The Power of Printed Matter
Launch Party this Thursday 7 September, 6-10pm!
‘The Power of Printed Matter’
We’re excited to be launching our new exhibition this week. Join us for summery natural wines from Wrights wine, Saison beers from Cat Asylum Brewery and DJ Ex-Friendly will be
About the exhibition
Drawing upon the Beam archive, with contributions from their family of collaborators, which includes artists, academics and writers, the exhibition demonstrates how art book publishing remains a highly inventive and alternative form of expression. In a digital world, where algorithms are used to narrow our interest, the book continues to be the most free and in depth form of communication.
‘A book cannot be controlled by corporations, it cannot be turned off, it does not need charging up, it does not need to exist on a server. Once printed, a book is free to have a life of its own, a book is not just a symbol of freedom, it is freedom. Every book is an opportunity to disconnect from the noise of the digital environment, it's a place of independent thought’
- Jonathan Casciani, Beam Editions
Launched in 2018, Beam Editions grew out of a graphic design partnership formed by Jonathan Casciani and Oliver Wood in 2002. During this 21 year partnership the duo have collaborated extensively with artists, galleries and museums specialising in contemporary art. The exhibition brings together books and printed material designed by the pair with related artworks and other printed matter to show the connections between art, graphic design and typography, and to emphasise the enduring importance of the book in the digital age. Many of the artists featured in the exhibition work within the medium of the book – artists such as John Newling and Fernanda Fragaterio reference the form of the book in their sculptures while artists such as Daniel Rapley and Linda Karshan actually create books as hands-on part of their practice practice.
The exhibition presents Beam’s publications alongside related artworks to illustrate the fundamental role books have as part of artistic practice. Going beyond documentation of an artist's output, the book is a space for artistic knowledge and creation, an exhibition in mobile form or even an artwork within itself.
The Power of Printed Matter includes a selection of historic material from the 1930s onwards which ground the exhibition in a modernist design and typographic aesthetic that has an enduring influence on arts publishing and the work of Beam Editions.