprint operates chiefly as a non-profit, with participants motivated by ideals, in order to promote invention and experimentation within the art world — and beyond.

Offprint 2015 showcases more than 125 publishers from some 20 countries.

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Cop 21

Independent of publishers’ editorial lines, Offprint takes the view that formal innovations in art and design are insufficient in themselves to exert a positive influence on society; rather, they seem to echo a current dependency to novelty, without real invention. Offprint therefore supports voices wishing to improve civic society and each year invites projects that engage with contemporary issues to exhibit at Offprint Paris.

In the context of COP21, the UN Summit on Climate Change taking place this coming December, three projects have been selected for Offprint Paris 2015. The projects embody individual and local initiatives that seek to address, through art and design, issues raised or exacerbated by the problem of climate change. “Let’s hibernate” is concerned with the political issue of refugees and the homeless,“Wasted” with environmental issues, and “De Fotokopie” with the art economy.

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Let’s Hibernate

Tackling the joint issues of homeless people and refugees, artists and designers Bas Timmer and Alexander de Groot have created the Sheltersuit, a wind and water-resistant jacket and sleeping bag. The Sheltersuit is produced with the involvement of Syrian refugees and distributed free to homeless people who are sleeping outside during extremely cold weather. The “Let’s hibernate” project offers a very concrete and positive example of design free from formal innovations in favour of societal issues.

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© Let’s Hibernate

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Wasted

“Wasted” is a project of the Amsterdam-based Cities Foundation and is designed to address global plastic waste at the neighbourhood level. The project operates via community Waste Laboratories for small-scale plastic waste reprocessing. “Wasted” offers a concrete but no less idealistic model for individuals who want to deal with their own everyday plastic consumption, ahead of political solutions. Workshops will be running live at Offprint Paris 2015.

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© Cities

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De Fotocopie

During Offprint 2015, this group of artists will be printing limited-edition, signed photocopies of images by well-known artists and photographers for the price of just 10 euros. Through these “commercial” performances, they interrogate general concepts in use on the art market, such as “authenticity,” “reproduction,” “authorship,” “rarity,” etc.

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Experimental Music

Nearly Not There Records is Offprint’s musical guest for 2015. Musicians and artists Koen Nutters and Cater Seamus, started this project to produce, commercialize, and promote their own and their friends’ music. A classic example of artistic and commercial autonomy. There will be two related performances on Friday and Saturday.

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Offprint Projects is produced by LUMA Arles